A director told me once that if you put two actors together in a scene without directing them or staging the scene, the conflict would begin to diminish. If the actors were on opposite sides of the …
Novel / Fiction
Finding Home
“Home is where one starts from.” - T. S. Eliot There’s nothing more primal than our quest for home. The dilemma is that our childhood homes may have been confusing, chaotic, or even violent. …
No Good Guys, No Bad Guys
There are times, as storytellers, when we can be so bull-headed about what we want to express, that we end up pushing an agenda rather than telling a story. We create "good guys and bad guys," and in …
Writing the Reluctant Protagonist
“My aim is to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.”- Ernest Hemingway Allow the Protagonist to Feel Reluctance No one likes change. The unknown is scary. The …
The Writer’s Place
"Where did that come from?" I believe there is something we writers are collectively seeking. We are all attempting to convey an experience, a true moment, to tell a story that somehow reveals more …
Stay Curious
“The curious are always in some danger. If you are curious, you might never come home.” - Jeanette WintersonWhen my son was three years old, he was Captain Hook for Halloween. It was fascinating to …
What Do I Write Next?
Writers frequently come to me and say: "I have three ideas. Which one should I write next?"In the 90-day workshops, one of the first exercises we do is we write for five minutes, beginning with: "My …
Story is an Argument
(Image from "Big" 1988) Story is an argument. The theme (or dramatic question) is the thesis statement, and the story is the argument played out. Any argument requires opposing forces. These forces …
First-Time Novelists: Dealing with Fear
Many authors share a similar fear: “What will people think?” It looks slightly different for each writer. What will my parents think when they find out I have these thoughts? What will my friends …
Hold the Story Loosely
Our idea of the story is never the whole story. The act of writing a novel, memoir, or screenplay is a way of developing a coherent narrative for something that began as a simple idea or image. We are …