Could you write a story from your life in 91 words?
In honor of an elderly student who died just days before her 91st birthday, the online writing site Gotham Writer’s Workshop conducted a contest. The rules were to write a memoir, a story from your life, in 91 words. (more…)
A story’s point of view (POV) can affect how the story feels.
For instance, The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis is written in the third-person omniscient POV: The narrator knows everything, even things that some of the characters do not. The invisible narrator in omniscient POV can tell readers what one character is feeling or thinking and then turn right around and ramble around in another character’s heart and mind and report that to us.
The omniscient point of view is out of fashion today. It followed all the major characters and reported on their happenings. We today want to journey through a story with only one or two main characters because it feels more personal that way.
Here’s a portion of the second paragraph of “The Wood Between the Worlds” in The Magician’s Nephew. The protagonist Digory has just arrived in that forest by means of a magic ring: (more…)
“Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.”
This quote is from Louis Pasteur, a famous scientist who lived in the 1800s and proved that it was not “bad air” that caused some diseases but actually microorganisms that we categorize as germs today. He also developed a vaccine for rabies, and his name is given to a method of killing germs in milk: pasteurization.
So, his secret is his tenacity, but what is it? (more…)
Caucuses. Primaries. Stump Speeches. Elections. Acceptance speeches. Inaugurations.
It’s that time of year again.
When newly elected president Theodore Roosevelt gave his inaugural address in 1905, he didn’t use the word “I.” You can read it here. When I read his short address, I was surprised that so many of the things he said were still true today.
To date, he is the only U. S. president to give an inaugural speech without the word “I” in it. (more…)
What does Jesus’ disciple John have in common with Napoleon Bonaparte? I suppose the image below gives it away, but, yes, they were both exiled—banished from the homes and countries they loved.
John was exiled to the Isle of Patmos in AD 95 during Roman persecution of Christians. While banished to the island, John wrote the book of Revelation. Vistas of the Mediterranean Sea may be beautiful from there, but the island itself is only 30 square miles and very rocky and sterile.
Napoleon Bonaparte, the former emperor of France after the French Revolution, was actually exiled twice. The first time, (more…)
Writing tools for all ages!
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