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Dec 29

Narrative Magazine: the PBS of literature

Looking for some good free reading? Check out Narrative Magazine—an online journal dedicated to great literature. The magazine publishes poems, short stories, nonfiction, fiction, six-word stories, novel excerpts and more. Narrative even pays its contributors and is free for anybody to read (although donations are greatly appreciated to maintain the Narrative mission).

I just finished reading Joseph Stroud’s poem “Provenance” about the winter he lived in Madrid and mourned his father. Everywhere he goes in the city, his grief follows. His pain is reflected in artwork, cobblestone streets, a Gypsy violin, even a bowl of tripe soup.

I love how the poem goes on and on with no stanza breaks, how it wraps around itself as the poet wanders the streets of Madrid and the depths of his love for his father. If you want to see how a great poem is put together, study this poem. Read it out loud. Allow the words to wrap around you, feel their weight on your tongue, in your heart.

Writing about strong emotions, particularly about the death of a parent, is a difficult task to do well. The key is to use specifics to evoke the emotions. Stroud is a master. Read more

Dec 28

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Create a personalized reading list for your writing projects

Something magical happens when I’m reading analytically. I’m jolted by bursts of insight and inspiration for my own writing. Because I’ve seen the power of reading for myself, I advise other writers to create their own reading list for whatever projects they’re working on.

If you’re looking for inspiration on an element of craft, such as dialogue or structure, read how another writer pulled it off. One of the mind-altering effects of studying for an MFA came from reading and analyzing so much literature. Even reading stories that had nothing to do with my memoir sparked ideas for my own writing.

Here are several tips for creating a reading list:

Read books from multiple genres. If you’re writing a memoir, read fiction, memoirs, and poetry. Reading poetry helped me raise my consciousness of words and meaning. This carried over into my prose and spurred me to write poetry of my own. Read more

Dec 27

The Way movie: plot as character in conflict

The movie The Way written and directed by Emilio Estevez and starring his father Martin Sheen depicts the spiritual journey of a father who’s estranged son dies on the first day of his pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago, an 800-mile trek from the Pyrenees to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, the burial place of St. James.

The father, a widowed ophthalmologist living in California, flies overseas to collect his son’s body but ends up walking the road and becoming a pilgrim himself. The movie is a touching story of a father’s reconnection with this son and awakening to life. It has everything going for it (as long as you don’t mind not seeing something being blown up every two seconds): incredible scenery, the father’s emotional transformation into a person his son would be proud of, great dialogue, humor, sadness, perfect pacing, and micro-tension between characters that builds throughout the story.

The script is a great example of plot defined as characters in conflict. Each character is a study in human nature. How they interact over the course of the story is a study in how the microcosm of character reflects the macrocosm of the story world. As I work through my current project, I picture this cast of characters and think about how I can create more conflict for my characters.

The Way is beautifully written, superbly rendered, and highly recommended this holiday season!

Dec 26

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How award-winning author Jonathan Franzen writes

Have you noticed lately that the world has gotten louder? I often feel overwhelmed by music and noise almost everywhere I go, from supermarkets and hair salons, to coffee shops and restaurants. And it’s not just audible noise. Information overload in general from so many sources cuts away at my focus. I confess that I have a love-hate relationship with technology.

So when I saw an interview with writer Jonathan Franzen, author of “The Corrections” (fiction winner of the 2001 National Book Award) and Freedom, I identified with his perspective about writing. He says his goal when he approaches a project is to produce a book that can stand up to the noisy culture – a book that will grab readers from all the distractions that bombard them.

To do that work, Franzen isolates himself. That means no Internet or phone at his office. Read more

Dec 23

Three posts for generating creative ideas

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.” – Carl Jung

In case you didn’t catch these the first time around, below are three posts for generating more creative ideas:

Find creative possibilities in your workplace — Ideas surround us. See Carly’s tips for noticing what’s right in front of you at your workplace.

Exercises in memoir: finding your story – Whether you’re writing memoir or fiction, here are some tips for digging deep into your characters.

Three ways to use word riffs – Wordplay is important, it frees the mind to make new connections.

Thanks for stopping by! Please share some of your favorite places to find creative ideas.

Dec 22

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How to draw from life to write poetry

Last night I had a craving for poetry, so I went to the Poetry Foundation website and randomly began reading poems. As I read poems by Denise Levertov and Greek poets George Seferis and C.P. Cavafy, I thought about my own attempts at writing poetry. I thought about how I came to write my poems and wondered if by looking back on how they came to be, it would help me open the well (or maybe a vein) to create more.

Here’s what I came up with. If you’re interested in writing poetry, maybe these ideas will spark a poem of your own.

Be open to creative insight. Humans have a vast capacity to experience intuitive moments that lead to creative inspiration. Announce to the  universe that you want to invite inspiration into your life.

Find the deeper meaning. One reason people write is to understand. And readers read for the same reason. It’s the emotional undertone of life that creates meaning in literature. Look beneath the surface of events to discover the meaning. These universal themes often spark creative ideas for me. Watching my aunt’s emotional ups and downs as my uncle suffers from Alzheimer’s inspired me to write about it. Read more

Dec 21

Using language to reflect character traits

In Chinese philosophy the yin-yang symbol represents dynamic opposites that make up a whole—unity in duality. The yin represents the feminine aspect: passive, dark, negative, downward-seeking, consuming and corresponding to the night. The yang represents the masculine aspect: active, light, positive, upward-seeking, producing and corresponding to the daytime. The circles that lie within and encompass the yin-yang symbol represent the whole that the two sides make.

In Patricia Hampl’s memoir, The Florist’s Daughter, she writes about the life and death of her mother and father. Her mother, a librarian and the family archivist, is piercing, cold, sharp-tongued, and looks for the negative in people. Her father, a florist dedicated to the art of beauty, is giving, positive, and always looking to lift others up.

Though we learn much about Hampl’s family history, their location in the “middle” of the country and in life, her story is really about finding who she is in the midst of these two strong aspects of herself: feminine and masculine, mother and father.

Hampl’s prose perfectly reflects this duality: at times beautiful and lyrical, at times cold, sharp, and biting. Read more

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