Just because I listen to your opinion, doesn’t mean I’m following your “suggestions.” Maybe I’m just curious and listen to what people tell me? Maybe it’s because they don’t realize that I’m listening as a writer—with an ear to word choices for use in dialog OR for other character research? Maybe it’s simply that I don’t jump up with an immediate defensive objection? BUT for most of my life, I’ve encountered people dead set on fixing me! The older I get the funnier this phenomenon becomes, but there were times when I took the instructions from family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances,
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Types, Stereotypes & Original Characters
As storytellers we often rely on readers being familiar with archetypes—the wise elder, the innocent youth, the seductress, the fool, the orphaned children, the brave warrior, the idealistic leader, and many more…. Upending those well known figures can open up new venues for fiction. I just read an astounding novel by Ruth Rendell entitled “The Tree of Hands.” I missed it when it came out in the 1980s and I’m glad I impulsively purchased it for my Kindle right before I left on my trip. I was so agitated by the wild ride that sometimes I had to take breaks
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Home… soon…
HOME—whether it is a palace on a hill or a studio apartment—is a huge concept. My childhood home is frozen in time just as it was when I was 8, 11,13, 16… With no reason to return to it, I know that seeing what subsequent families did to the house and garden would be a useless, and perhaps cruel, experience. Why muck with the memories? I’m starting my final day of my trip to Portugal. My head is filled with tiled walls, sunny skies, and castles. My belly is full of grilled sardines, egg custard pastries, and wine. My suitcase
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Home…
HOME—whether it is a palace on a hill or a studio apartment—is a huge concept. My childhood home is frozen in time just as it was when I was 8, 11,13, 16… With no reason to return to it, I know that seeing what subsequent families did to the house and garden would be a useless, and perhaps cruel, experience. Why muck with the memories? I’m starting my final day of my trip to Portugal. My head is filled with tiled walls, sunny skies, and castles. My belly is full of grilled sardines, egg custard pastries, and wine. My suitcase
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Authors & Books
A while back I read Pascal Mercier’s ‘Night Train to Lisbon’ and, since I’m in Porto, Portugal and headed to Lisbon by train, I’ve been thinking about that intriguing and mysterious novel about philosophy and philosophical people. In it, a professor feels compelled to drop everything and go on a quest to learn about the author of a book that is fundamental to his life. It’s an odd story, but I remember feeling “compelled” to go along with the journey. This is funny because I’m often happier to keep the author (the actor, the painter, the sculptor) out of my
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Pondering Words as I Travel
Today is Day 11 of my trip. The first part of this adventure was a Tango holiday with Argentine Tango dancers from around the world. English was, and is, the common default language for this and many other international gatherings. But that does not mean we spoke the same English with the same meanings of words. Early on I discovered that “college” was roughly the equivalent of high school in The Netherlands and that I should say “University” to mean my years at NYU. I was also charmed by the Capetown, Malta, London, Leeds, & Edinburgh accents and use of
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Lift Off…
Blogging while I travel? Yes! And maybe no, too. As the plane lifted off, I pondered what travel means to me. New places, new people, reconnecting with old friends, revisiting places I adore and seeing something new in them… Add some great ART, good food, excellent wine, and Tango to the mix and it’s the perfect trip. It’s also a source of inspiration. Travel changes us. It shakes things up! I decided to shake things very hard, so the for the first couple of days in The Netherlands I didn’t use my computer. Shocking! No Twitter, no Facebook, no Google
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