ARCHIVE FOR Dead Darlings: Everything Novel

This post was originally published on Dead Darlings, a blog about novel writing run by alumni of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator program.

In Kelly J. Ford’s gripping Southern noir, Real Bad Things, Jane Mooney returns to her Arkansas hometown after a body that might be the abusive stepfather she confessed to murdering 25 years ago surfaces in a river. The police were never able to charge her with a crime, and now Jane must uncover the truth and face the trauma of her past. Real Bad Things digs deep into the hearts and souls …

This post was originally published on Dead Darlings, a blog about novel writing run by alumni of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator program.

Christine Simon’s delightful debut novel, The Patron Saint of Second Chances, is a story of survival. Welcome to the southern Italian town of Prometto, a “going nowhere place.” The population is dwindling, there is little to no tax revenue coming in, and to make matters worse, the pipes are busted. All 212 souls residing there are (unbeknownst to them) weeks from being relocated by the water commission if Signore Speranza—local vacuum repairman and self-appointed …

This post was originally published on Dead Darlings, a blog about novel writing run by alumni of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator program.

Sometimes writing is a way of laying claim on the chaotic, of imposing a kind of fitful understanding onto something that defies order or remedy.

This post was originally published on Dead Darlings, a blog about novel writing run by alumni of GrubStreet's Novel Incubator program.

“My mother did not move from the bungalow’s doorway. Her apron, stained with baby burp and breakfast grease, seemed to pull down at her narrow shoulders