Looking at a visual image through photography, video, paint or our own eyes, we’re aware of objects in three dimensions. They inhabit different grounds, and that gives them diverse prominence and meaning; all pretty obvious, except when we start to pay attention to the details drawing us into the story. I’ve been paying a… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Writing
Never Look Back, Children
Never look back. That warning must be embedded in our historic memory, springing from one of the myths we were raised on. There were always dire consequences associated with the rejection of the advice to keep eyes forward. Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of potassium chloride, and poor Orpheus lost his beloved Eurydice thanks… Continue Reading
Character Building
Where do they come from, those fascinating, complex, enigmatic-yet-familiar characters who populate our favorite fiction? Writers are always asked that; by their readers, friends and even other writers. Like much of the art we love most, the answers are as varied as the characters themselves. There’s no right way to bring them to life, and… Continue Reading
Passe-par-tout
People often ask me if I’m “disciplined” about the number of hours I spend writing, and what goes on in my day to produce my best and newest work. What they really want to know is if I have a creative routine. I answer by explaining that a lot… Continue Reading
The Newness of Risk
“Why am I such a wimp?” one of my friends moaned in despair. “What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I be that adventurer I used to be?” I listen closely because the question and tone are familiar; often ricocheting around in my own head and through conversations with other people my age. One of this… Continue Reading
The Importance of Misbehaving
“A writer is someone who has taught his mind to misbehave.”—Oscar Wilde One of my favorite Oscar Wilde quotes identifies a writer as someone who has trained his or her mind to misbehave. I chose it as the representative quotation in the ‘Who Says?’ column on my blog last week, and I’ve left it up… Continue Reading