Archive for the ‘Artists of Interest’ Category

There’s a movement mounting for that special niche in memoir where daughters and sons come together to zero in on mothers. Take a look at the potential:

• Discovering your mother’s distinct character and spirit
• Realizing the wisdom waiting in your mother’s actions
• Writing the stories only you can write
• Connecting on myriad levels through the art of storytelling

There are all kinds of ways to teach creative writing/memoir writing where folks can write their life stories, but my passion and focus isn’t on writing memoir in general.

Inspiring and teaching people to Tap Memory and Write Memoir – even if they’ve never written anything before – makes the world go ‘round.

Join me for the journey of a life time where you will write your short, true story. You can do it – you really can.

I promise; you’ll be glad you did!

The Story Woman asks you to write a bio-vignette capturing your mother’s character and spirit.

Photo by Jason Wells Photography

First Mine for gold, then Write Memoir

Hello, all you writers and authors and artists from across the board.  I recently read a great little book by Abigail Thomas, Thinking About Memoir, so I wanted to share my thoughts with you about this book and add it to my new Book Review blog category.

By the way, my reviews aren’t confined to the memoir genre. From the inception of my blog, which wasn’t that long ago, one of my main purposes was to give voice to a wide range of nonfiction and fiction writers as well as artists in general who have caught my eye and my spirit. If you’d like me to post a blog about you and your work, please contact me and we’ll go from there.

I believe the inspiration we get from each connection we make with art, whether through books, paintings, sculptures, theatre, dance, or music breathes life into our beings as we discover new ways to view our world.

Abigail Thomas’ book, Thinking About Memoir, is oriented towards crafting the story of one’s own life, whereas my guide book, Give the Gift of Story: TellTale Souls’ Essential Guide to Tap Memory & Write Memoir in Five Acts (yes, that’s a mouth full!) is all about looking at someone other than oneself – it’s about honoring a loved one with a bio-vignette that captures that loved one’s character. Both of our books, however, are meaningful guides to writing in general; they speak to a wider audience than memoirists to be sure.

Book Review: Great things come in small packages, so Abigail Thomas gets kudos for a job well done. She is honest, funny, and tells on herself, which, I believe, is the best way to teach.

Thomas’ rambling style of instruction isn’t so much about technique as it is about giving us stimulating exercises that sometimes seem to come out of nowhere, but result in remarkable insight on how to write memoir well.
The guide, at just 108 pages, is so packed with activities that a writing instructor could use it for a semester-long course and still not exhausted all of Thomas’ unique ideas. Let’s suffice it to say she’s a delightful task master. From the beginning when she asks us to write three word sentences so we have nowhere to hide and our writing won’t take up extra space to asking us to write two pages of what we don’t remember sheds a lot of light on her brand of Thinking about Memoir.

If we aren’t afraid to dig deep, zero in on details, write an honest account, make a habit out of writing, and learn to invent our own structure, this book is a gold mine.

Link to Abigail Thomas.

The Story Woman asks you to write a bio-vignette about a loved one to honor someone other than yourself.

Enter, stage right: Jayne Wenger, artistic director, dramaturg, and workshop leader par excellence. 

I’m excited that Jayne’s writing tips will be offered for the first time by The Story Woman here on the TellTale Souls’ blog. After you read Jayne Wenger’s Seven Tips for Playwrights, join her and artists from around the world this August in beautiful Assisi, Italy, for the time of your life. 

Write. Rewrite
 Write. Rewrite.

Summarize your Story and Subplots
Do this just for yourself.  It will help you to stay on course.  Or, if you are veering off course, you will know it. Maybe that’s the place you meant to go all along! And write a few sentences about each character. Just for yourself, again. What defines them? 

Stage Directions are Important
Don’t let anyone tell you that they aren’t.
Think about your vision of the play.  Cut all of your “Stage Left, Stage Right, he/she sits despondently,” those are Actions, and they are for the director to stage.  Help the director and designers by prefacing your play with your vision.  Is it Magic Realism?  Is it Naturalism?  What is the style of your play?  Be sure that you know what style it is.   

