Resonant stories have depth. Forgettable stories don’t. Literary fiction, for example, takes us deep into the lives of characters and creates complex stories that touch upon the human condition. A good literary novel may resonate with the reader long after the book is finished. Genre fiction, many will say, tends to stay on the… Continue Reading
Author Archives: Richard
The Stretch Clock
After spending decades stooped over operating tables, and years hunched over a keyboard, my back is pretty much wrecked. Over the past year, however, I’ve made considerable progress in reversing this trend. I’ve spent time with a personal trainer, I’ve improved my posture, and I invested in a sit-stand desk and ergonomic chair. While all of these things have been helpful, I’ve… Continue Reading
Dennis Lehane and the Four D’s
If you are close to my age, or even a decade or so younger, you may remember a professional athlete whose career spanned the late eighties and early nineties. His name was Bo Jackson. He won college football’s Heisman Trophy in 1985, made his major league debut with the Kansas City Royals in 1987, and became… Continue Reading
The Poisoner’s Handbook
With the spectacular array of medical and surgical technology available to the modern physician and surgeon, it’s easy to regard our colleagues of a century ago as skilled tradesmen who could do little more than drain pus, amputate gangrenous limbs and treat the maladies of the day with voodoo and tonics. In reality, the birth of modern medicine… Continue Reading
The Final Push
If you could save a life by taking a life, would you do it? If you were a medical student, and with a single lethal injection you could repair your shattered world, would you place thumb on syringe and push? Michael Higgins is that student, and he has found himself in this very situation. Do you think he will play God… Continue Reading
To MFA, or not to MFA …
… that is the ongoing debate. Creative-writing MFA programs are springing up in epidemic proportions. During the last century, 84 were founded, with about half of those launched in the 1990’s. Since 2000, another 118 programs have been born, with more on the way. Every year, these 200+ programs turn out approximately two thousand poets, two thousand… Continue Reading
The Me, Myself, and I Interview – Part 2
Are the terms intern, resident, and attending surgeon confusing? For a glimpse of how surgeons are trained in this country, read on. Me: Your stories are populated with medical students, interns, surgery residents and attending surgeons. Can you explain the various designations? Myself: Medical education is built upon increasing responsibility and experience. Medical students are, of course,… Continue Reading
Chekhov’s Gun
If there is a rifle hanging on the wall in chapter one, someone had better use it by the end of the story. So said Russian physician and dramatist, Anton Chekhov, in the late nineteenth century. Considered one of history’s greatest writers of short fiction, Chekhov stated that every element in a narrative must be necessary, and anything that… Continue Reading
You Can’t Go Home Again …
… says Thomas Wolfe, but you can sure as hell drive by, thanks to the Google car and Street View. I’m sure most of you already know of this stupefying technology. You enter an address into Google Maps, and a street-level image of the address accompanies the map. But the amazing thing is, you can then continue on, either up… Continue Reading
The Book Marketing Platform
If you are an aspiring author like me, you’ve probably read, or been told, that the first thing you need to do (even before you’ve completed your book) is develop a marketing platform. Whether you self-publish or go traditional, you will be doing all of your own marketing. What does this mean? It means you need a website, blog, Facebook page and Twitter… Continue Reading