By the middle of this century, the successful fiction novel is going to involve a lot more than just words-on-the-page. Already, graphic novels are becoming animated and eBooks are reading the stories aloud. It won’t be long before Harry Potter flies out of our tablet in a hologram while J. K. Rowling sits on our …
Category: Writers
Mar 21
A Voice From Long Ago
Last month I wrote about how hard it is for me to find things to write about. Ever since then, everywhere I go, there’s a little voice saying, “Maybe you’ll find something to write about here.” Earlier this month, when I was in California, I hit the jackpot. I read some letters that were found …
Mar 18
A Cracker Jack prize: story ideas
Story ideas do not come in a box of Cracker Jack…or can they? When I was a kid, the box of molasses-flavored popcorn-nut mix contained cool toys. It was a delight to pull out some plastic blue ring, too small for any human hand, and squeeze it halfway onto my pinkie finger and imagine it …
Mar 17
Jerry’s Ghana Trip
In January 2011, Kwang and I took a 120 day around the world cruise with ms Amsterdam in Holland America from Fort Lauderdale in Florida. On the ship we had about one thousand guests and about four hundred crew members. Jerry was a professor in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Stanford before his …
Mar 14
YOU’RE TRASH! Sift Through Some Garbage and Find Your Real Character
Something I almost never read about in the cozy mysteries I love so much is trash. Refuse. The detritus of human life. Lots of my favorite series deal with cooking, pets, books, bookstores, libraries, and crafting, but none of the characters spend time throwing stuff out. Most of my favorite authors would probably say that’s …