A Writer's Moment: 'Your life -- something to be sculpted'

A Writer's Moment: 'Your life -- something to be sculpted':   “I’d visit the near future, close enough that someone might want to talk to Larry Niven and can figure out the language; distant enough t...

'Your life -- something to be sculpted'

 

“I’d visit the near future, close enough that someone might want to talk to Larry Niven and can figure out the language; distant enough to get me decent medical techniques and a ticket to the Moon.” – Larry Niven

That would be multi-award winning author Niven’s choice if he could time-travel.  Best known for his massive bestselling novel (and series) Ringworld, Niven said he thinks dinosaurs probably became extinct because they didn’t have a space program. And while he’s glad we do, he’d still like to see us pick up the pace and be better prepared … just in case. 

Born in Los Angeles on April 30, 1938 Niven began Sci-Fi writing in his early 20s, starting with short stories, then turning to novels. To date, he has turned out over 100 books, both Sci-Fi and Fantasy and he has "several" new books in progress.   His writing is a unique combination of hard science fiction, theoretical physics, detective fiction, and rollicking adventure.   

In 2015, Niven was honored by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (actually a worldwide organization) with its prestigious “Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award” for his lifetime body of work.  

                                                            

A 5-time Hugo Award winner for his books and short stories, Niven also has written scripts for several top Sci-Fi television series and done work on DC Comics’ Green Lantern.    

 

Niven’s advice to writers:  “Treat your life like something to be sculpted.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Be proactive and keep pounding on the door'

A Writer's Moment: 'Be proactive and keep pounding on the door':   “I think writers have to be proactive: they've got to use new technology and social media. Yes, it's hard to ge...

'Be proactive and keep pounding on the door'

 

“I think writers have to be proactive: they've got to use new technology and social media. Yes, it's hard to get noticed by traditional publishers, but there's a great deal of opportunity out there if you've got the right story.” – Ian Rankin

Rankin, born in Scotland on April 28, 1960 is best known for his “Inspector Rebus” novels, even though he did not set out to be a crime writer.  In fact, he didn’t think he even had “the right story” for the "crime fiction" genre.  He thought his first novels Knots and Crosses and Hide and Seek were more “mainstream” keeping with the Scottish traditions of Robert Louis Stevenson and Muriel Spark.  

 

But his readers disagreed and so far he’s had some 40 books published, many of them not only best sellers but also adapted into TV movies.  He makes his home in Edinburgh where he sets most of his novels and “educates” his readers about his hometown in the process.

 

Rankin uses “life experiences" in his writing and he's had many, beginning as a worker in his dad's grocery store.  He also worked as a grape-picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher (I’d definitely like to hear more about that one), hi-fi journalist, college secretary, and punk musician in a band called The Dancing Pigs.

  

“I am, of course, a frustrated rock star - I'd much rather be a rock star than a writer,” he said.  “Or own a record shop. Still, it's not a bad life, is it? You just sit at a computer and make stuff up.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Language, first and last'

A Writer's Moment: 'Language, first and last':     “Poetry is, first and last, language - the rest is filler.” – Mark Strand    Born on Prince Edward Island in A...

'Language, first and last'

 

 

“Poetry is, first and last, language - the rest is filler.” – Mark Strand

  

Born on Prince Edward Island in April of 1934, Strand became an American citizen and had a distinguished career as a poet, essayist and translator.  He died in 2014 at age 80.

 

Poet Laureate Consultant to the Library of Congress, he received the Wallace Stevens Award (given to "recognize outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry”) and numerous other major prizes, including a MacArthur “Genius” grant and the Pulitzer Prize for his book Blizzard of One.  For Saturday’s Poem, here is Strand’s,

 

The Everyday Enchantment of Music

 

A rough sound was polished until it became
a smoother sound, which was polished until
it became music.
Then the music was polished until
it became the memory of a night in Venice
when tears of the sea fell from the Bridge of Sighs,
which in turn was polished until it ceased
to be and in its place stood the empty home
of a heart in trouble.
Then suddenly there was sun and the music came back
and traffic was moving and off in the distance,
at the edge of the city, a long line of clouds appeared,
and there was thunder, which, however menacing,
would become music, and the memory of what happened after
Venice would begin, and what happened after the home
of the troubled heart broke in two would also begin.

A Writer's Moment: A role model for integrity and truth

A Writer's Moment: A role model for integrity and truth:   "The speed of communications is wondrous to behold.  It is also true that speed can multiply the distribution of information that we ...

A role model for integrity and truth

 "The speed of communications is wondrous to behold.  It is also true that speed can multiply the distribution of information that we know to be untrue."  -- Edward R. Murrow

Born in North Carolina on April 25, 1908 Murrow was a leading light in the news business for 35 years before his life was cut short by lung cancer on April 27, 1965.    Murrow received numerous honors for his journalistic excellence and integrity, including the Medal of Freedom and a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II just weeks before his death.

