Tag Archive for ‘Inspiration’
Can Writing about Grief Make You Happy?
It might sound crazy, but for Allison Gilbert, writing about mourning has been an uplifting experience: Several weeks ago my new book, Parentless Parents, was published. This is the third book I’ve written that deals with mourning and loss. And while you might assume I’d be the last person you’d want to meet at a cocktail party, I’ve been told otherwise. I smile; I laugh. You might even call me bubbly. Each book I’ve written is the result of successfully [...]
What Makes a Title Great?
Novelist Caroline Leavitt on the impossibility — and importance — of finding the perfect title: When I finished my new novel, I was relieved, excited, overwhelmed, and then terrified. I knew I wasn’t really finished – I had to do the one thing that makes my head feel as if it is going to explode: I had to find the right title. Having published eight other novels, I knew that a title wasn’t just my own creative decision. My editor, my agent, publicity [...]
Nothing is Ever Lost
In which the writer Mark Trainer explains how old ideas can spring to life when you least expect it: One of my writing teachers way back when, George Garrett, used to say of being a writer, “Nothing is ever lost.” He meant it as comfort when every lit mag under the sun had rejected your story. Just because you can’t make use of it now doesn’t mean you won’t be able to years down the road. It’s true for the [...]
Beast of Burden
You may have noticed that I haven’t posted much lately. Keeping a blog is like having a pet — it requires constant maintenance. And when I wasn’t deep into writing my novel, I derived a lot of pleasure from it (and still do, in sporadic bursts). But working on a novel is like having a newborn baby. It keeps you up at night, it needs constant feeding, it’s unpredictable and exhausting. And like new parents who find that the frisky [...]
A New Twist to a Familiar Story
Karen Essex talks about how she reclaimed — and reframed — the vampire myth by exploring its female origins in her new novel, Dracula in Love: From the first time I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula in my teens, I just knew that Mina was not satisfied with her role as the quintessential Victorian virgin. Little did I dream that many years later, I would actually revise the story, retelling it from Mina’s perspective. Though Stoker’s Dracula was a brilliant creation [...]
Great Writing
Justin Kramon didn’t think he was qualified to call himself a writer. And then he thought about his favorite books, and had a change of heart: For some reason, I used to have the perception that writers should be interesting, well-rounded, generally knowledgeable people. I got this idea before I’d met any writers, and certainly before I started trying to become one. In fact, my perception of writers was a big obstacle to writing, because – and I have to [...]
How Do You Become Someone Else?
The writer Elizabeth Strout, explaining what it’s like to write from the point of view of an irascible retired schoolteacher in her 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Olive Kitteridge: “I actually see myself in all my characters. In order to imagine what it feels like to be another person I have to use my own experiences and responses to the world. I have to play attention to what I have felt and observed, then push those responses to an extreme while [...]
Inventing Characters from History
When novelist Laurie Albanese and art historian Laura Morowitz began collaborating on a novel about the 15th-century painter Fra Filippo Lippi, they discovered that their biggest challenge was to make the truth seem believable. Laurie Albanese explains: When my good friend Laura first handed me a book of Fra Filippo Lippi’s 15th-century paintings three years ago, she opened the door to a world as intriguing as it was unknown to me. The paintings and frescoes were vivid and arresting: A stunning [...]
Write Drunk, Edit Sober
In anticipation of the paperback release of my latest novel, Bird in Hand, my friend Gretchen Rubin invited me to answer some questions about happiness for her wonderful blog, The Happiness Project. One of her questions is, “Is there a happiness mantra or motto you’ve found very helpful?” I do have one — which I’ll write about for Gretchen (and link to here!) in a few days — but I love the answer to this question given by Larry Smith, [...]
Lost in Translation
The Portuguese writer Clara Paulino thought she’d never find another language that could express the depth and nuance of her experience. And then she did: A few months ago I made the momentous discovery that I can write in English. Strange discovery, one might say, given that I have lived “in English” for the past seven years and teach Art History to American students. Yet it was the sound of Portuguese that welcomed me into this world, and English is [...]
