John Baker’s Blog

In Robert Browning’s Fra Lippo Lippi, the following lines occur:
But, mind you, when a boy starves in the streets
Eight years together, as my fortune was,
Watching folk’s faces to know who will fling
The bit of half-stripped grape-bunch he desires,
And who will curse or kick him for his pains,–
Which gentleman processional and fine,
Holding a candle [...]

I’m often asked if there is something I think writers ought to do, and recently in an interview I heard myself say: “Several things. Love words, agonize over sentences. And pay attention to the world.”
Needless to say, no sooner had these perky phrases fallen out of my mouth than I thought of some more recipes [...]

The use of language and the training of observation in fledgling writers can be damaged, sometimes irredeemably, by often well-meaning teachers of ‘creative-writing’.
If someone, anyone, presumes to teach you the proper use of language for your own fictions, don’t listen. Put yourself at a distance from that person. All you have as a writer is [...]