A radio war correspondent in World War II, he founded the CBS television news program See It Now, and his work behind the CBS news desk and as an interviewer influenced two generations of news anchors, beginning with Walter Cronkite.  Today, his name graces the Excellence in Reporting awards given annually in both the print and broadcast worlds.

The 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck, directed by George Clooney, focused on Murrow's efforts to "tell the truth" about Senator Joseph McCarthy's reign of intimidation in the early 1950s, inspiring yet another generation of those seeking to “do journalism right.” 

 

"To be persuasive we must be believable," Murrow said.  "To be believable, we must be credible; and to be credible we must tell the truth."    

A Writer's Moment: Finding that 'good twist' to tell your story

A Writer's Moment: Finding that 'good twist' to tell your story:   “I've always believed that a good twist is one that, when it is presented to the audience, half of them say, 'I...

Finding that 'good twist' to tell your story

 

“I've always believed that a good twist is one that, when it is presented to the audience, half of them say, 'I saw that coming.' And half of them are completely and totally shocked. Because if you don't have the half that saw it coming, then it wasn't fair: You never gave the audience a chance to guess It.” – Damon Lindelof

Born in New Jersey on this date in 1973, Lindelof is a television writer, producer, and film screenwriter, most noted as co-creator of the award-winning television series Lost.  Both praised and criticized for his writing, he says that that’s exactly what any writer worth his or her salt should hope to achieve.  His ending for the Lost series left some viewers and critics mystified, some angry, and some feeling great.

Regardless of how it ended, Lost received endless praise for its unique brand of storytelling and strong characters and the show never fell out of the top 30 throughout its six seasons on the air.   Since then he has had many other award-winning efforts for both television and film, including the TV shows The Leftovers and Watchmen, and the movies The Hunt and Another Country.

 

“As clichéd as it sounds,” Lindelof said,  “if you have an original voice and an original idea, then no matter what anybody says, you have to find a way to tell that story.”

A Writer's Moment: A testament to perserverence

A Writer's Moment: A testament to perserverence:   “Somewhere along the line, I realized that I liked telling stories, and I decided that I would try writing. Ten years...

A testament to perserverence

 

“Somewhere along the line, I realized that I liked telling stories, and I decided that I would try writing. Ten years later, I finally got a book published. It was hard. I had no skills. I knew nothing about the business of getting published. So I had to keep working at it.” –  Janet Evanovich

 

Born on April 22,1943 Evanovich now has over two hundred million books in print worldwide, translated into over 40 languages.  After those initial struggles, she gained fame and loyal readers with her contemporary mysteries featuring Stephanie Plum, a former lingerie buyer from Trenton, NJ, who becomes a bounty hunter to make ends meet after losing her job.

 

Evanovich’s droll sense of humor (“If you want to cry, you're not going to like my books”) combined with a knack for setting up mystery and suspense keeps her readers involved from start to finish.

 

Another “reader involvement” idea is letting readers help name her books.  “Readers were sending in their ideas for titles,” she explained.  “So we thought, ‘Hey, go for it.’ Now we have a contest every year.”

 

During her early writing years she had dozens and dozens of rejection letters but she kept trying and finally connected with a romance novel for which she received $2,000.  “I thought it was an astounding sum,” she recalled.  Today, her net worth is around $140 million.

A Writer's Moment: 'The best way to exercise imagination'

A Writer's Moment: 'The best way to exercise imagination':   “Being able to write creatively or read creative fiction is the best way to exercise your imagination. “ – Michael Pry...

'The best way to exercise imagination'

 

“Being able to write creatively or read creative fiction is the best way to exercise your imagination. “ – Michael Pryor

 

Born in Australia on this date in 1957, Pryor has authored more than 50 short stories and 30-plus novels, many for Young Adults and led by his critically acclaimed Laws of Magic series.  Several of his books have been shortlisted for the prestigious Aurealis Award, given annually for best Young Adult novels.   Pryor also writes as part of a collaborative for the wildly popular The Quentaris Chronicles, a shared universe of fantasy books set in a magical city called Quentaris. 

 

A native of Victoria who now makes his home in Melbourne, Pryor also wrote an excellent book about “shared” writing, The Art of Successful Collaboration, written (fittingly) in collaboration with Paul Collins.  A frequent speaker and writing coach, he said he very much enjoys shared writing and encouraging young writers.                                                     

“I always look on imagination as one of the most powerful things we can cultivate in young people,” he said.  “If they have a good, active imagination, they can cope with life better; they are... able to imagine possibilities and to think around problems.“

A Writer's Moment: 'A goal of clean air and water . . . and respect'

A Writer's Moment: 'A goal of clean air and water . . . and respect':   "Our goal is not just an environment of clean air and water and scenic beauty. The objective is an environment of decency, quality a...

