A Writer's Moment: 'Words working their magic'

A Writer's Moment: 'Words working their magic':   “There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spide...

'Words working their magic'

 

“There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.” ― Diane Setterfield

 

Born in Great Britain in August of 1964, Setterfield started her career as a teacher before diving headfirst into writing with The Thirteenth Tale, a New York Times No. 1 best-seller translated into 40 languages.    The book, also made into a movie, has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

 

Since winning the 2007 Quill Award as Debut Author of the Year, she has authored several more bestsellers, including her latest The Right Sort of Man^.   

 

Setterfield says she’s constantly oscillating between writing and putting herself inside the head of the reader, asking herself questions such as:  How effective is this to my reader? and Have I achieved what I set out to?  But reading, something she advises every author to do, is at the heart of her days.

 

“If I cannot escape for an hour or two every day by reading for pleasure,” she said, “then small problems seem to grow large, and I begin to feel enormously burdened.”

A Writer's Moment: It's how to reach 'the center of life'

A Writer's Moment: It's how to reach 'the center of life':   “Writing is a way of getting at the things most people would prefer to escape.   Writing takes me to the center of life.   That’s my invit...

It's how to reach 'the center of life'

 

“Writing is a way of getting at the things most people would prefer to escape.  Writing takes me to the center of life.  That’s my invitation to my readers as well.” – Steven Millhauser

 

Born in New York City on Aug. 3, 1943 Millhauser is the author of 4 novels, 3 novellas and 7 collections of short stories, winning a Pulitzer Prize for his novel Martin Dressler and The Story Prize for his collection We Others.    His most recent book is 2023’s Disruptions: Stories.

 

A resident of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. where he taught writing at Skidmore for 30 years, Millhauser has earned numerous accolades for his stories.  And his tale Eisenheim the Illusionist was made into the critically acclaimed movie The Illusionist.   Among his published essays, is “The Ambition of the Short Story” in the New York Times Book Review.   

                        

 “I like the way something small can expand into something large.” 

A Writer's Moment: 'Removing those other possibilities'

A Writer's Moment: 'Removing those other possibilities':   “The best thing that can happen to people entering creative professions is the dwindling of all other possibilities.”  –  Dennis Lehane ...

'Removing those other possibilities'

 

“The best thing that can happen to people entering creative professions is the dwindling of all other possibilities.” –  Dennis Lehane

'Born in Boston on this date in 1965, Lehane has had striking success with both his novels (15) and screenplays (more than two dozen, including for hit series like The Wire and Boardwalk Empire).  His most recent success is the 2025 Apple TV series Smoke.  Many of his own novels also have been made into successful films, led by the multiple award-winning Gone, Baby, Gone and Mystic River. 

 

Lehane said his initial plan was not to be a writer, “But from the moment I took my first writing workshop, I was a writer,” he said.  Since achieving literary success he also has taught writing, including being a writer-in-residence at Eckerd College (Florida) where he has co-directed the Writers in Paradise Conference.  

 

“I love to write,” he said, “so it rarely seems like work - even when it gets arduous.”

A Writer's Moment: Writing 'Across the Generations'

A Writer's Moment: Writing 'Across the Generations':   “Writing basically breaks down to relationships between people and that is what you write about.”  – Leon Uris   Born in Baltimore on ...