Early childhood is a forgotten time for anyone past the age of twelve, but those who seek to create might find fertile ground in these times. I have this weird experience almost daily where I experience something that isn’t part of my memory. Similar to nostalgia, this experience deals with the early childhood and is […]
Early Childhood Forgetfulness: Mythology and Creativity Read More »
American culture is a conglomeration of many different cultures centered around English ideas. Many say that the United States has no culture. Happy July 4th! This week I talk about how American culture is unique among all other cultures. I take a broad overview of what people say about Americans before talking about how Americans
American Culture and Creativity in America Read More »
Character change is at the essence of a good story. This week on How to Write Good, Emily Brady of the podcast Plotboilers guests. We talk about two different books, “The Count of Monte Cristo” and “My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry.” We talk about how slow and satisfying the character change
Character Change: The Count of Monte Cristo-Emily Brady Read More »
The power of metaphor is not lost on the literary world. Metaphor is something that conveys deep meaning in stories, but metaphor informs our lives as well. This week I talk about the power of metaphor both in stories and in the human life. Starting out with the idea of vivid descriptions, I first talk
The Power of Metaphor: Metaphor and Human Connection Read More »
Learning from failure is a scary thing. Who wants to fail? I don’t know anyone who does. But learning from failure is an important stepping stone in growth. When thinking about doing anything creative or entrepreneurial, many of us can be faced with worry that causes us to avoid acting at all. In this episode
Learning from Failure: Failing, Creativity, and Growth Read More »
Anxiety and creativity are opposites, which is an interesting thing because many people who are highly creative also deal with anxiety. Many writers have rituals they use to get into the mindset of writing, whether this ritual is dressing up in their fanciest clothes or have a cigarette and coffee. On this week’s episode of
Anxiety and Creativity: How to Destroy Lateral Thinking Read More »
How to write a novel, You run into this problem all over the internet. Many people are looking for the best way to go about writing a book. Author David Stewart guests on this week’s episode of HTWG. David and I discuss such things as the components needed to make a good story, David’s writing
How to Write a Novel: Story Development w/ David Stewart Read More »
Egocentrism is the idea that a person is unable to take another person’s perspective. Though baby and toddlers often come to mind first when this idea comes up, egocentrism is present in everyone. On this week’s episode, I talk about how egocentrism impacts writing. How does it play out? What should a writer do? How
Egocentrism: Creative Writing and Perspective Taking Read More »
Short term memory capacity is limited. When reading, a person uses short term memory to understand, and the writer needs to take this capacity into account. Having deleted an entire episode, I, distracted by what I am reading rather than what I had planned, discuss connecting psychology to the scientific method to synthesis, cognitive science,
Short Term Memory Capacity and Creative Writing Read More »
Benefits of reading are vast, but we live in a culture in which reading seems to be on the decline. The late Ray Bradbury also had some ideas about this. Ray Bradbury has a famous quote: “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” This quote
Benefits of Reading: Ray Bradbury and Fahrenheit 451 Read More »
