“…bad books get published to support good books by authors like me that you don’t know exist, but have something unique to say that publishers want to support. Bad books get published because publishing is a business like anything else, and those bad books make money.” – B.J. Mendelson. Social Media is Bullshit from St. Martin’s Press. In the complex ecosystem of modern publishing, commercial success and literary craft don’t always align. Marketing...
The goal is not to keep the TICHN cart empty and thus write a “perfectly normal” story. A story that approaches its ending with nothing in its TICHN cart is going to have a hard time ending spectacularly. ~ G. Saunders, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain In this Lit Lesson, we expand our teaching about character sketches and profiles/portraits by taking on Victory Lap by George Saunders which shows, brilliantly, three the deeper character creation technique. (NOTE: I’m using the...
From Dickens to Orange: The Enduring Power of Verbal Snapshots “To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.” ~ Allen Ginsberg https://blackbirdstudiopdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/LL36.mp4 Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange got me thinking a good deal about portraits and character sketches which helps writers develop richer, more nuanced characters in both fiction and creative non-fiction. From Tell it Slant by Brenda Miller and Suzanna Paola: One of the most...
The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.” Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings In Wandering Stars, by Tommy Orange, one of his characters says: Stories do more than comfort. They take you away and bring you back better made. The big question being asked in this teaching is this: What happens when you cannot be taken away because you are too confused by the structure? (From Publisher): The eagerly awaited follow-up to Pulitzer...
How Barbara Kingsolver’s ‘Demon Copperhead’ Transforms Victorian Social Critique into a Modern Appalachian Tragedy https://blackbirdstudiopdx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Copperhead-2.mp4 Concentrated Focus on Demon Copperhead Refresher on Dicken’s version: Previous teaching “What Dicken’s Can Teach You”: HERE Characters David Copperfield: The protagonist, who narrates his life story from childhood to adulthood. Clara Copperfield (David’s mother): A...