Keep Writing Dramatic Conflict
Who wants what in each scene and how do they go about getting it?  

Listen!
Develop your ear for dialogue by listening. Train yourself to listen to rhythms, patterns of speech and regional dialect.  How do different characters in your own world speak? Keep listening.  Keep writing.

 Read your Play Out Loud to Yourself
You will hear the weaknesses and strengths.  This works.

                                                           Playwrights‘ Intensive Retreat

Vision and REVISION

 Jayne Wenger, Instructor

ASSISI, ITALY August 5 – August 18, 2009

 Live and write in a 12th century town in the heart of Umbria with a community of artists from around the world. The workshop will focus on plays that are in process, with emphasis on analysis and development of the script.  Writers will hear a scene or monologue daily and will receive individual dramaturgy from the instructor. In-depth and practical, this is a unique opportunity to concentrate your creative energy and let go! 
     Artists developing solo shows are encouraged to attend.  Emphasis is on plot, organic structure and character, with focus on building a relationship with the audience. This aspect of the workshop is tailored for writers who want to act, actors who want to write, and performers wanting to create new work. 

Jayne Wenger is a director and dramaturg whose exclusive focus is on original material. She is the past Artistic Director of the Bay Area Playwrights Foundation. She leads workshops on play development around the country, is nationally recognized for her work on new plays, and has developed the work of acclaimed playwrights nationwide.

 Additional details and information can be found at www.jaynewenger.com and www.artworkshopintl.com.

________________________________________________________________________________________

~TellTale Souls’ Daughters and Sons Write Bio-Vignettes Honoring their Mothers~

From my position on the worn, overstuffed chair, I can see outside the window and through the bars of my second story balcony to a wall of similar Chinese apartments beyond the narrow alleyway.  A neighbor across the way has an identical balcony, only the rusted bars of her confine support a few potted plants and the door to their kitchen is flanked by two red Spring Festival banners with gold letters – another banner is pasted horizontally across the top.  A caged bird flutter-jumps from perch to the top the cage to perch to bottom and back again.

The woman of the house is slight, middle aged and gentle looking – neatly bobbed hair frames her round, expressionless face.  Sometimes I see her sweeping the balcony floor or watering her two plants, while the husband watches television at a deafening volume.  A small window reveals images shouting from the screen in 1 to 2 second intervals. It is always on, and he is always sitting in front of it, his presence exposed by clouds of cigarette smoke during the day and the glowing tips of cigarettes in the night.

I look up from my book as the woman appears on her deck. I begin to pay attention as she reaches for the cage. Leaning forward in my chair, I see her slide her hand through the tiny door.  In one quick movement her hand appears outside the bars of her own cage, and I watch as the bird catches flight.

A lovely smile animates her face as she puts her hands together and bows in the direction of the freed bird.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The author of this beautiful story is Colette Hosmer, my friend, a sculptor, and a contributor to TellTale Souls’ “Mother Memoirs,” with her bio-vignette, entitled “My Mother’s Wash.”  I love this View From a Cage story written on her travels through China, where she is often an honored guest sculptor.

And I loved the quaint image of the laundry strung across the balcony by the gentle Chinese lady in the picture above.  I realize it was probably out of necessity that she dry her family’s clothes in this fashion, but it also struck me funny, as I immediately saw it another light. In Colette’s story in my book, she relates how her North Dakota mother took the art of line-drying laundry to another level with her sun-dried whites, even though she had a clothes dryer.

The sun works it’s magic for mothers the world over, whether out of necessity or not, and mothers work their magic on us from one culture to the next, with very similar spirits they are birds of a feather.

Thank you, Colette, for being TellTale Souls’ first guest blogger. Please follow this link to Colettehosmer.com. As I promised my readers in my first blog, I’ll bring you blogs and interviews from a wide range of artists, this is just the beginning.

Daughters and Sons Write “Mother Memoirs” that Connect Us All