Big Thoughts, Human-sized Canvas
We are entering a very singular world together. The world of public discourse – political, social, diplomatic, commercial – has so corrupted language that we are rightly more suspicious of the meaning of words than we are convinced of…
The literal details of writing involve one’s own physiology and metabolism. You begin from a standing start and have to accelerate yourself to the point of cerebration where the words are coming – well, and in order. All…
I took down one of them at random. It stood at the very end of the shelf, was called LIFE’S ADVENTURE, or some such title, by Mary Carmichael, and was published in this very month of October. It seems to be her first book, I said to myself, but one must…
I’m trying something new! You’re invited to post your own poetry or bits of stories, drop links to favorite literature-related sites, tell us about a recent writing-related experience or some other creative writing goodness. Have a poem in a poetry journal? Drop a link. Have a friend who does gorgeous work? Tell us about it. […]
Here I am at three in the morning, three hours after Earth Day, unable to sleep, unwilling to let the sun come up without having excerpted Rachel Carson.
Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring (1962). In 1958 a friend wrote to her for…
One ownership does not cancel out the other. Alice subtracted one from 365, demonstrating that there are indeed 364 un-birthdays in a year – and of course Humpty Dumpty had to check her work. Humpty Dumpty…
In the love of truth which leads to a knowledge of it lies not only the hope of humanity but its safety. Deep down we feel that, as every human being has a right to air and water, so he has a right to food, clothing, light, heat, work, education, love…
Are you listening and “with your whole body” this month? Between Script Frenzy, National Poetry Month and National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo), creative writing in April can feel like a total body experience! 20,000 Script Frenzy participants are diving into creating their 100 page…
But on the other hand here I am sitting after half the morning, crammed with ideas, and visions, and so on, and can’t dislodge them, for lack of the right rhythm. Now this is very profound, what rhythm is, and goes far deeper than…
I asked her how she goes about getting in touch with her characters, and she hesitated a moment before replying: “I think it’s something like preparing the soil for planting,” she says. “What I’ll do is go out in the backyard in the morning, and…”
What happened to Louise in Texas is the structural backbone of the entire story line. It’s because of the incident that she runs away from the murder. By the time she realizes what she’s done, it’s too late.
Because the “incident in Texas” is mentioned throughout…
Consider the sentence He closed the door firmly. It’s by no means a terrible sentence (at least it’s got an active verb going for it), but ask yourself if firmly really belongs there. You can argue that it expresses a degree of difference between He closed the door and He…
