5 poems that could be full-blown novels

Keeping it short and sweet is impressive, but some poems just leave you wanting more!

Metabooks!

When You Reach Me has A Wrinkle in Time. Fifty Shades of Grey has Tess of d'Urbervilles. You've Got Mail has Pride and Prejudice.  No matter what genre you examine, you will find books that are continually winging their characters back to the pages of other books. What is the meaning of these books within a book? Are authors trying to send us …

Dress Up Your Prose with Poetry

Confession: I am not a poet. That’s not to say that I don’t appreciate poetry. I do! I admire many little turns of phrase, EE Cummings writing that "nothing, not even the rain, has such small hands” or Anis Mojgani concluding that his wife makes him feel “like honey and trombones, like honey and trombones.” …

Writers and Their Inner Voices

I've been toying with a theory about the formation of a preference for writing vs. speaking (and vice versa). Most people I know do have some preference. They either feel more comfortable communicating through the written word or the spoken one.  The impetus of my theory was myself, washing dishes one night. As I was washing the …

Theatre Clouds: Illustrations Drenched in Light

As a child, I lived largely in my imagination. More than playing with other children, I enjoyed playing by myself with lots of tiny figurines that my mother called "my sets." I would spend hours creating worlds out of leaves and berries and candle votives and cubbies under my nightstand or the phone nook. As …

5 Unique Narrative Forms (Experiment Away!)

I am fascinated by creative writing. And by that, I don't just mean that I am fascinated by creative stories, stories with fresh plots, quirky characters, and imaginative settings. I mean that I am fascinated with creative ways of writing those stories. Here are 5 of the most creative ways to tell a story that I have come …

10 Day Bus Challenge

Life is full of inspiration. Keeping a notebook to jot down the glimmers of inspiration you see in everyday life is a tried-and-true writer's trick. Not only can you use the material later, you develop a habit of keeping your senses awake and mentally articulating what comes in! By reviewing your notes later, you might …

Are all books autobiographical?

"Did you base your characters on your friends and family?" "Where do you come up with your ideas?" "Was this story inspired by your life?" These questions are the bacteria of the literary world. They exist everywhere. They spring from the cold desert dust on the surface of Mars in scifi; they get busy in the stomachs of the …

Emotional Writing for the Even-Keeled

Read me a passage from one of my teenage diaries, and you will see me turn poppy-red. How did I manage to exist with that much melodrama (and those many adjectives) filling my head? While I wouldn't seek a return to my old fashion of writing, sometimes I do wish I could channel the emotions …