'A goal of clean air and water . . . and respect'

 

"Our goal is not just an environment of clean air and water and scenic beauty. The objective is an environment of decency, quality and mutual respect for all other human beings and all other living creatures." - U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin

Today is Earth Day, the above noted “goal” of the Senator Nelson who envisioned that all Americans – and perhaps all people – would come together to protect the earth, air and water that we need to survive.

Just out of college, I was assigned to report on the first Earth Day in 1970.   My editor was skeptical that anything might happen but it soon became clear that people were organizing dozens and dozens of projects and I was on the front line reporting about them.

 By the 20th anniversary of Earth Day in 1990, I had met Sen. Nelson and invited him to be the Earth Day keynote speaker at the Minnesota college where I was working.  He chose our small school over dozens of other opportunities and spoke eloquently and passionately about his ongoing hope for our world.

 

 

Gaylord Nelson

“Earth Day achieved what I had hoped for and then some,” he told the students. “People were given the opportunity to demonstrate their deep concern about polluted air, rivers, lakes and oceans; health threatening hazardous waste; urban blight; pesticide and herbicide poisoning of people, plants, birds and animals; and the destruction of scenic beauty and wildlife habitats."

 

The author of several books, including Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise, Nelson said Earth Day became the first major opportunity to send a message to politicians "To wake up and do something.  We must recognize that we're all part of a web of life around the world.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Why poetry endures'

A Writer's Moment: 'Why poetry endures':   “Poetry endures when it possesses passionate and primally sincere clarity in the service of articulating universal huma...

'Why poetry endures'

 

“Poetry endures when it possesses passionate and primally sincere clarity in the service of articulating universal human concerns.” –  Franz Wright

Wright, born in 1953, won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for his book of poetry Walking To Martha’s Vineyard.    In winning the Pulitzer, Wright joined his father James Wright in winning the prestigious award – making them the only father-child pair to win in the same category.  James Wright won for his 1972 volume, Collected Poems.

 

Unfortunately the Wrights have another distinction, both dying fairly young from cancer – James at age 53 and Franz at 62.  But in their short lives they each left us with a legacy of plowing new ground in the poetic world.   Here, for Saturday’s Poem, is  Franz Wright’s,

 

Morning Arrives

 

Morning arrives
unannounced
by limousine: the tall
emaciated chairman

of sleeplessness in person
steps out on the sidewalk
and donning black glasses, ascends
the stairs to your building

guided by a German shepherd.
After a couple faint knocks
at the door, he slowly opens
the book of blank pages

pointing out
with a pale manicured finger
particular clauses,
proof of your guilt.

A Writer's Moment: 'Speaking to the thoughtful mind'

A Writer's Moment: 'Speaking to the thoughtful mind':   “Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind.” – Theodore Roosevelt Outside of his polit...

'Speaking to the thoughtful mind'

 “Great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Outside of his political career, Roosevelt, born in New York in 1858, was both a voracious reader and tireless writer.  He wrote thousands and thousands of letters and essays and had 25 books published about a range of subjects, including history, biology, geography and philosophy.

His writing about the American West, in particular, has stood the test of time and is still often used by those seeking an accurate depiction of life on the frontier and throughout America in those times.  And, of course, his concern for our environment and protecting our land for future generations had more to do with the shape of our current national park system than any other president before or after.

  When asked once about his decisive leadership in many of these things, he said, “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” 

A Writer's Moment: Sports, music and inclusivity: The Hornby Style

A Writer's Moment: Sports, music and inclusivity: The Hornby Style:   “I don't want my books to exclude anyone, but if they have to, then I would rather they excluded the people who fee...

Sports, music and inclusivity: The Hornby Style

 

“I don't want my books to exclude anyone, but if they have to, then I would rather they excluded the people who feel they are too smart for them!” – Nick Hornby

 

Hornby, born in Surrey, England on this date in 1957, writes about ordinary people in ways that translate into bestsellers, like Fever Pitch, About a Boy and High Fidelity.    Fever Pitch, while written about a fan’s obsession (based on his own) with English soccer, was made an even bigger hit as an American movie adaptation, where it focused on Jimmy Fallon’s character’s obsession with the Boston Red Sox.

  

That’s the universality of writing sports – one situation or type of sport can be easily adapted into another.    I used the technique myself with my Tweens’ book Kelli’s Choice.  There, I took what I knew from my baseball playing days - and stories told to me by both my grandfather and father about their days on the diamond - and adapted it to girls’ softball, something I obviously never played.  It becomes, of course, all about the people.

 

Music has an even bigger role in Hornby's writing, mostly based on his own experiences.  Hornby has had long and fruitful collaborations with the rock band Marah and even toured in the United States and Europe with the band, joining them on stage to read from his essays.

 

Dedicated to helping kids with special needs, Hornby has donated all of his royalties from some of his books to helping kids with autism.   He is co-founder of the nonprofit Ministry of Stories, dedicated to helping children and young adults develop their writing skills, and to support teachers who inspire students to write.

 

“If you can get every kid to have found a book that he or she loves,” Hornby said, “then you've done a great job.”