Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 123

A Writer's Moment: 'To get lost in the story'

A Writer's Moment: 'To get lost in the story': “I just want people to get lost in the story and at the end kind of sag and say, 'That was fun.' It's hardly...

'To get lost in the story'

“Ijust want people to get lost in the story and at the end kind of sag and say,'That was fun.' It's hardly my desire for them to sit and think, 'What a greatliterary image.'” – Michael Palmer

Palmer, born on this date in 1942,was an American physician and author whose novels are often referred to asmedical thrillers.  He once claimed henever wanted to be a writer and didn’t think he had much "flair" forit, even though several made the New York Times Bestseller List and hisworks have now been translated into 35 languages. 

 

 A graduate of Wesleyan University,he said he was enticed into trying his hand at writing after fellow Wesleyanalum and doctor Robin Cook wrote the hugely successful Coma.    He said he thoughtif Cook could write a novel, he could too. Ultimately, he wrote 24 of them – the last 3 written with his son Danieland published after his death from a heart attack in 2013. 

 

 Despite his writing success he continued practicing medicine the entire time,noting:   “It seemed to me that I was puton earth to take care of people. That is what I should be doing, and I nevergot tired of it.”

A Writer's Moment: 'It takes courage to grow up'

A Writer's Moment: 'It takes courage to grow up':   “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” – e.e. cummings    After I took this photo on a trek into the Rocky Moun...

'It takes courage to grow up'

 

“Ittakes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” – e.e.cummings  [image error]
After I took this photo on a trek into the Rocky Mountains, e.e. cummings' quote seemed apropos to describe it.  Born in October of 1894, Cummings wrote nearly 3,000poems, 2 autobiographical novels, 4 plays and several essays.   Some of his poems are free verse(with no concern for rhyme or meter), but many have a recognizable sonnetstructure of 14 lines, with an intricate rhyme scheme. A numberfeature a typographically exuberant style, with words, parts of words, orpunctuation symbols scattered across the page. Also a painter, Cummings understood the importance of presentation andused typography to "paint a picture."  For Saturday's Poem, here is Cummings',          

a wind has blown the rain away

a wind has blown the rain away and blown
the sky away and all the leaves away,
and the trees stand. I think i too have known
autumn too long

          (and what have you to say,
wind wind wind—did you love somebody
and have you the petal of somewhere in your heart
pinched from dumb summer?
          O crazy daddy
of death dance cruelly for us and start

the last leaf whirling in the final brain
of air!)Let us as we have seen see
doom’s integration………a wind has blown the rain

away and the leaves and the sky and the
trees stand:
        the trees stand. The trees,
suddenly wait against the moon’s face.

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A Writer's Moment: (How to) Talk to Your Readers

A Writer's Moment: (How to) Talk to Your Readers:  "You can make anything by writing." -  C.S. Lewis Lewis, author of Chronicles of Narnia , was an advocate of using parentheses ...

(How to) Talk to Your Readers

 "You can make anything by writing." -  C.S. Lewis

Lewis, author ofChronicles of Narnia, was an advocateof using parentheses to “speak” to his readers.    I remember one of my South Dakota State University English professorssaying to the class that Lewis provided “a pathway” for the readers to join inthe story through his use of parentheses. 
[image error] Image from the 1950book cover
I think I was perhapsthe only person in the class who hadn’t read The Chronicles – which were published in the early 1950s and, ofcourse, still continue to excite readers of all ages.  But, as I listened to that professor expressher great admiration for Lewis and this method of drawing his readers closer tohis words, I was quickly enticed to not only read them but to grow to admire histechnique myself.
For writers, parenthesesdo let you just talk to readers -- sort-of like an aside in theater -- and grant themthe power to become participants.   But like any writing technique, use it wisely (as Lewis did) so yourreaders will not abandon you for being too gimmicky.     “What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing," said Lewis.  "It also depends on what sort of person you are.” 

A Writer's Moment: 'Writing narratives of adventure . . . and vision'

A Writer's Moment: 'Writing narratives of adventure . . . and vision':   “It may seem unfashionable to say so, but historians should seize the imagination as well as the intellect. History is, in a sense, a sto...

'Writing narratives of adventure . . . and vision'

 

“It may seem unfashionable to say so, but historians shouldseize the imagination as well as the intellect. History is, in a sense, astory, a narrative of adventure and of vision, of character and of incident. Itis also a portrait of the great general drama of the human spirit.” – Peter Ackroyd
Bornon Oct. 5, 1949 Ackroyd is an English biographer, novelistand critic noted for the depth and clarity of his writing.   While he has written terrific biographical pieces on such luminaries as William Blake, Charles Dickens andT.S. Eliot, it's his historicalnovels that have earned him most acclaim, including the Somerset Maugham Award andtwo Whitbread Awards.
His 1982 novel The GreatFire of London, a reworking of Dickens’ Little Dorrit, first put Ackroyd on the writing map and set the stagefor his long sequence of novels dealing with the complexinteraction of time and space -- what he refers to as "the spirit ofplace.”      [image error]

 Although he was a late arrival into the writing world, he has now penned nearly 70books -- the latest being this year's The English Actor: From Medieval to Modern -- and four collections of poetry.
  “I don’t think I ever read a noveluntil I was 26 or 27,” he said.  “I wantedto be a poet … (and) had no interest in fiction or biography and preciouslittle interest in history.  But thosethree elements in my life have become the most important.”  

A Writer's Moment: 'Good writing . . . the clear transfer of images'

A Writer's Moment: 'Good writing . . . the clear transfer of images': “Good writing … is especially important in a subject such as economics.  It is not enough to explain. The images that are in the mind of the...

'Good writing . . . the clear transfer of images'

“Goodwriting … is especially important in a subject such as economics.  It is notenough to explain. The images that are in the mind of the writer must be madeto reappear in the mind of the reader.” – John KennethGalbraith

Fromtime-to-time students will ask why they have to take a “writing” class, whenthey’re planning to go into business, mathematics, computers, or economics.   Isay to them, make writing the foundation of ANY career choice. 
  That also was the mantra of Galbraith (born in October, 1908), the economist, publicofficial, and diplomat who taught economics at Harvard andserved as U.S. Ambassador to India in the Kennedy administration.  His bookson economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through the 2000s, duringwhich time he also filled the unofficial role of “public intellectual.”   A prolific author, he wrote four dozenbooks, including several novels, and published more than a thousand articlesand essays.              In 1977, he wrote the scripts for the acclaimed PBS and BBC series on economics – The Age of Uncertainty.  It went on to air in 38countries and is still cited for its insights and spot-on accuracy.      
  “Oneof the greatest pieces of economic wisdom,” Galbraith noted,  “is to know what you do not know.”