John Steinbeck writes to his editor the ways in which “a book is like a man.”
A book is like a man—clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will be a page like a wet and mangy mongrel, and for every looping flight a tap on the wing and a reminder that wax cannot hold the feathers firm too near the sun.
Read the whole letter at Letters of Note.
For this writing exercise, take a piece of classic literature. Maybe it’s something you loved reading or maybe it’s something that caused you lasting damage when it was assigned to you in 10th grade English.
Once you have a clear image of the world of this story — imagine it’s invaded by zombies.
Write for ten minutes.
In January, author Alex Epstein decided to begin pre-releasing the stories from his upcoming book, in their entirety, over Facebook
The idea of publishing an entire new collection of very short stories on Facebook was, in part, an experiment to see how literature can become more social…. The thing that surprised me from the beginning was to witness (amazed and to be honest a little petrified) how hundreds of people, simultaneously, were reading the book “cover to cover” (by liking story after story), minutes after it was published, almost in real time. My totally un-mainstream art became viral, only by allowing it to be read on a site where people already spend a lot of their time.
Publisher Tin House recently re-released the 1928 classic, Plotto: The Master Book of All Plots.
The book, which breaks down hundreds of various stories into their essential plot structures, is meant as a “how-to,” and was hailed by The Boston Globe (in its day) as “first aid to troubled writers.”
Now, thanks to Tin House, you can be a master of all plots, too, because every Wednesday, the publishing house is posting a writing prompt from the book, and holding a contest for the best short short story that results.
This week’s:
{A’s} profession is a hazardous one—aviator, automobile racing driver, steeple jack, “human fly”—and {B} considers this fact an obstacle to their marriage.
Read the Tin House blog for all the prompts, and information on how to submit to the contest.
When it comes to creative thinking, it might actually be beneficial to be brain damaged: presented with a simple brain teaser, patients with severe attention deficits solved the puzzle 82% of the time, compared to 43% of the “normal” subjects.
The creative upside of brain damage — the unexpected benefits of not being able to focus — does reveal something important about the imagination. Sometimes, it helps to consider irrelevant information, to eavesdrop on all the stray associations unfolding in the far reaches of the brain. We are more likely to find the answer because we have less control over where we look.
Since none of us particularly want to damage our frontal lobes, even for the sake of creativity, there’s some consolation in a recent study that concluded that being sleepy and drunk are great for creativity.
Like we need another excuse.
Read about it on Wired: “Why Being Sleepy and Drunk Are Great for Creativity.”
Ali Luke answers an email which asked, “Do you have any tips about how to motivate yourself?”
While all writers struggle with motivation, it’s particularly tough for fiction writers. We often end up working for years on a novel or short story collection … and it’s very easy to end up writing less and less frequently.
Then she provides nine useful tips on getting and staying motivated.
“Our power is patience. We have discovered that writing allows even a stupid person to seem halfway intelligent, if only that person will write the same thought over and over again, improving it just a little bit each time. It is a lot like inflating a blimp with a bicycle pump. Anybody can do it. All it takes is time.”
Kurt Vonnegut
Everything stinks, till it’s finished.
Dr. Seuss
“You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance.”
Ray Bradbury
“We have our Arts so we won’t die of Truth.”
Ray Bradbury in Zen in the Art of Writing.