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Tag Archives: storytelling
developing a story
Once you’ve worked out what story is, it’s time to figure out how to write one. This part－developing a story－isn’t easy; for some of us, it can take longer than the natural human lifespan. But now, more than ever before, … Continue reading
Posted in writer's notes
Tagged American Graffiti, BlowUp, Don Quixote, fiction, Gulliver's Travels, Hannah and Her Sisters, It's a Wonderful Life, John Truby, landmark books, Nashville, Pulp Fiction, story, story movement, storytelling, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Anatomy of Story by John Truby, The Conversation, Tom Jones, Tristram Shandy, Ulysses, Vertigo, writing
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researching virtue and vice
If I have a sudden desire to investigate or study something, I try to act on it. I trust that the desire is coming from a good place, even if I don’t know exactly where that is or why it … Continue reading
Posted in thoughts
Tagged Angela Ackerman, Becca Puglisi, research, storytelling, Virtue & Vice
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“I Have No Mouth . . .”
I was a breech birth. Since then, I’ve done everything in life bass ackwards. A recent and relevant example of this is my education as a writer. Instead of first learning the craft of writing, and then studying up on … Continue reading
The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker: the templates for personal growth
The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories by Christopher Booker My rating: 4 of 5 stars This massive, in-depth work presents a unified theory of the art of storytelling based on Jungian psychology. As I recall, this was another … Continue reading
Posted in book reviews
Tagged Christopher Booker, Jung, literary theory, literature, plot, storytelling
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The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes & Heroines by Tami D. Cowden, Caro LaFever, & Sue Viders: “people power” for writers
The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes and Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes by Tami D. Cowden My rating: 4 of 5 stars This apparently self-published handbook of character archetypes adds a powerful tool to the writer’s kit. As I recall, this … Continue reading
how astrology works, part 5: holding the mirror up to nature
In my last post I discussed the 4 levels of meaning in a story, as established (so I believe) by the grammarians of the ancient library of Alexandria. If you’re curious about how all this relates to astrology, stick with … Continue reading
Posted in thoughts
Tagged Aristotle, astrology, levels of meaning, Paul J. Zak, storytelling, the Poetics
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how astrology works, part 4: of women and wasps
As I mentioned in my last post, my reflections on why astrology appears to work eventually came to be illuminated by my researches into the art of storytelling. I got as far as describing briefly the ancient approach to the … Continue reading
how astrology works, part 3: don’t do your own thing
In my last post I said that it was my study of the art of storytelling that eventually brought me to an understanding of why astrology works. Science might be able to show that astrology works—this is what Carl Jung attempted … Continue reading
Posted in thoughts
Tagged astrology, Dante, Gauquelin, Joseph Campbell, Jung, literary criticism, Mortimer J. Adler, storytelling, the Great Books
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