Some years ago I was at the bookstore Book Passage in Corte Madera. I couldn’t find anything new I wanted to buy, but before I left empty-handed I stopped by the second-hand (nearly new? gently used?) bookshelf. There I found a collection of short stories set in Quebec and Paris by Mavis Gallant. I’m a…
My Writing Process: Blog Tour
Thanks to my friend Humaira for inviting me to participate in “My Writing Process Blog Tour” via @MondayBlogs. I love writing and talking about writing. Stop me if I go on too long. 1. What am I working on? A few years ago my neighbor, in casual conversation, said to me: Well you know, my…
Writing Prompts
“WHAT’S THE POINT of writing prompts?” a writer friend asked me. “Why should I write about, I don’t know, a salt shaker or some other random object?” I saw her point. She was in the middle of the third draft of her novel, and she knew what problems she still had to tackle, more or…
Exploring Your Main Character
WHO IS THE PROTAGONIST of your story? Sometimes as you are building a story—outlining, writing notes, running through scenes in your mind—you realize that the main character is not the most interesting character. This might prompt you to change your protagonist. After all, any story can be told from any viewpoint. The main criteria is…
How To Be Creative
I RECENTLY READ A POST asking whether creative writing programs were worth the bother. As usual, responders (most of them writers) had many different opinions on this question. One writer claimed that creativity just couldn’t be taught: end of story. As someone who has both taken and taught creative writing classes, I felt a bit…
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