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The Good and Bad of Storytelling

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Since this has been a week of lies and rumors (or has it?), I thought I’d continue the trend.

I don’t know where I first heard this—a screenwriting blog some years ago, I think—but it described the Coen brothers’ writing process. Ethan and Joel have been top screenwriters in Hollywood since the late 80s and the 90s with hits like Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo and The Big Lebowski. They’ve continued their success ever since with many more movies, including No Country for Old Men, Inside Llewyn Davis, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and the forthcoming The Tragedy of Macbeth (maybe they’re not responsible for all the plotting on this last example, or some of the others too).

In other words, they know how to write.

The story goes that one brother writes a scene, usually ending with the main character in an impossible position, and then hands the writing over to the other brother to see if he can write the protagonist out of that situation, only for him to end the scene in yet another hell, before passing it back again.

Back and forth and back and forth they go—according to the rumor—until they have another smash hit.

Their process then seems to be to consistently find a series of impossible obstacles for their main characters to overcome. The audience go through that same emotional rollercoaster of tension and despair as these cinematic heroes face death once again only to feel that relief and elation as they yet again prevail. [Read more…]

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Reentry: An Author + Parent’s Guide to Reentering the Writerly World in 19 Literary Terms

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Please welcome Kristin Bair to Writer Unboxed today! Kristin’s forthcoming novel Agatha Arch Is Afraid of Everything, which releases tomorrow, recently received a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Writing as Kristin Bair O’Keeffe, she is the author of two novels, The Art of Floating and Thirsty. Her words have appeared in the Gettysburg Review, Flyway: Journal of Writing and Environment, Poets & Writers Magazine, Writer’s Digest, and other fine publications. A native Pittsburgher, Kristin … [Read more...]

Finding Resilience: A Dog Story

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Here’s a story about a little dog named Pippa. Pippa is a Miniature Pinscher, a breed originally designed for rat catching. Although she is very small – 2.8 kilos or around 6 pounds – she has the temperament of a mighty hunter. Or maybe Queen of the Universe might be more appropriate. (And yes, this will eventually come around to writers and writing.) As a small puppy, Pip was given to a gentleman named Leonard as an 80th birthday gift. The giver was his friend Reg, who knew Leonard was … [Read more...]

How to “Sail” Through This Storm: Interview with Olympic Sailor and Novelist Carol Newman Cronin

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After sailing for the USA in the 2004 Olympics, Carol Newman Cronin shifted gears and became a writer, penning four novels (and counting…) with themes tied closely to the sea and coastal life. Her latest, Ferry to Cooperation Island, releases on June 16.   Like most authors this year, Carol had no idea what the whims of Mother Nature had in store as she looked ahead to her launch date. The date had been carefully planned to fall right before the now-postponed 2020 Olympics. Carol had a series … [Read more...]

When Words Are Not Enough

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I am going out on a limb here and going to make a small assumption. We’re all in the same boat in terms of what’s occupied most of our minds for the last couple of months.  It is the first time we can collectively relate to an experience no matter where we live. We’ve been smacked down with what we thought only our imagination and ace-plotting skills could create.  A world-wide pandemic that has universally changed our lives forever. In my lifetime, I’ve had templates and past experiences to … [Read more...]

Sarah’s Simple Pleasures: Sunset

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Dear friends, Our wise editor Therese Walsh and I got to talking about recent joys, struggles, and all the things that go into the writing life. All the things that Writer Unboxed was founded upon. We decided that 2020 should be a new decade of simple pleasure jubilee. Somewhere in the last few years, life got more complicated than ever before. Now, in addition to emails, we have Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, SnapChat, TikTok, and texts pinging at us day and night. I, for one, have a … [Read more...]

My Garden Summer: Books to Blooms

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This is my garden summer. If you follow me on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, you will quickly see that my posts have become progressively more vegetable and flower filled. In fact, that’s where I was just before sitting down to write this column: out in my garden, procrastinating with a hose and trowel under the auspice of these weeds can’t wait; then further distracted in my Google search on “How to get rid of June bugs on my roses?” (Answer: Neems oil!) To most, it’s far from novel, in … [Read more...]

Heartbeats

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I'm at the stage where I don't really look any different. I feel different. (Oh, belieeeeeve me, I feel different, i.e. starting to feel better but still pretty much at least slightly queasy all. the. time.) I'm also at the stage (early second trimester) where I'm past the 'holding my breath' mentality and moving into the 'cautious exhale'. But it's still too soon to be feeling any of those reassuring kicks or flutters, and it's easy to catch myself looking down at my not-yet-all-that-different … [Read more...]

Keeping Your Hustle Joyful

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I recently read a quote on writing I absolutely loved. It's from Joe Beernink, who said, "Don't write to become famous or to make a lot of money. Write because you love it. Write because not writing for more than a few days feels like you have abandoned a puppy in a mineshaft. Save the puppy." The words resonated with me so much, because that's exactly how I feel. I don't take days off from writing. Ever. Others may feel boxed-in by strict self-imposed word count goals, but I love them. … [Read more...]

For the Love of Libraries

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If I can bring you into my prosaic world: I’m writing this 35,000 feet up in my compact plane seat, tray table down, elbows in, laptop jostling on the turbulence. I’m on my way back from speaking at the annual American Library Association conference and am delirious with library love. This was my first time attending the meeting. Michelle Obama was there. Sally Fields, too. Not to namedrop, but to namedrop. Fandemonium of this magnitude is collectively appreciated. I’d heard about the ALA … [Read more...]

Stories that Won’t Let You Go

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Somewhere around six years ago, I had a story idea pop into my head. As most writers will tell you, that's not exactly an unusual occurrence. Story ideas fly into (and often out of) my mind like flights landing at Kennedy Airport. But this idea felt . . . special. It had that x-factor sparkle that demanded, Write me! Write me now! So I did. And the book just . . . totally. did. not. work. I tried it in first person, I tried it in third person with multiple narrators. I tried a myriad … [Read more...]

Chasing Down Inspiration

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Thomas Edison famously said, "None of my inventions came by accident. I see a worthwhile need to be met, and I make trial after trial until it comes. What it boils down to is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration." In my experience, that is somewhat true of writing books, too, in that all the inspiration in the world won't save you if you can't sit down and do the often hard work of getting the words onto the page. I feel like I've talked often in my posts here on WU … [Read more...]

Non-advice for Writers

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Shortly after my third novel was published I started work on a fourth. I’m proud of all three of my books but I could see a steady progression of improvement in my writing—I did become a better writer with each book and I wanted this new one to be my best yet. “Push yourself even more,” my agent said, meaning it in a good way. “Study your craft. Work on your craft. There’s always more you can learn about being a good writer.” I took her advice to heart. I read books on how to write, from … [Read more...]

Stealing from Aesop

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Last month Dave King posted about ideas in stories, highlighting this technique drawn from long-form journalism: “treat ideas as characters and tell a story about them.”  That started me thinking about the Greek slave called Aesop and his pithy fables with their sharp points. For instance, the tale of the the ass in the lion’s skin.  In this fable, a too-clever ass puts on a lion’s skin and walks into town.  The townspeople are terrified…until the animal brays, revealing himself as an ass.  … [Read more...]