…Our best playwrights continue to present us with unsettlingly truthful versions of ourselves. The irony is that these versions must be coated in the taste and color of our delusion. They must tell us what we need to know while allowing us the option of…
Need inspiration for a story? Try Postsecret. A spinoff from two books of the same name, this website invites individuals to share their own secrets: “You are invited to anonymously contribute your secrets to PostSecret. Each secret can be a regret, hope, funny experience, unseen…
According to Longfellow: “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility.”
Last night I attended a taiko drumming performance at a theatre downtown. It was gorgeous. As an introduction, two members of the troupe danced on stage in lion masks. The little girl behind me, with more fantastic creatures on her mind, asked, “Is that a…
When all else fails, I judge a novel by its first line. A mediocre first sentence may lead to a good read, a bad one rarely, and a perfect first line requires tension, detail, and wit that bodes well for the rest of the story.…
Stories teach us to be human. [Wolfsong was a Vermont storyteller who has been missed since he passed away in 2000. Read more about him and his work at the Native American Authors Project.]
I still do, and that’s the truth. I believed that Santa delivered gifts to my family and I long after most of my peers had given up. I had one other friend my age who still believed. Our logic: We knew our parents couldn’t afford…
To be stories at all they must be series of events: but it must be understood that this series—this plot, as we call it—is only really a net whereby to catch something else. The real theme may be, and perhaps usually is, something that has…