Ira Glass is host and producer of This American Life. David Shiyang Liu recorded Ira talking about storytelling. In Part One of the interview, you can watch Ira in the recording studio. You can also read about parts two, three and four in the caption. In Part Three Ira talks about the creative process. Watch Ira’s words unfold in a whimsical way. Ira Glass, the art of storytelling (typed with minor modifications): Nobody tells people who are beginners, and I really wish somebody had told this to me, is that all of us who do creative work . . . we get into it, and we get into it because we have good taste, but it’s like there’s a gap. For the first couple of years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good; it’s not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be…
How are you? No, really . . . Prompt #61
How are you? No, really . . . How. Are. You. Not the usual, “I’m fine. Thank you.” That just won’t do right now. Take a deep breath . . . in through your nose. Exhale through your mouth. A couple more deep breaths. Now, how are you? Scan your body. . . start with your head. How is your hair? How are your eyes? How is your throat? Your stomach? Anything talking to you? Any body part want attention? Write how you are. How you really are. Go deep. Take a big breath. Go deeper. Excavate. Dig in and grab those shadowy feelings. Give them words. Give them names. Translate the murky feelings into words. Let your inner self guide you through new doorways. Now, really. How are you? Photo by Breana Marie
Short may be the new long game.
Jessica Strawser, editor of The Writer’s Digest magazine, writes about the benefits of writing short pieces in the March/April 2014 issue of the Writer’s Digest magazine. “Writing short is a too-often overlooked way to break out in any field of writing. Even if —perhaps especially if —your ultimate goal is to publish a book one day.” She continues, “. . . a diverse approach to getting your name ‘out there’ —whether through personal essays on popular websites, feature articles in leading glossies, or short stories in respected literary journals—is far smarter than focusing your efforts in one place.” So, if you want to write short pieces . . . go ahead! Follow the prompts in this blog and post your writing here!
Write about a time you were lost. Prompt #60
Write about a time you were lost.
Wordrunner eChapbooks now accepting submissions.
Wordrunner eChapbooks: Small Fiction Collection Submissions for this fiction collection, to be published online in June 2014, will be accepted until May 31, 2014. Stories may be flash or longer, from 750 up to 4,000 words each, totaling a minimum of approximately 8,000 and a maximum of 18,000 words for the collection. We would like at least five stories, but no more than 20 (if flash fiction). They need not be linked, but it would be a plus if they belong together for some reason, be it theme, location or character/s. We will also consider novel excerpts for this echapbook. There is no fee to submit and authors receive token payment. Submit your best work only. Each story should be original and compelling. No genre fiction, please, unless a story is good enough to transcend genre. Click here for additional guidelines and submission link. Arlene Mandell‘s memoir Scenes From My…
Guest Blogger Hal Zina Bennett – Transforming Your Inner Critics
Guest Blogger Hal Zina Bennett writes about our inner critics. Most of us writers are plagued by inner critics, those still small voices that speak from within, asking unsettling questions such as: “What makes you think you’re a writer?” Or, “This is drivel.” Or, the classic, “Don’t leave your day job.” Everyone has these inner critics, though some of us find their voices louder or more cutting than others. In their most insidious form, we feel these inner critics as our own self-judgments, not truths that we must accept. The author Storm Jameson put it well: “There is as much vanity in self-scourgings as in self-justification.” We write a few lines or pages that upon our review are “just terrible.” Instead of just rewriting or editing them, we point to them as evidence that we really can’t write. It’s difficult to accept that these inner critics, who stop us in…
The temptation is to lie. . .
If we become honest in our talking and dealing with people, if we go deep and tell the genuine truth, will that carry over to our writing? And will we then go deep and become authentic in our writing? The temptation is to not go where it hurts. The temptation is to lie in order to resist the painful truth. I recently read Pack Up the Moon by Rachael Herron and The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer. Both of these authors went deep in their writing and the resulting books are genuine, authentic and fabulous reads. . . where the characters and their problems deeply touched me. Rachael and Meg did not resist writing about painful truths. How about you? Can you recommend books that deeply touched you? What other authors go deep in their writing? I can think of Jodi Piccoult. Your turn. Photo by Kent Sorensen
Something that gets you in trouble . . . Prompt #59
Write about something that always get you, or your fictional character, in trouble. Photo by Breana Marie
You may have the da Vinci Disease . . .
Have you heard of the da Vinci Disease? Here it is: You have ideas of what to write about. But you never finish because you never start. Or you start and can’t find a way to finish to your satisfaction. You may have a burning desire to write, but there’s never time or maybe you suffer from the da Vinci Disease. The following is excerpted from “The da Vinci Disease,” by Don Fry, March 2014 issue of the Writer Magazine. “Leonardo da Vinci never finished anything because he thought he couldn’t achieve perfection. We all know writers, including ourselves, who can’t (or don’t) finish their work. The root cause is usually a da Vincian rage for perfection, which takes many forms.” Don Fry’s list of why we don’t finish our writing. Italics are Marlene’s comments. We don’t start. ‘Nuff said. Too much gathering. Some writers keep gathering information but never…
All Fools Day . . . Prompt #58
The roots of All Fools Day date back to at least the 1500s as an occasion to perpetrate tomfoolery, possibly in reaction to spring’s mercurial weather. It’s observed on April 1 in many Western countries. In Italy, France, Belgium, and French-speaking areas of Switzerland and Canada, pranksters cry “April fish” as they tape paper fish to people’s backs. In 1957, the BBC pulled a prank, known as the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest prank, where they broadcast a fake film of Swiss farmers picking freshly-grown spaghetti. The BBC were later flooded with requests to purchase a spaghetti plant, forcing them to declare the film a prank on the news the next day. Source: Wikipedia Prompt: Write about pranks you used to play on April Fool’s Day, a prank pulled on you, or make up a story about how April Fool’s Day started.