Friends who like books! THE 12TH COMMANDMENT, my fourth novel, is out in two months. People like & Karen Russell read & liked it. Please do preorder, tell people about it, do all the things that can w done w books. Out 1/19/23!
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Daniel Torday
@DanielTorday
Novelist. 4th book, THE 12TH COMMANDMENT, out 1/19/23 from . Prof at Insta: dtorday
danieltorday.comJoined March 2018
Daniel Torday’s Tweets
Flannery O’Connor once said, “A writer can get away w anything he can get away w- but nobody’s ever gotten away w much.” Is that something
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She was my teacher in grad school—she said she wrote it in France, while her kids were away during the very long French school day. The house they were living in a house that had lots of windows but big shutters that covered them completely. So she closed them and wrote all day.
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I feel here the distinction will soon be made that humans create art (not going to offer what that is) and AI creates content (requiring transparency.) IP is the battleground.
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Books/music/painting/etc are art but they're also IP, and I think an interesting challenge of being a working artist is that you've got to hold both ideas in your head to stay sane while making sound business decisions.
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Books are not content. Music is not content. Art is not content. Films are not content. Your private emotions are not content. Paintings are not content. Poems are not content. Essays are not content.
Make art.
Do not provide content.
You are not content.
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One piece of advice I give that almost always gets results:
Don’t query agents you’ve heard of, big names. Write to their assistants.
Write to the junior agents at the big agencies. They’re hungry, they’re seeking new writers. Junior agents & assistants at known agencies.
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Daniel Torday on Why There Are No Acknowledgements in His Latest Novel
"...worried we’ve forgotten why we need privacy to begin with: you don’t need it until you need it. You’d better hope it’s still there when the time comes."
lithub.com/daniel-torday- via
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It also allows me to give my favorite, iron-clad lesson about writing novels: you’re gonna need to get a lot better at describing lakes
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I love it so much that for no reason at all I own a first edition
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Teaching my favorite novel of the last 50 years for the next two weeks. Life is good.
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TBF: Pubs take hundreds of millions of $ worth of risk every year on books that fail to recoup their investment. Investing in inherently risky ventures--ie gambling--is literally the business model. The false claim here isn't that this never happened, it's that it has stopped.
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Remember literary criticism? That was such a valuable form back when we had it.
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Attorney Ben Crump to sue Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for rejecting AP African American Studies course
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Philly area friends! I’ll be doing my area launch of THE 12TH COMMANDMENT on 2/8 at 430pm. Hope to see you there! #the12thcommandment
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Denis Johnson & Philip Roth (case you were wondering)
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It occurs to me I’m now old enough that my first two favorite living American writers are now no longer living
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According to the sum total of reviews for THE 12TH COMMANDMENT is: Positive. So I’ve got that going for me. Which is nice. #the12thcommandment
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January was full of fabulous fiction, covering everything from an exploration of a remote village to the inner workings of a tech startup, and more. Check out some of what’s on sale now from , , and more!👉bit.ly/3j12Wiq #colldev #readadv
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Look what arrived! I am so excited. it was and his tweeting about writing that reconnected me to writer Twitter really. It reminded me why I was a writer, to persist. I can’t wait ♥️
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I can tell you’re smug & middleclass like me so here’s fiction N-Z
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Please enjoy this photo of my smug middle class bookshelf.
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I was having such a nice day until I read this. Book ownership is not a ‘cult’ & I would never chuck a book in the recycling! Growing up in a house full of old paperbacks gave me a love of books.
‘the cult of book ownership can be smug and middle-class’ theguardian.com/commentisfree/
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I mean: lucky as hell to be able to buy a ticket & ride. But. The loops still flip you upside down awfully fast.
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What a total fucking rollercoaster it is publishing a book
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No one writes a great novel w the dream of being on a list.
No one writes a great novel by setting out not to offend anyone.
No one writes a great novel without sitting down, day in and day out, and putting in the tedious effortful effortless glorious work.
Persist.
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Ignore the noise.
Ignore the lists.
Ignore the trends.
Ignore the pieties.
Write the book you’ve always wanted to write.
Write the living shit out of it. Do the work.
Persist.
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Anthony Lane literally says, “you would be dead wrong” to give a silly simplistic reading of this masterful film & TWO WEEKS later Brody’s like, “Hold my beer”
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I’m late to the party here, but the disagreement between Anthony Lane & Richard Brody’s views on Todd Fields’ TAR is really… something.
It’s always been strange to have two reviewers at the mag of record on the same film. But here, Lane basically ridicules Brody & Brody just…
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Read more prose poems
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Reader: I smoked it
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Amazing to finally have an up to date picture of Pynchon
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Progress report: progress!
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Christening my first smoker w my first brisket. Wish me luck.
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My 1st book had one offer, & received a relatively small advance. In the time after it sold, people in-house loved it more & more- & by the time it pubbed, it was on the cover of the NYTBR, I went on , etc.
Don’t listen to people who don’t know from which they speak.
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If a writer isn't offered a big book deal and clearly won't be one of the publisher's anointed authors receiving a big publicity push, should they sign the deal? I don't think so.
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Read more novels by living writers
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So many people I love!
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