storytelling | storytelling
May.20.2011
There is no story without memory. What is a memory without feeling?
Next time you walk the memoir labyrinth, put some thought into how you will allow your story to take shape and become a piece that captures your mother’s character and spirit. Think about what you need to bring into the story so...
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Apr.20.2011
"We all have a story we tell ourselves; change the story and you change your destiny." - Sharif Khan, author of THE HERO SOUL
* Stories have the power to transform, inspire and motivate. But they also have the power to tear down and destroy. Story is the lens from which we perceive the...
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Mar.09.2011
That’s you, the messenger. It’s there, your voice. It is right there bubbling up inside you—you already knew that, didn’t you? But do you believe it? Do you trust it? Maybe you are thinking, “I just babble.” Well, I think I babble on and on, too, sometimes, but then I snap out of it and become...
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Feb.27.2011
Several years ago, I sat next to a man on a plane who listened to my tale of why I stopped writing fiction in college, and reacted with pleasant skepticism to my statement that I wasn't a storyteller. If that man happens upon this blog post, please comment. I would like him to know that I am...
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Feb.12.2011
Some of my colleagues live in absolute fear of cliché. They are so hung up on it that we’ve had discussions on whether or not it is permissible to have characters within a story speaking in cliché. As a person who has always listened to the voice of real people, the discussion is pointless. In...
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Feb.05.2011
Writers need to learn how to become spinmasters. Each author, storyteller or poet should be able to put a new spin on classic tales. Everything from Humpty Dumpty to Shakespeare is game. It is open season on all forms of mythological and legendary characters such as John Henry, Johnny Appleseed...
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Feb.03.2011
I recently gave permission for Anansi and the Box of Stories to be translated into Spanish for a children's book by a small Chilean publishing house. It's exciting to be able to communicate across cultures. Don't know how long this will take, but I'll let everybody know when the book comes out.
A...
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Jan.05.2011
The Hero with a Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell Craft
I never thought I'd see the day I would review a craft book over a work of fiction or nonfiction. But here it is! Never say never. It's not that I don't read craft pieces. Or that they cause me undo pain (okay, maybe some). It's just...
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Dec.09.2010
You can haul yourself out of the south, but it will follow in your bones. Forever. Some little inner kudzu vine will twine itself around your tendons, work its way into your heart and plant a grain of, say, Chesapeake Bay sand or Okefenokee peat that forever tilts your compass south. If you turn...
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Dec.06.2010
Most of us have given our mothers cards on various holidays, complete with pat phrases, often via Hallmark, extolling the virtues of millions of moms. This year take a good look at her—go deep down inside of her and yourself to write a “Mother Memoir” as only you can—one that fits her precisely. ...
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