The Imperative for Dramatic Conflict
A director told me once that if you put two actors together in a scene without directing them or staging the scene, […]
Finding Home
“Home is where one starts from.” – T. S. Eliot There’s nothing more primal than our quest for home. The dilemma is […]
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 […]
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 […]
Memoir: Mastering the Impossible
“While they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done.” – Helen Keller The purpose of art is to […]
One True Moment
“Where did that come from?” I believe there is something we writers are collectively seeking. We are all attempting to convey an […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
What Does it Mean?
Everyone has a story. It takes courage to tell it, be it memoir or fiction, because there comes a point where we […]
Choose Love
In every story, love is the mystery that is always on the table. In the beginning of your story, the question may […]
Passion
“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” – Albert Einstein What do you feel passionate about? What is your […]
