“We are about contribution. That’s what our job is. It’s not about impressing people. It’s not about getting the next job. It’s about contributing something.” – Benjamin Zander What’s different about a book is far less important than what’s the same. Conventional wisdom holds that all true artists abhor convention and delivering what’s expected. They’re just too creative for
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A writer's motivation, Meditations, Monday Motivations, On High Quality, Stories, The craft, Writing • Tags: artists, creative writing, creativity, genre fiction writing • Comment feed RSS 2.0 - Read this post
“This man, I think, wanted to enchant the reader, to set in words certain amorphous and important sensations he had experienced…. “He wanted to transcribe his own inchoate experience. He wanted it to become art. He felt, as many of us do, that he had a right to that. Perhaps he wanted to feel his suffering had been worthwhile, was
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A writer's motivation, Books, Inspiration, Meditations, Monday Motivations, On High Quality, One Thousand Gifts, Spiritual, Stories, The craft, Useful, Writing • Tags: inspiration, pressing on, remembering, stories, storytelling, truth • Comment feed RSS 2.0 - Read this post
“…life does not move in the same way as a group of clouds; From your work, you will be able one day to gather yourself.” – Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936), trans. Robert Bly And what is our work? The great Spanish writer and poet Unamuno said “sowing yourself.” “Throw yourself like seed as you walk, and into your own field,”
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A writer's motivation, Inspiration, Meditations, Monday Motivations, Morning Pages, One Thousand Gifts, Spiritual, Stories, The craft, Writing • Tags: acceptance, change, perspectives, seasons, writing • Comment feed RSS 2.0 - Read this post
The exceptionally observant reader may have noticed that last week, in my big post, 8 Reader Questions – 8 Parts of Speech, the question of “Really?” is set apart and above the others. That’s because if there’s one cardinal rule for storytellers, it probably has something to do with this–make sure it’s believable. And while there are several key elements to
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Keys to Success, Stories, The craft, Writing • Tags: believability, characterization, writing, writing advice • Comment feed RSS 2.0 - Read this post
“The new writer found she wrote best thinking of her readers’ questions–and how!” This sentence contains all you need to know about writing a story. You may want to commit it to memory. I recently discovered something I think may help new writers remember everything they need to write amazing stories quickly. Usually, beginning writers simply write what speaks to
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Editing, Keys to Success, Monday Motivations, Stories, The craft • Tags: beginners, story crafting, writing • Comment feed RSS 2.0 - Read this post
