Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 135
July 27, 2023
A Writer's Moment: Characters that impact others' lives
Characters that impact others' lives
“Asa novelist, I'm endlessly fascinated by human behavior and interactions.”– Juliet Marillier A New Zealand native who now livesin Australia, Marillier was born on this date in 1948 and while she is alifelong self-procliamed “lover of fantasy,” she didn’t start writing her ownversions until 1999. Earlier, shefocused on music, both on the performing side and in teaching andconducting. She got into writing with Daughter of the Forest, looselybased on the legend of the Children of Lir and "The Six Swans” (a storythat has many versions, including one by the Brothers Grimm). That book kicked off her “SevenwatersTrilogy,” and the second in the series, Sonof the Shadows, won Australia’s top fantasy fiction award. Marillier’s novels combine historicalfiction, folkloric fantasy, romance and family drama, and the strong elementsof history and folklore in her work reflect her lifelong interest in bothfields. However, her stories focus above all on human relationships and thepersonal journeys of the characters. Her newest, in her "Warrior Bards" series, is called A Song of Flight.
Since 1999 she has written over two dozen novelsand dozens of short stories, 5 which have won Aurealis Awards and 4 the SirJulius Vogel Award. She’s also beennamed for the American Library Association’s Alex Award, and France’s PrixImaginales.“Each of my novels features a protagonist undertaking a difficultpersonal journey," Marillier said. "On the way, each of these characters - mostly female -discovers something about herself and at the same time makes an impact on otherpeople's lives."
July 25, 2023
'That space between known and unknown'
“Experienceis not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.” – Aldous Huxley Best known for his dystopian novel Brave New World, considered by most critics as one of the ten bestEnglish language novels of the 20th Century, Huxleywas born into a London family of writers and educators on July 26, 1894.
He wasalready writing as a young teen and by his early 20s was editing thedistinguished magazine Oxford Poetry at a time when others his age werestill finishing their studies or interviewing for positions. Hehad dozens of short stories and poetry pieces published before age 30, thenswitched to novels, all successful though none so much as Brave New World in 1931. Following the novel’s immense success, he started traveling the worldand writing about that. His travel booksare among the best ever written. Hefinished his career as a television and film scriptwriter in the United States,where he lived until his death in 1963. His writing was focused on “thatspace between things known and unknown. In between are the doors of perception.” [image error]“The mostdistressing thing that can happen to a prophet is to be proved wrong,” hesaid about Brave New World. “The next most distressing thingis to be proved right.”
A Writer's Moment: 'That space between known and unknown'
July 24, 2023
A Writer's Moment: Integrity and imagination: Good writing companions
Integrity and imagination: Good writing companions
“Integrityis not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with theweather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see aman who won't cheat, then you know he never will.” – JohnD. MacDonald
Born on this date in 1916, MacDonald achieved the highest accolade in hisgenre, named a Grandmaster by the Mystery Writers of America shortly before hisdeath in 1986. A self-proclaimed “accidental writer,” he alsowas the winner of a National Book Award, and is perhaps best-known for his popular, critically acclaimed Travis McGeeseries.
MacDonald's literary career began in 1945 while in the Army. Waiting in the Pacific for a ship home, hewrote a short story and mailed it to his wife Dorothy. She loved it and submitted it to Esquire -- which promptly rejected it. So, she sentit to Story magazine, which accepted it for $25, pretty good payment for thetime.
So, MacDonald decided to give writing a further try. After hundreds of rejection slips a second story was finally accepted, this time from DimeDetective which paidhim $40. Encouraged,he re-worked other stories and was off and running. Ultimately, he sold more than
500 short stories to detective, mystery and adventure magazines.
His first novel appeared in 1950, but it was his 1957 book The Executioners that put him on the map. An almostcontinuous best-seller since then, italso holds the distinction of being the focus of two feature films, both boxoffice successes.
His Travis McGee character made his first appearance in 1964 in The Deep Blue Good-bye, starting a run of 21 "McGee" bestsellers with each title including a color. "My purpose," MacDonald wrote about the McGee success, "was to entertain myself first and other people second." Seemed he did both quite well.
July 22, 2023
A Writer's Moment: 'Discovering' your own poem
'Discovering' your own poem
“Isn'tit amazing the way the future succeeds in creating an appropriate past?”– John Leonard
Born in Great Britain in July 1965, Leonard was raised and educated there butnow makes his home in Australia where he served as poetry editor of themagazine Overland.
For Saturday’s Poem, from his book Braided Lands, here is:
You Don't Write aPoem
You don't write a poem-
What you do is discover
That there is a world,
Quite similar to our own,
Except that it contains
This one extra poem.
And what you recognise
Is that this one poem
Makes all the difference
©John Leonard
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July 20, 2023
Writing from heart and soul
“Ilove writing novels, even if only a few thousand people read them. Here's mysoul; I hope it appeals to your soul.” – Mark O'Donnell
Writer and humorist O’Donnell wasborn on this date in Cleveland, OH, in 1954 and despite his love of novels, he wasbest known for his smash Broadway hit and subsequent hit movie Hairspray, for which he won a TonyAward. He also earned a Tony nominationfor his 2008 Broadway show Cry-Baby. He did have two best-selling novels, Getting Over Homer and Let Nothing You Dismay.
An identical twin – his brother isaward-winning television writer Steve O’Donnell – Mark collapsed and died suddenly in 2012and no cause has ever been determined.
In the years leading up to hisdeath, he had been teaching regularly at Yale where he had many successful studentsand offered young writers this advice: “Everybodyhas parents. As a dramatist, whenever you write a character, you must writetheir parents as well, even if the parents aren't there.”
