The more I use the techniques developed in Story Alchemy for generating story, the more I understand how shallow our insight is into our own creativity. We should realize that the Unconscious contains a vast storehouse of knowledge concerning the … Continue reading
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Last night I read a little of Lord of the Rings before I went to sleep. I don’t always sleep so soundly during the first couple of hours, and that was true then. Even though I was asleep, I heard … Continue reading
Rarely are we quick-minded enough to catch the exact moment and circumstance that produces a new idea. But one of my moments of discovery stands out and has been bugging me for years. It’s time I expose to my reading … Continue reading
Well, here I am finally getting back into the swing of this writing thing after having a mini stroke — it was no fun and you can trust me on that — and I’ve been thinking about my technique of … Continue reading
For the last two months I’ve been struggling with my work in progress, Robot Dawn. For a while, I just thought that my story had become so complex that I no longer had the intellectual capacity to deal with it. … Continue reading
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
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