Dan Jorgensen's Blog, page 49

A Writer's Moment: 'The feel of the book in your hands'

A Writer's Moment: 'The feel of the book in your hands':   “If your reading habits are anything like mine, then you can remember the exact moment that certain books came into your life. You remembe...

'Long threads of history and culture'

 

“Whenever you're writing a book orcreating a movie or a game, your first task is to get thereader/audience/player to suspend disbelief, to buy into the logic andboundaries of your world, even though those boundaries might include thingslike dragons and magic. To do that, you need long threads - of history andculture.” – R.A. Salvatore

 

Born in Massachusetts onthis date in 1959, Salvatore has authored 22 New York Times bestselling books, ledby The DemonWars Saga and Forgotten Realms novels.  Healso has been highly successful writing the backstories and text for a numberof popular science fiction-type video games.

 

The youngest of a family of seven,he credited his high school English teacher with his initial development as awriter. Then as a student at Fitchburg State College in Virginia, he becameinterested in fantasy after reading J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lordof the Rings, given to him as a Christmas gift.  Hequickly changed his major from Computer Science to Journalism/Media and took upwriting fantasy.  

 

Just before becoming a full-timewriter in the early 1980s, he worked as a nightclub bouncer and attributes hisfierce, vividly described battle scenes to that experience – a tribute to the "Alwayswrite what you know" mantra.

 

“I never intended to be aprofessional writer,” he said.  “As the story (for my firstnovel Echoes of the Fourth Magic) developed, the one thing I had inmy hopes was that this would be something tangible to separate me from thenameless, numbered masses.  I loved the world of imagination.”

A Writer's Moment: 'Long threads of history and culture'

A Writer's Moment: 'Long threads of history and culture':   “Whenever you're writing a book or creating a movie or a game, your first task is to get the reader/audience/player to suspend disbeli...

A Writer's Moment: 'Just being there'

A Writer's Moment: 'Just being there':   “You don't need many words if you already know what you're talking about.” – William Stafford   Born on Jan. 17, 1914 Stafford...

'Just being there'

 

“You don't need many words if youalready know what you're talking about.” – William Stafford
 

Born on Jan. 17, 1914 Staffordtaught poetry and writing at Lewis & Clark College for more than 30 yearsbefore his first poetry collection, Traveling Through the Dark,was published.      Winnerof the National Book Award for that book, Stafford went on to publish more than60 volumes of poetry and prose and win numerous honors and awards, including serving asU.S. Poet Laureate before his death in 1993.  For Saturday’s Poem,here is Stafford’s,

 

                                             Just Thinking

                             Got up on a coolmorning. Leaned out a window.
                             No cloud,no wind. Air that flowers held
                             forawhile.  Some dove somewhere.

                            Been onprobation most of my life.  And
                            the rest ofmy life been condemned.  So these moments
                            count for alot -- peace, you know.

                            Let the bucketof memory down into the well,
                            bring it up.Cool, cool minutes.  No one
                            stirring, noplans.  Just being there.

                             This is whatthe whole thing is about.

 

A Writer's Moment: Remember to 'Mine for the details'

A Writer's Moment: Remember to 'Mine for the details': "As a kid, I liked to write, but I didn't think that was a viable career choice.  My dream, actually, was to be a white girl rapper...

Remember to 'Mine for the details'

"As a kid, I liked to write,but I didn't think that was a viable career choice.  My dream, actually,was to be a white girl rapper and join Salt-N-Pepa – which obviously was a muchmore viable career choice."  - Abbott Kahler

Born in Philadelphia in January of 1973, Kahler -- who also writes as Karen Abbott -- has authored several historical nonfiction bestsellers, including Sin in the Second City and Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy.   Her newest book (published in 2024) is the novel Where You End.
Starting her writing career in college, she chose journalism as her focus, first writing for newspapers and magazines in the Philadelphia area.  That led to her interest in writing about history and historical events and ultimately to writing Sin in the Second City, set in Chicago in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.             While she now resides in New York City, where she is working on more books, she continues to write journalistically as a contributor to Smithsonian Magazine, the New York Times, The New Yorker and the Wall Street Journal.
“I think the most important thing journalism taught me is to mine for details,” she said.  “The details are key. You can't try to be funny or strange or poignant; you have to let the details be funny or strange or poignant for you.”

A Writer's Moment: Taking readers 'an extra two steps'

A Writer's Moment: Taking readers 'an extra two steps': "I've read up on magic, and I think it sets you free, and it gives you hope.  You can explore worlds you didn't know existed.  ...

Taking readers 'an extra two steps'

"I've read up on magic, and I think it sets you free, and it gives you hope.  You can explore worlds you didn't know existed.  It stretches your imagination . . . and gives you a sense of wonder." -  Jenny Nimmo 
Born in Windsor, England on this date in 1944, Nimmo has stretched kids’ imaginations for 60 years, writing dozens of fantasy and magical adventure novels.   Her two major series:  The Magician Trilogy and Children of the Red King, have been published in 9 languages around the globe.
Nimmo has lived in Wales for most of her writing life and many of her books are based in Welsh myth.  An only child, her father died when she was 5 and she escaped her grief by becoming first a voracious reader and then a devoted writer.   Writing first for herself, she soon realized she had the talent to also entertain others with her words, and she’s been doing so since age 15.   She said she gravitated toward writing fantasy because she always thought a magical world would be, for most kids, a special place to think about visiting.
“Every book that you pick up takes you a step away from your real world,” she said, “but if you read a book about magic, it takes you an extra two steps.”

'And now, let there be dance'

 

"All the ills of mankind, all thetragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, allthe failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill atdancing." – Moliere

 

Born in France on this date in 1622,Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, who acted and wrote as Moliere, was a playwright consideredone of the great masters of comedy in Western literature.  Among hisbest-known works are The Misanthrope, Tartuffe and TheMiser.  He was one of the firsttheatrical writers to combine words with music and dance – a precursor totoday’s musical theater.

 

Moliere died in 1673 whileperforming the last play he had written – ironically titled TheImaginary Invalid.   Playing the role of ahypochondriac, he had a severe coughing fit and collapsed during the last act;many in the audience thinking it was part of the show.  True to theold saying “The show must go on,” he insisted on finishing the performance and died onstage after the final curtain fell.

 

His works continue to resonate, being performed around the world.   As his quote above notes,he was a patron of and supporter of the dance, which he said would keep peopleso preoccupied and in good spirits that they wouldn’t have time for mischiefand misdeeds. He felt equally strong about using comedy, both to entertainand “skewer.”

 

“The duty of comedy,” theplaywright added, “is to correct men by amusing them.”