THE GUIDING DWIGHT

Well, Sofia Samatar was good enough to send me a batch of questions to answer in regard to my new WIP (work in progress).  I was too busy working on the WIP to respond, but it's now a year later and I'm ready for my close-up!  And the WIP is done, so that's groovy.  Here goes. I'm going to answer the questions for  THE HOPE STORE . The cover above is just a prototype for now. 1. What is the title of your book? The Hope Store . 2. Where did the idea come from for the book? My first novel The Prospect of My Arrival was trippy and speculative and poetic.  I called it soft sci-fi or literary fiction.  I wanted my follow up book to be in a similar spirit. By the way, the 2013 version of Prospect contains the opening three chapters of The Hope Store as a bonus!  You can order it now. The genesis for the book?  I remember hearing a politician on the radio misspeak.  He said, "He have to install hope in young people"  I know he meant to say &q

My blog is going to take a slight shift in direction. While I will still write about writerly things, I want to use this blog for more urgent expression, like a diary/journal. Here's an update on a few aspects of the Dwight Life: DEAR DIARY -- I have a new friend, L. She is fun and good hearted and adventurous. She is learning to better manage her boundaries which have been pretty loose historically. I showed her the video I made for my mother's memorial some years ago, and L cried.  Then we watched the movie "Drag Me To Hell" and we laughed quite a bit. I am in the process of putting my rental property up for sale. This is new terrain and kind of exciting. I can feel that summer is gradually coming to an end so I must make sure to swim in the outdoor pool of my building as much as I can. With John or without. It was cool to hang out all Saturday with Nancy. It was like a mini-vacation. WRITING -- Currently an editor from Random House/Hydra is reading the ful

NOTE: I had a few writers reading THE HOPE STORE as "beta readers." Their feedback is very helpful because they are commenting on the whole new book and giving overall input as well as sometimes more detailed notes on the manuscript. I want ed to share some notes from one such reader, author Alison DeLuca who has written several fine steampunk novels. As you may know, this novel is about the first store to sell hope over the counter. Jada is the store's first customer and Luke is one of the store owners. Here are some of Alison's comments: "Overall, The Hope Store really succeeded on several levels for me. First, I loved the actual story, with Jada and her own self-discovery -- as well as the future of the Hope Store. Those story arcs were balanced perfectly. I felt a lot of connection to Jada, as well as to Luke. His revelations later in the book made him very human, from my POV. Kazu is also such a vivid, alive character. The Luke/Jada chapters were perfect

NOTE: I have a few writers reading THE HOPE STORE as "beta readers." Their feedback is very helpful because they are commenting on the whole new book and giving overall input as well as sometimes more detailed notes on the manuscript. I wanted to share some notes from one such reader, author JT Kalnay who has written several fine thriller novels. As you may know, the novel is about the first store to sell hope over the counter. Jada is the store's first customer and Luke i s one of the store owners. Hi Dwight, I finished the book this evening. It is a fantastic story, filled with just enough twists and turns. But it's the insight into Jada's viewpoint that really makes the story work. It is fascinating how it gets inside Jada's head, literally and figuratively. (You probably don't know this but I spend about 1/2 my time doing MRI physics. So I thought the fMRI part was pretty interesting.) Many people will weep while they read the story, as they iden

I write like Chuck Palahniuk I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software . Analyze your writing! This is amazing. Writers, paste in some paragraphs of your novel to have it cyber-analyzed. The software I WRITE LIKE will tell you which famous writer you most write like, based on your language, phrasing, etc. Mine told me that I write like Chuck Palahniuk, which I take as a great compliment! I enjoy his writing. Try out the software and let me know who you write like. Dwight http://iwl.me/b/2b568272

Okay, this news is a little late.  But on February 13, 2013 -- I learned that my novel THE HOPE STORE advanced in the Amazon contest.  10,000 novels were entered from around the world.  2,000 of our books advanced on the based of our 300 word pitches.  I did my happy dance. Next, on March 12, I'll find out if my book advances on the basis of my 20 page excerpt.  There will be 500 books left standing at that point.  And the public is invited to go to -- www.amazon.com/abna -- to read for themselves any of the advancing excerpts!  There's always quite a stunning variety of novels and voices on display.

It's Monday, Jan 28. I am part of a large blogging event called the "Re-Introduce Myself" Blogfest where I get to introduce myself to new audiences. My name is Dwight Okita. I live in Chicago where I design websites and work at a nonprofit for the visually impaired. I just finished writing my second novel THE HOPE STORE and I've entered it in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest. You can learn more about the contest at www.amazon.com/abna Below is the pitch for my book: "We don't just instill hope. We install it."  That's the slogan for the first store in the world to sell hope over the counter.   Luke Nagano goes to sleep each night dreaming about hope and how to make more of it, ever since he lost his sister. He and his partner prepare the store for its grand opening. As media interest grows, an activist group called the Natural Hopers emerges with the mission to warn the public about the dangers of synthetically created