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In: Creativity, Stories

The origin of a story can be difficult for fiction writers to place. It’s not because we writers are overly secretive. The process in itself is a mysterious one. Big stories take a lot of working out. There’s multiple characters and plot lines. Novels are a process, but short stories are different. They can suddenly appear and when they do, it’s like love at first sight. Seconds before we didn’t know of them and then we writers are involved and not just involved….we are committed. Sometimes the story tells itself. Sometimes it’s character first. A lot of the time, for me at least, its voice.Read More →

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In: Creativity, Freedom, Love, Reading

We carry our cynicism on our backs as snails do in defense against certain inevitabilites, death not the smallest amongst them.  It’s best not to be shocked. Let’s not, in our naivety, be taken by surprise. Let’s put it out there, warts and all, before life slaps us squarely in the face. Our cynicism opens doors for us in social circles and we lean against lamp posts and on dinner tables with a terrible nonchalance that may, if we are lucky, look like wisdom or street smarts, at the very least. We’ve broken down traditions which were worn out echoes of less understanding days and there are moreRead More →

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In: Creativity, Human Nature

Just to say the word is boring. We draw it out to borrrredomm and it falls like a rock down a well into nothingness. Other animals know it. I have dogs who have chewed the legs off tables when they have missed their walks. Boredom is a black hole. Think about it too much and we might bring it on and be sucked in. When life is interesting, it ceases to exist, but when the wind changes it creeps back and we are mind-numbingly, bone-crushingly at its mercy. There is simple or situational boredom. It’s the stuff of long school days in hot classrooms, withRead More →

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In: Creativity, Human Nature, Writing

It’s one thing having a great idea.  It’s another to capture it in a way which will resonate with you hours, days, weeks or even years later.  It’s what’s needed though for sometimes it takes that long for an idea to find its way into a story.  In fact, I contend that those writerly notes, which still inspire us to make something of them years later are the best of the best.  That is note-taking done well. The writerly note is not just about what happens or who it happens to, even though it may contain plot points and quick character sketches.  It may beRead More →

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In: Creativity, Reading, Writing

  We draw them.  We colour them in.  We make them do things and somewhere along the line, we breathe life into them.  They start to move around in our minds.  They talk to us, making their preferences clear.  “Yes, I’ll do that, but not this.”  They develop proclivities and phobias.  They live. It is the weirdest thing.  In any other job, there would be alarm followed by a long ‘holiday’.  There would be flowers sent and whispers following us down hallways upon release.  Because it is weird, right? American children’s book writer, Lois Lowry says, “When I create characters, I create a world to inhabitRead More →