A Writer's Moment: Sharing stories and 'reaching for the sun'

A Writer's Moment: Sharing stories and 'reaching for the sun':   “To share our stories is not only a worthwhile endeavor for the storyteller, but for those who hear our stories and feel less alone becaus...

Sharing stories and 'reaching for the sun'

 “To share our stories is not only a worthwhile endeavor for the storyteller, but for those who hear our stories and feel less alone because of it.” – Joyce Maynard

 

Born in New Hampshire on Nov. 5, 1953 Maynard has authored critically acclaimed books in genres ranging from Young Adult to crime, and general fiction to nonfiction memoirs.  She has written 22 books – the latest How The Light Gets In - out this year.  And she writes journalistically for a number of newspapers, magazines and National Public Radio, and is a successful screenwriter. 

Perhaps her most talked about memoir was At Home In The World about her years living with reclusive author J.D. Salinger.  The book earned her both praise and scorn from the literary world.  “I wonder what it is that the people who criticize me for telling this story truly object to: is it that I have dared to tell the story? Or that the story turns out not to be the one they wanted to hear?”  

 

“You write about what you know," Maynard said, "and you also write about what you want to know.”  One of those "things she knows" is raising kids.  The mother of three said her children influenced and helped her writing become stronger. 

 

“It's not only children who grow. Parents do too,” she said.  “As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it myself.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Interesting things happening to interesting people'

A Writer's Moment: 'Interesting things happening to interesting people': "I want readers turning pages until three o'clock in the morning.  I want the themes of books to stick around for a reader.  I'...

'Interesting things happening to interesting people'

"I want readers turning pages until three o'clock in the morning.  I want the themes of books to stick around for a reader.  I'm always trying to find a way to balance characters and theme." - Guy Gavriel Kay

Born in Canada on Nov. 7, 1954 Kay has had a knack for creating “page turner” books over several decades. He cut his teeth on fantasy writing by traveling to Oxford to assist Christopher Tolkien, son of J.R.R. Tolkien, in editing J.R.R.’s unpublished work The Silmarillion, then began his own career with The Summer Tree. 

Many of Kay’s 17 novels are set in fictional realms that resemble real places during real historical periods, such as Constantinople during the reign of Justinian I, or Spain during the time of El Cid.    Among his recent bestsellers are A Brightness Long Ago and its sequel All the Seas of the World, inspired by the Italian Wars in the 15th Century.   His next book, Written on the Dark, set in Medieval France, is scheduled for release in May.  Kay’s novels have been translated into some 30 languages with settings and lead characters from almost every era.

He’s won multiple awards, including The World Fantasy Award for Ysabel, set in modern day France while also putting his teenage lead into direct contact with characters from both the distant past and a “parallel” world to ours.   “I have always argued,” he said, “(that) in a good novel, interesting things happen to interesting people, no matter who they are or where they are from.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Slow and steady to win the race'

A Writer's Moment: 'Slow and steady to win the race':       “Writing doesn't come real easy to me. I couldn't write a novel in a year. It wouldn't be readable. I...

'Slow and steady to win the race'

 

 

 “Writing doesn't come real easy to me. I couldn't write a novel in a year. It wouldn't be readable. I don't let an editor even look at it until the second year, because it would just scare them. I just have to trust that all these scraps and dead-ends will find a way.” – Charles Frazier

 

As a “deliberate” writer myself – especially when I’m working on fiction – I can commiserate with Frazier and long ago decided that getting it done right, regardless of how long it takes to finish is the best route to follow.   Frazier agrees, noting, “Well, I'm a slow writer. For me, a good day is a page, maybe a page and a half. I'd love to be more efficient, but I am not.” 

  

Born on this date in 1950 in Asheville, NC (much in the news these days from the horrific floods they’ve endured), Frazier has authored 5 books beginning with the terrific Cold Mountain – winner of awards as both a book and a movie.  His most recent book is 2023’s The Trackers, which follows a painter tracking down a woman with a valuable painting during The Great Depression.

 

Frazier’s writing is a study in how to draw upon the culture and history of a region – in his case his home state and the Appalachian region.   He said he also loves the music of the region and finding ways to incorporate it into his writings to “flesh out” his stories.

 

“It always helps me connect with characters,” he said, “to think about what music they respond to.”

A Writer's Moment: 'To a place in the imagination'

A Writer's Moment: 'To a place in the imagination':   “I'm trying to write poems that involve beginning at a known place, and ending up at a slightly different place. I&...

'To a place in the imagination'

 

“I'm trying to write poems that involve beginning at a known place, and ending up at a slightly different place. I'm trying to take a little journey from one place to another, and it's usually from a realistic place, to a place in the imagination.” – Billy Collins

Born in New York City in 1941, the two-time U.S. Poet Laureate’s works range from humorous to thought-provoking to deeply moving.   His most recent book is Musical Tables: Poems.   For Saturday’s Poem, here is Collins’ 
                                                Invention                                                        

Tonight the moon is a cracker,
with a bite out of it
floating in the night,

and in a week or so
according to the calendar
it will probably look

like a silver football,
and nine, maybe ten days ago
it reminded me of a thin bright claw.

But eventually --
by the end of the month,
I reckon --

it will waste away
to nothing,
nothing but stars in the sky,

and I will have a few nights
to myself,
a little time to rest my jittery pen.

 

A Writer's Moment: 'How life is lived, you know'

A Writer's Moment: 'How life is lived, you know':   “When I'm writing, I'm trying to immerse myself in the chaos of an emotional experience, rather than separate m...

'How life is lived, you know'

 

“When I'm writing, I'm trying to immerse myself in the chaos of an emotional experience, rather than separate myself from it and look back at it from a distance with clarity and tell it as a story. Because that's how life is lived, you know?” – Charlie Kaufman

Born in New York City in November of 1958, Kaufman is a screenwriter, producer, director, and lyricist who wrote the films Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for which he won an Academy Award.   All three scripts appear in the Writers Guild of America’s list of the 101 greatest movie screenplays ever written.

 

It’s been a busy 2024 for Kaufman, writing the Netflix animated movie Orion and the Dark and now his second novel This Face Can Even Be Proved by Means of the Sense of Hearing.  He’s also producing the Broadway play Pre-Existing Condition.

  

“I want to create situations that give people something to think about,” Kaufman said about his works.  “When I write characters and situations and relationships, I try to sort of utilize what I know about the world, limited as it is, and what I hear from my friends and see with my relatives.”