While suffering a terrible bout of writer’s block, I thought more on the concept of the “Great Asian American Novel.” Artists don’t strive for “good enough” in their work. They strive for greatness. That doesn’t mean they need to win awards and medals or see their work achieve critical success. We strive to create an [...]
Archive for the ‘literary fiction’ Category
The Great Asian American Novel
Posted in Asian Diaspora, literary fiction, literary review, novel writing on August 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Great Novels and Word Count
Posted in Asian Diaspora, literary fiction, literary review, novel writing on May 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Word count is one of those things new writers worry about but deny worrying about because we’re not supposed to be worrying about it. According to Wikipedia’s entry on word count, the typical word count of a novel is at least 80,000 words. I’ve heard through the publishing world grapevine than most agents and editors [...]
Activism and Art
Posted in Asian Diaspora, literary fiction, novel writing on April 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A well-known playwright in the Asian American community wrote me recently and said, “Everything I’ve done–in theater, in publishing . . . is more activism than art.”
I write with an activist spirit, but I prefer not to compromise art simply to promulgate my personal ideologies. The line between activism and art is hard to locate, [...]
