The Inner Writer

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“What I take from writers I like is their economy - the ability to use language to very effective ends. The ability to have somebody read something and see it, or for somebody to paint an entire landscape of visual imagery with just sheets of words - that's magical. That's what I've been trying to strive for - to draw a clear picture, to open up a new dimension.”

Mos Def [imdb.com bio] [photo from Something the Lord Made (TV movie)]

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"What is it that makes a story compelling? It's enough to grab our interest that something weird happens. But what we really want is to be transformed by what we hear.

"We want something wonderful to happen. A lot of people just stop at the weird and don't quite know how to get to the wonderful.

"You read Shakespeare, he was always able to see what was wonderful in something little.

"Look at Juliet talking about Romeo: 'And when he dies, I will take him and cut him out into little stars, and he shall make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night, and pay no worship to the garish sun.'

“How wonderful is that?"

Stephen Tobolowsky [Los Angeles Times June 25, 2006 / photo by Anne Cusack] - as an actor he has appeared in roughly 175 roles since the mid-'80s. He is also a playwright and screenwriter, and just released "Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party" - a dvd collection of favorite anecdotes.

> related pages:
The Inner Actor / filmmaking / writing

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"The outside world sees literature and politics as two separate things. I don't. But I think the reason that the establishments have always feared writers, the reason that writers are persecuted or put into jail, is because they have that weapon of clarity, and when they choose to use it, it's deadly."

Arundhati Roy ....[laweekly.com Feb 21-27 2003]

her books include:...The God of Small Things...War Talk

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When we approach that blank canvas, empty stage or notebook paper in a state of curiousity, we're truly opening the door to the muse – to our "inner artist", our "higher power" and the creative flow of the universe.

In "How to think like Leonardo da Vinci", Michael Gelb tells us just how curious Leonardo was. In fact, curiousity is one of the "seven steps to genius" that Gelb walks us through in this fascinating book.

from article: Curiousity, da Vinci Style - by Linda Dessau

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“It’s compulsive behavior, writing a graphic novel. You’re not only sitting at your computer and writing, then you’re hunched over your drawing board like a monk.

"Who would do that?"

Alison Bechdel

[Entertainment Weekly, June 9 2006]
photo from her site: dykestowatchoutfor.com

her book: Fun Home : A Family Tragicomic

> related article: In Praise of Positive Obsessions - by Eric Maisel, PhD

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Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer

“This book is a fascinating find. It's all about the ways in which writing and mapmaking are similar, and the intersections between maps and books. It's dense, but a fascinating read."

Marney K. Makridakis - from an issue of her Artellagram newsletter - see her site Artella Words And Art

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Writers spend so much time trying to determine when they will be a "real" writer. Just like the stereotype that all accountants wear green eyeshades, the stereotypes about writers persist whether they are accurate or not.

> from article Personality Traits of a Real Writer - by Julie Hood

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Los Angeles, the city of Raymond Chandler, Ray Bradbury and Octavia Butler [left], is now the biggest book market in North America.... Reading not only illuminates our souls, it makes the lives of others more real to us — in all their diversity and complexity. Books enlarge, enhance and refine our humanity, and slowly transform our society to match our dreams.

> from article Literary L.A., with no apology
- By Dana Gioia

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