Writing may or may not be your salvation; it might or might not be your destiny. But that does not matter. What matters right now are the words, one after another. Find the next word. Right it down. ~ Neil Gaiman
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'Jessica Page Morrell' Category
Take care with minor characters
If you’re going to have a character appear in a story long enough to sell a newspaper, he’d better be real enough that you can smell his breath. ~ Ford Maddox Ford Minor characters are too often faceless walk-ons in fiction. But that means the writer has missed a chance to create reality and complexity. […]
Read the rest of this entry »What will it take?
This has been another grim, difficult week in world affairs and for our tattered republic. So many worrying events going on; another government shut down, DACA hasn’t been fixed, the stock market is volatile, more scandals and cover-ups in the White House. I’m weary, citizens everywhere are weary. But across the Pacific, in another time […]
Read the rest of this entry »Ursula K. LeGuin: There must be darkness to see the stars.
The legendary writer Ursula K LeGuin died on January 22 in her home in Portland, Oregon. She was 88 and leaves a long legacy of novels, stories, essays, poems, and musings. It goes without saying that she inspired millions, including many writers. Her website is a wonder and includes a link to her blog and […]
Read the rest of this entry »Joan Didion
“I’m not telling you to make the world better, because I don’t think that progress is necessarily part of the package. I’m just telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but to live in it. To look at it. To […]
Read the rest of this entry »Join me at Writers in the Grove 2018 Authors Conference, January 27
For more information visit their site here. I’ll be teaching a workshop on Character Arc. Keynote speaker Deborah Reed. Other workshops by Holly Lorincz, Chip McGregor, Paulann Petersen, MaryJane Nordgren, and Kristen Thiel.
Read the rest of this entry »Be generous to your characters
Be generous to your characters; kill them, save them, break their hearts and then heal them. Stuff them with life, histories, emotions, and people they love and once you’ve done that, once they’re bursting at the seams; strip them bare. Find out what they look like–how they stand, talk, move when they have nothing left. […]
Read the rest of this entry »January
Wishing you a productive year filled with inspiration. But of course inspiration simply doesn’t fly in the door. We invite it by reading and writing and taking in art. We invite it with stillness and walks and attention. How are you going to achieve your writing goals this year? Are you staking out morning hours […]
Read the rest of this entry »A book, too, can be a star….
A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe. ~ Madeline L’Engle
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