Bestselling Novelist Heidi Durrow, Author of The Girl Who Fell From The Sky.
This week's Write The Book Prompt was inspired by the work of my guest Heidi Durrow. In the interview, she spoke about the difference between writing short fiction, which tends to find endings and closure, and longer fiction, which needs to open up possibilities that lead into the next part of the novel. This week, write about a character who witnesses something extraordinary. First, write a 500-word story about the situation, in which you offer closure. Then write 500 words that might belong within a longer work of fiction-a chapter that asks questions and opens up the situation for further exploration.
Good luck with this exercise and please listen next week for another.
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Posted in Writing, Agents, Publishing, children's books, Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, Book Selling, Novels, Research, Grief, Memoir on May 24th, 2011 Comments
Cathy Ostlere, Canadian Author of the memoir Lost and the recent YA novel in verse, Karma.
This week's Write The Book Prompt was inspired by the work of my guest Cathy Ostlere, whose new novel, Karma, is written in verse. Look through your creative writing file on the computer or in the bottom of your desk drawer and pull out an idea you've previously shelved, thinking it wouldn't amount to anything. Now look at it anew, and consider what might happen if you were to develop a certain character whose life or situation might be relevant to this idea by working in verse. You can try rhyming verse, or simply play with rhythms. See if something new comes out of that idea simply because you're playing with words in a different way.
Good luck with this exercise and please listen next week for another.
Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ - John Fink; 2) “Filter” - Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several South Burlington High School students)
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Posted in Writing, Agents, Publishing, Creative Nonfiction, Judaism, Nonfiction, History, Research, Grief, Memoir on Apr 19th, 2011 Comments
Nonfiction Author Susan Kushner Resnick, whose latest book is Goodbye Wifes and Daughters, published by University of Nebraska Press.
This week's Write The Book Prompt was suggested by my guest Susan Kushner Resnick, who occasionally assigns this exercise to her students. Describe a loved one's body part. For example, describe your brother's eyebrow. Or your best friend's teeth. This allows you to get very specific and paint a small, detailed picture about someone you know well.
Good luck with this exercise and please listen next week for another.
Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ - John Fink; 2) “Filter” - Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several South Burlington High School students).
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Posted in Writing, Publishing, Creative Nonfiction, Nonfiction, Environment, Book Selling, Nature, Self-publishing, Research, Grief, Memoir, Science on Apr 13th, 2011 Comments
Scientist and Memoir Writer Cardy Raper, Author of Love, Sex & Mushrooms: Part 2 of a 2-Part Interview With New Vermont Writers.
This week's Write The Book Prompt is inspired by National Libraries Week. The state slogan for this year's celebration is: "Vermont Libraries can take you anywhere." This week, find inspiration at a local library. Go sit in the reading room, people watch, chat with the librarian. Browse the shelves. Browse any fliers, posters or announcements in the lobby. Find out what online services your local library provides, and then browse those sites. Keep your mind open and your pen ready. Then write.
Good luck with this exercise and please listen next week for another.
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Interview with Julie Metz, graphic designer and author of the memoir Perfection.
This week's Write the Book Prompt comes to us from a listener in Westford, Vermont. Mark Peloquin writes that he's had good luck with this prompt:
Describe your room as a child. Describe why you felt safe there or perhaps, why you did not. Describe what you would see when you looked out the window or through the key hole. Describe any things that were on the walls and why there were significant.
Good luck with this prompt, many thanks to Mark for sending it, and please listen next week for another.
Excerpt of Perfection read with permission from Hyperion Books.
Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ - John Fink; 2) “Filter” - Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several South Burlington High School students).
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Novelist Colum McCann, author of Let The Great World Spin, Winner of the 2009 National Book Award.
This week's Write the Book Prompt was suggested by my guest, Colum McCann. When I described this part of the show and asked if he had any prompts or advice to share, he said (and I quote): "My prompt is: Poetry Poetry Poetry Poetry Poetry Poetry Poetry ... Poetry." Then he added, "And learn from the masters. We get our voices from the voices of others. There's a sort of mitosis that goes on there. So listen to the great ones, imitate them, and develop your own voice."
Good luck with this prompt and please listen next week for another.
Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ - John Fink; 2) “Filter” - Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several South Burlington High School students).
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Interview with Louella Bryant, author of While In Darkness There Is Light.
This week's Write the Book Prompt is pretty straightforward. If you tend to love the holidays, write about your worst holiday memory ever. And if you don't enjoy the holidays, write about your best.
Good luck with this prompt and please listen next week for another.
Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ - John Fink; 2) “Filter” - Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several South Burlington High School students)
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Vermont Poet Pamela Harrison, author of the new collection, Out of Silence.
This week's Write the Book Prompt was suggested by my guest, Pamela Harrison. In her creative writing classes, she will sometimes ask students to read and study Archibald McLeash's Poem "Eleven," which captures a particular time in the intellectual and emotional life of an eleven year old boy. He is asked by the adults in his life to "think, think, think!" But he's not ready to think. He's still living deep inside his body. He hasn't arrived at his intellectual capacities yet and hasn't awakened to his separate self. The poem, says Pamela, beautifully captures that time in the life of a child.
Your prompt this week is to find the poem "Eleven" and read it. Look at each line as it develops. Then find or remember a place in your own life that was your hideaway, your safe place as a child, where you were most alive inside your body and where you had a sense of wholeness; then write. It's amazing, says Pamela, what this exercise inspires in her students.
Good luck with this prompt and please listen next week for another.
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Posted in Uncategorized, Writing, Poetry, Politics, Blogs, Activism, Meditation, Nonfiction, Environment, Book Selling, Nature, Addiction, Mental Illness, Self-publishing, History, Grief, Memoir, War on Nov 9th, 2010 Comments
Jon Turner, Vermont Veteran, Poet, Paper Maker and Warrior Writers Member.
This week, instead of a Write the Book Prompt, I'm going to refer you to the Warrior Writers' blogspot. There, alongside regular blog entries, you'll find weekly writing prompts, poetry forms, and occasional shared work.
Please listen next week when the Prompt will return.
Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ - John Fink; 2) “Filter” - Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several South Burlington High School students)
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Ann Hood, author of fiction, essays and memoir, most recently of the novel The Red Thread, published by W.W. Norton and Co.
This week we have two Write The Book Prompts, both suggested by Ann Hood. The first is to write your autobiography in 500 words. And the second is to find a copy of Sandra Cisnero's very short story, "My Name," which was part of her book, The House On Mango Street. Read that, and then write the story of your own name. Or, if you're working on a piece of fiction, write the story of your character's name. Ann says that these exercises have proven very useful in classes that she's taught and that they really help details of character to emerge. Due to copyright laws, I can't reproduce Sandra Cisneros' lovely vignette, My Name, on my podcast site. But if you google it, you'll probably find a copy floating out there in the world. Or, hey! Buy it! Writers supporting writers: always a good idea.
Good luck with these exercises and please listen next week for another.
Excerpt from Ann Hood's novel The Read Thread read with permission.
Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ - John Fink; 2) “Filter” - Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several South Burlington High School students)
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