Editing is a painful process. It hurts to erase words that feel emotionally invested. But then you read it again, and the benefit shows. Under Shōko’s Bed is nearly complete.
If I want Under Shōko’s Bed to touch people, they have to read it, and my editor reinforced that the plot has to move, the tension has to increase and the pace has to quicken as the novel approaches its climax, and then it needs to end promptly.
If you are blessed with someone who inspires you and works with you to make your writing better, be sure to keep her happy. You'll regret it if you don't.
I recently reread one of the best books for authors, Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, which offers marvelous advice and is exceptionally well written.
In capturing life in Japan in writing, language is a challenge: 1) how to handle the imperfect language of nonnative speakers, 2) how much Japanese to include, and 3) how to provide translation of the Japanese.
I was working at a small university in rural Japan. The faculty were a terribly dysfunctional lot. It was really quite disturbing. So I started writing a novel as a sort of self-therapy to deal with all of the craziness.
