Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing

Posts tagged “Dark Fiber”

A Title Poll

Posted on November 26, 2010

The end is nearing. I am getting really close to finishing the revision on TURING’S DECEIT, a.k.a. DARK FIBER. The one thing that is still bothering me is the title. So I decided to call in some help. Your help! Do you remember what it’s about? It’s a thriller and it’s about greedy Matt Turing and gullible Jonathan Kelder, it’s about the ultimate compression algorithm and a multi-million dollar deal. It’s about good and evil and about the dark that lives inside all of us… If you need more you can read the tentative blurb or a(pre-revsion!) sample. Help me out and tell me which title would entice you into buying the book!  

Categories: Books, Thrillers

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A final boost

Posted on November 22, 2010

Where would you go if you needed a boost? Who can give you that final push to get you to the finish line? What works for you? I am in the final stages of the DARK FIBER revision. It’s working out well for Jonathan Kelder and his antagonist Matt Turing, but for me it’s a long and hard journey towards the end and I definitely needed a boost. Amsterdam, of course, provides plenty of boosting opportunities, but being a straight edger most of them are –out of choice, but still :)– beyond my reach. I have plenty of friends, the writing kind and the non-writing kind, that will gladly pull me through. Actually, I even have a whole NaNoWriMo group that cheers me on, these…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, Thrillers

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New York closes in on you

Posted on November 12, 2010

It was a first time, as there is a first time for everything: my visit to New York City. I needed to go there to do research for DARK FIBER. I needed to explore Jonathan Kelder’s state of mind when he wanders that city. Jonathan is my protagonist and while he tries to figure a way out, his antagonist weaves a web around him, pulling the net ever tighter. In New York, I put myself in Jonathan’s shoes and hopped on an early ferry to Ellis Island as that seemed the most suitable place to start my journey. It was strangely vacant, Ellis Island, but its emptiness didn’t breathe a single molecule of freedom. My footsteps ricochetted hollowly off the blood-colored floor tiles and…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, Thrillers

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Why Writers Rock

Posted on November 1, 2010

These past few months my life seems to revolve around words and chords, around writing and music. It made me rethink the name of my blog and my dear friend Jay unwittingly told me what it should be: Writers Rock. Words come in multiples as I am working on the revision of my thriller Dark Fiber. One day I hit 5,000 words and the next day I don’t even come close to a mere 500. But no matter how many words do find their way from inside my head to my manuscript, music accompanies them all. If I am on a roll, I switch my iTunes controls to repeat and listen to the same song over and over again, until I almost fall in a…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Books, Thrillers, YA books

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Amsterdam view: writing a good read

Posted on October 26, 2010

These days I am writing an average of 3,500 words a day revising my thriller DARK FIBER. It’s hard work, leaving me no time for a social life whatsoever. Luckily that isn’t a problem at all, because my protagonist Jonathan Kelder doesn’t have a social life either, and part of my method of writing is that I like to experience what my protagonists’ go through. If they go out rafting, I go out rafting. If they hike cold and misty mountains in Canada, I hike the same cold and misty mountains. I love doing what my protagonists do. And I think it works. One of the compliments I get from readers is that reading my books make them feel like they are actually joining…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Amsterdam Views, The Views, Thrillers

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Amsterdam view: a writer’s autumn

Posted on October 20, 2010

Today’s a writing day. I can feel it in my bones, I can see it outside. It is the most perfect weather for a writer, here in Amsterdam. Like yesterday – when I did 5,000 words on the revision of my techno thriller Turing’s Deceit, a.k.a. Dark Fiber – autumn races past my window, pushing on every writing fiber in my body. A stiff northern wind brings me sunshine and bright skies one minute, hail and thunderstorms the next. It is as if the Northern gods urge me to write faster and faster, as if they want me and my protagonist to hurry up, and get us to Ragnarök to fight that mythical war against the great serpent. I am wondering whether my protagonist…

Categories: A Bit of Everything, Amsterdam Views, Books, The Views, Thrillers

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