Ann Patchett is the author of six novels, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, The Magician’s Assistant, Bel Canto, Run, and State of Wonder. I’ve read each one. She’s one of my favorite authors. I met her in Danville at a reading event for her collection of essays, This is the Story of a Happy […]
Subtext in Writing Fiction
Subtext in dialogue give readers a glimpse into the characters’ underlying feelings. The words they say may mean the opposite of how they feel or how they act. Subtext is the truth which sometimes the characters don’t realize and sometimes they do but they keep it hidden. Readers need to sense the truth from the […]
Ursula K. Le Guin Book Recommendation and Quote
Ursula K. Le Guin’s birthday was on October 21st. She’s eighty-five years old. She writes mainly in the fantasy and science fiction genres. Her book titled The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination has her 1992 essay “Dogs, Cats, and Dancers: Thoughts about Beauty” in it. […]
How Do your Characters Shake Hands?
Handshakes communicate dominance, submission, or equality. When hands meet, if one person turns his or her palm facing down, it’s called the Upper Hand and means that person wants control of the meeting. The submissive handshake is from the person whose palm faces upward. In social situations, women often offer a soft handshake to men […]
Alfred Hitchcock Quotes
“Drama is life with the dull parts left out.” “There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.” “I’m a writer and, therefore, automatically a suspicious character.” “Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.” Here is my favorite: “I have a feeling that inside you somewhere, there’s somebody nobody […]
Your Characters’ Handwriting
Vimala Rodgers wrote a book called Change Your Handwriting, Change Your Life. The description on the back cover, states that handwriting is “a road map to the psyche, a clear path through the winding labyrinth of our personality. Every loop and flourish reveals an attitude, each line and slant displays a quality.” Several years ago, […]
Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” “What you are comes to you.” “Once you make a decision, the Universe conspires to make it happen.” “Every artist was first an amateur.” “This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” “Live […]