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Have visited Nazareth, Mt. Tabor, site of the Transfiguration and Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine (first public miracle) in Israel. I was also analyzing a book and realized there are some passages in the Bible that can help creative people. The primary one is in Genesis 1 when God creates the world. Look…
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If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? ~ Albert Einstein I love research. And not as a tool of procrastination (I know your tricks)! In order to write believable fiction, your details must be accurate. This allows the reader to relax and enjoy your story…
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Am on a refreshment break, so the regular post will be a few days late. In the meantime, here’s Aaron Gansky on creating atmosphere for a quick blast of craft and then agent Sarah LaPolla on the myth of the perfect agent for a longer blast of the business of writing, including what questions to…
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If you want to write strong, believable dialog, then it pays to take time to train your ear, in addition to reading great dialog, attend plays, read good plays and screenplays, go see classic movies and all kinds of concerts. Yep, music. The other benefit is to create an awareness for the reader of your…
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Rejection. Well, that’s depressing, but all artists, all writers, must deal with it at one time or another. Maybe all the time or at least it feels that way. The added problem is that rejection triggers me and other writers I know with old echoes of rejection, humiliation, etc. from childhood. Probably true for most…
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Imagination is the lifeblood of a writer’s creativity, but imagination and creativity are different. If you only imagine, the book does not get written. If you only create, you can miss out on where flights of fancy may take you. There’s a wonderful book by Naomi Epel called Writers Dreaming – writers discuss dreaming and…
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Curiosity is the engine of art. The desire to know or learn and the desire to create come together in the best writing. Probably the two defining questions for the writer are ‘what if?’ and ‘what happens next?’ To which Lisa Cron would add ‘and so?’ (read her book Wired for Story to find out…
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The time which we have at our disposal every day is elastic; the passions that we feel expand it, those that we inspire contract it; and habit fills up what remains. ~ Vol II, Within A Budding Grove, Marcel Proust There are 168 hours in one week. The best way to determine how to use…
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“A story is the shaping of experience that let’s us know there is movement in time from an initial starting point, through a development, to a place where it stops. Every story is a pilgrimage, just as every human life is a pilgrimage – coming from somewhere, moving somewhere, ending somewhere. A good story, properly…
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I’ve been very blessed with great mentors. Rob Roberge and Gayle Brandeis in particular helped shape my work. Cheryl Strayed totally saved me in workshop – saved Growing Chocolate – with her suggestion to flip the last two chapters. I did have to go back and clean some things up, but that change kept the tone consistent all…
Diane Sherlock 
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