William Perry, the US Secretary of Defense during the Clinton administration, had an unusual experience years before while working on his PhD. Here’s how Politico and he described the event in a recent article: Perry had been brooding over the question for … Continue reading
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Lately, I have been reading Neil Gaiman’s A View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction. My son bought it for me a while back, and I finally started reading it last week. A few nights ago, I ran onto this statement in … Continue reading
[Originally posted on April 21, 2011 by David Sheppard] Note: Might want to reference my chapter in Novelsmithing titled “The Psychology of Creativity” before reading the following. I’ve been reading Jung’s Psychology and Alchemy, and last night I ran into … Continue reading
Ever run up against a scene that just doesn’t work? Perhaps it seems lifeless or is so disorganized that it can’t take shape. You can’t get the images and words to work together. Well, you’re not alone. I’ve been there … Continue reading
On page 15 of Story Alchemy, I make the case for the author having a personal affinity for the story s/he is going to write. Here’s what I say: What is crucial in all this is that the idea must be … Continue reading
[The following is a comment I made to the NY Times article titled, “On Not Writing,” by Bill Hayes.] Thank you for this. It’s a great article. I’ve been writing for 43 years, and I’ve only had one time that … Continue reading
Now, just to prove how oblique I really can be, I want to present a little story that appears in Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones. Someone one named Lauchlan told the story during one of Natalie’s evening story circles in … Continue reading
Okay, this is one of my favorite questions: Where is the conflict if the story is really about solving a puzzle? I’ve written a lot about what story is and isn’t, and I’ve always said that the story doesn’t really start … Continue reading
Yes, we’ve all heard of the Terminator and the Governator. Some writers who’ve actually studied craft (and read Novelsmithing) have even heard of the Thematic Character, which might be termed the Thematinator. Now I want to introduce a new character … Continue reading
If you look up the word “theme” in the Oxford Dictionary of English, it is defined as: “an idea that recurs in or pervades a work of art or literature: love and honour are the pivotal themes of the Hornblower … Continue reading