Excellence encourages one about life generally; it shows the spiritual wealth of the world.
George Eliot
Author: Suzanne Harper
Quote of the Week — 01.11.16
Storytelling is magic. It’s not the magic of sorcery — you’re not a Druid summoning swamp-elves from the murk. You’re a stage magician. Practiced in the art of illusion. One of your greatest skills is misdirection. You seed the truth of the magic trick early on in the story. Then you convince the reader that the truth isn’t the truth at all — until the time comes to reveal.
Chuck Wendig
Playground Fight
Writing Prompt: Each boy goes home after school. Each boy gets asked, “What in the world happened?” What story does each one tell?
Quote of the Week — 01.04.16
I decided very early that I wanted to write. But I didn’t think of it as a career. I didn’t even think of it as a profession… It was the most exciting thing, the most powerful thing, the most wonderful thing to do with my life.
Mary Oliver
Hunting Aliens
Writing Prompt: Everyone in the neighborhood has heard the bad news: monsters from outer space are on their way to take over the Earth. Some people are more excited about taking on the aliens than others. But they all know they must be ready…what happens next?
Quote of the Week — 12.28.15
It didn’t occur to me that my books would be widely read at all, and that enabled me to write anything I wanted to. And even once I realized that they were being read, I still wrote as if I were writing in secret. That’s how one has to write anyway – in secret.
Louise Erdrich
First Date
Writing Prompt: You’re writing a scene set in the past (say, between 1890 and 1912). Two people go out on a first date. They could take a walk in the park, see a play or visit the ice cream parlor. But what if she suggests something a little more offbeat? Or what if he’s just received two pairs of stilts from his eccentric great-uncle? Or a newfangled zipline has just opened up down the block? What happens next?
Quote of the Week — 12.21.15
As I’ve gone through life, I’ve found that your chances for happiness are increased if you wind up doing something that is a reflection of what you loved most when you were somewhere between nine and eleven years old.
Walter Murch
Time to Dance
Writing Prompt: Create a scene in which one, two or dozens of characters are inspired to start dancing in the street. (Humming Motown as you write is optional.)
The Force Is Everywhere Today
So this seems like a good day to mention that there’s a mini-Star Wars theme in my first novel, The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney. (One of the characters, Jack, has this action figure on his bookshelf. It means something…)
Check out my Pinterest board for other images related to Sparrow!
