Film adaptations are wildly popular. People love to hear that their favorite book is coming to the big screen. Although most people leave the film feeling disappointed because the film did not live up to their expectations, it’s a wonderful way for studios to produce money. Are they disappointed because the audience creates visions of … Continue reading From Page to Film
In 2007, the comedian Mike Birbiglia released the album My Secret Public Journal. Incidentally, this was the year I started to write. I had listened to stand up before, but Mike’s was different. My experience with stand-up, up to this point, had been listening to Steven Wright on road trips with my dad. And while … Continue reading Learning Storytelling through Comedy
I believe that a writer ought to love and respect the English language in the same way that a musician ought to revere their instrument. Jimi Hendrix would not have been able to make the spell-binding music that he did if he didn’t respect his instrument, granted, he wasn’t the most technically polished guitarist, and … Continue reading Grammatical Mistakes You Shouldn’t Be Making Anymore
People like to talk about Christmas being the most wonderful time of the year, but they’re filthy liars. Halloween reigns supreme, the most spooky and magical of all, a giant grinning jack-o-lantern behind the wheel of a hot-rod hearse that runs on candy corn and blood, burning rubber as it peels out onto the open … Continue reading Five Horror Films to Inspire Your Writing
None of us read enough. None of us write enough. I know that I don’t, and I’m not alone. I have been asking my creative writing students how much they would like to read and write, and how much they do read and write. Not one student has replied that she spends as much time … Continue reading How to Be a Great Writer? Turn Off Your Phone. How to Develop a Writing and Reading Habit in an Age of Distractions
When was the last time you played a video game for the story it offered? It’s a legitimate question. How many people bought Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare because of the interstellar story about the rebellion of a colonized Mars, and not because it came with the series’ latest iteration of multiplayer or because some … Continue reading Video Games Need Quality and Inspirational Stories
It's been awhile since we've posted any creative writing themed posts so we've compiled a list of our most popular writing posts to help our readers and fellow writers avoid writer's block and stay inspired. First, get started with Music in Set the Mood and Set the Stage: Instrumental Music for Writing In this blog post, … Continue reading 5 Creative Writing Blog Posts That You Might’ve Missed!
When Bob Dylan received the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature, reactions across the literary world varied—wildly. Eye rolls as well as applause sounded from all kinds of writers amidst continued controversy, from his slow acknowledgment and acceptance of the award, to more recent claims that he plagiarized parts of his acceptance speech from, of all … Continue reading Well You Must Tell Me, Baby, How Your Head Feels Under Something Like That: Bob Dylan’s Brain on Tradition and Genre
Here’s something I’ve been thinking about for some time: what is the role of poetry in a time like ours? For example, what are my obligations as a poet who is frightened and outraged by the recent events in Charleston? It’s easy to think that poetry doesn’t matter — in fact, the New York Times … Continue reading Art and Social Change
There comes a time in every writer’s life when you’re ready to write – you have your music playlist raring to go and a fresh mug of coffee sitting next to you – but try as you might, you still find yourself staring at a blank page. To remedy the situation, you begin to scour … Continue reading Some Suggestions on How to Overcome Writer’s Block
