I stepped outside this morning and heard birdsong, smelled melting snow on the air, and noticed the sun felt slightly warmer. Spring is coming, and it couldn’t come at a better time. I hit a pandemic wall last week (I suspect many of you are experiencing similar feelings). The losses nationwide have been incredibly difficult, crippling for some, and to compound all of that, the restlessness has set in. I’m done being indoors and I’m done being isolated. I’m done NOT seeing my friends and … [Read more...]
Search Results for: the current hope
Love, Hope, and the Dystopian Dark
I had one of those dread-saturated 3:00 AM awakenings last week. The initial panic resulted from a sudden awareness that all the most dire warnings regarding the upcoming election are virtually certain to come true. The Transition Integrity Project, a nonpartisan group of academics, journalists, and current and former government and party officials, has simulated the four most likely scenarios, and all but one results in widespread violence and a Constitutional crisis. [Note: I didn't … [Read more...]
9 Authors on Hope
I was on the phone with author Barbara Taylor Bradford on Tuesday morning. We were just having a check-in to see how things were going in quarantine. I complained about my mornings of remote learning with my five and eight-year-old children. We both agreed that as women who have worked from home for years—she 40 and me 15—not much had changed for us in that respect. But having lived through WWII, she wanted me to know that it would be OK, that things would get better, that I had to have hope. … [Read more...]
The Current
What about a novel sweeps us up into its world? What carries us along even when the imperatives of plot are on hold or absent? What makes us ache for something without knowing what it is? What makes us impatient for a story’s resolution at the same time that we want the tale to go on forever? What is it that causes us to feel that a story has touched our souls? It’s not plot, scene dynamics or micro-tension. It’s not the inner journey. It’s not setting, voice or theme, although those … [Read more...]
Accentuate the Positive: Hope and the Aspiring Writer
Kath here. Please welcome Boston-based poet and novelist L.J. Cohen to Writer Unboxed. L.J. was a finalist in our quest to find an unpublished contributor. She’s been a part of the WU community for years, having contributed a two-part guest post for us in 2008 on using a wiki to organize a novel (see part one and part two). L.J. has been actively blogging at Once in a Blue Muse since 2005. She’s also the head moderator of a large internet based poetry workshop, Wild Poetry Forum. She's been … [Read more...]
Women’s Empowerment in Fiction: Bookseller Perspectives
If there’s one topic I love talking about with fellow writers, it’s women’s empowerment in fiction. For this reason, I was thrilled in late January to see that Publishers Weekly had run a fabulous piece on exactly this subject, titled “Is Women’s Empowerment Coming to Publishing?” The article was from the perspective of big players in the industry like marketing and sales managers, executive editors, and editorial directors, and it outlined what publishers are seeking in the women’s empowerment … [Read more...]
Learning to Say No Thanks: Standing up for Your Creative Vision
Please welcome new contributor Kasey LeBlanc to the Writer Unboxed team! From his bio: Kasey LeBlanc (he/him) is a graduate of Harvard College and of GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator program, where he was an Alice Hoffman Fellow. He has been published by WBUR’s Cognoscenti and was a finalist in 2018 for the Boston Public Library’s Writer-in-Residence Position. He is currently revising his Novel Incubator manuscript, a young adult novel about a closeted trans teenage boy, Catholic school, and a … [Read more...]
Why We Need Tragic Stories, Now More Than Ever
Well, I just finished another revision pass on my WIP. This one was for the final edition of a trilogy, and revising the ending has really gotten me thinking. Not just about the story. It’s also made me take a look at myself—at who I am as a storyteller, and how this process has changed me. As well as how my story and I reflect the times and fit into the world around me. Before I go on, I’m going to offer a mild potential spoiler warning to anyone who plans on someday reading my upcoming … [Read more...]
The Favorite Writer I Never Knew I Had
True story: When I was seven or eight years old, I found my calling. I was inspired to become a drummer by Micky Dolenz, the drummer for The Monkees. Or so I thought. It turns out the music on the early Monkees albums was not actually played by Micky, Davy, Mike and Peter. Instead, like the vast majority of rock and pop albums in the '60s and early '70s, it was played by a group of professional studio musicians who became collectively known as the Wrecking Crew, which included drummer Hal … [Read more...]
What Gandhi Taught Me About Telling Stories that Mean Something
Surprise! We weren't supposed to be back to regular programming here at WU until tomorrow, but then Kelsey Allagood sent this gem to us. There aren't many free days at WU in 2021, but today was free and so here is a gem of a post for you to enjoy today. Before we get to that, though, please meet Kelsey: Kelsey Allagood (she/her) is a writer and trained political analyst specializing in the causes of war and systemic oppression. This background led her to begin writing fantasy fiction steeped in … [Read more...]
The Beat Goes On
It’s confusing. As if there aren’t enough hero’s journeys and snowflakes to follow in putting together your novel, there is also the matter of beats. Commonly used in screenwriting, the concept of beats sometimes creeps into thinking about fiction writing. What exactly are beats, and do they have any utility in fiction? In screen and stage plays, a beat is most commonly used to mean a pause in dialogue. Think the pregnant pause in plays by Harold Pinter. A short silence makes a deliberate … [Read more...]
Talking to a Paranoid (Or: Why Stories Will Not Save Us)
When I worked as a private investigator, two clients suffering from paranoid delusions asked for my firm’s services. Not that their mental state was obvious at first—both (one male, one female) were presentable, middle-class, middle-aged, intelligent, and articulate. The man wanted us to investigate his bowling league, for he believed ugly rumors were being spread about him. The woman wanted us to investigate her psychiatrist, with whom she claimed to have had an affair and who now was trying … [Read more...]
Fiction of Its Times or Fiction for All Time?
(With thanks to Jael McHenry for raising this timely topic on Monday. It’s on our minds this year and there’s lots to say about it. Here’s my take.) Should fiction reflect its times or transcend its times? What about your fiction? Should you ignore masks and political mayhem or incorporate those? If you do, will your fiction grow dated or will it survive to be read for decades, maybe centuries? Writers of historical stories, future stories and fantasy may be congratulating themselves … [Read more...]
Don’t Mess with Mama Nature
Unless your writing is completely grounded in urban grit, sooner or later you’ll find yourself relying on nature. You may have a character who gardens or simply likes staring out the window at a garden – or a forest, hills, parks, sea, or desert. Your plot may need a tornado, flood, forest fire, hurricane, blizzard, or ice storm. You may want nature to reinforce the mood of your story or characters. Or maybe a character just needs to take a walk. The key to any good description is to … [Read more...]
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