Tag Archives: fairy tale factory

The surprising beauty of Bukowski

Ahoy! The April class wrapped up (delightful stories, lovely students) and life kicked into high gear for me, including intense family drama, and other unexpected diversions. Exhausted by my ever-crazy schedule, I am taking a summer vacation. I’ll post here on the blog when I find truly wonderful things to share, but the next class won’t run until October. I need some time to write my own stories, and to finally make serious headway on this publishing thing I’ve been trying to do for the past year.

To celebrate this shifting of gears, I offer you an unexpected and entirely tender gem (courtesy of Coilhouse):

The Laughing Heart

your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.

–Charles Bukowski

David Mamet Tells It Like It Is

Two smart, funny friends forwarded this article to me recently. David Mamet (executive producer of The Unit, writer, director, smartguy) sent a memo to his writing staff with some seriously salient points about what makes good drama.

An excerpt (yes, written in all caps):

QUESTION:WHAT IS DRAMA? DRAMA, AGAIN, IS THE QUEST OF THE HERO TO OVERCOME THOSE THINGS WHICH PREVENT HIM FROM ACHIEVING A SPECIFIC, ACUTE GOAL.

SO: WE, THE WRITERS, MUST ASK OURSELVES OF EVERY SCENE THESE THREE QUESTIONS.

1) WHO WANTS WHAT?
2) WHAT HAPPENS IF HER[sic] DON’T GET IT?
3) WHY NOW?

THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS ARE LITMUS PAPER. APPLY THEM, AND THEIR ANSWER WILL TELL YOU IF THE SCENE IS DRAMATIC OR NOT.

IF THE SCENE IS NOT DRAMATICALLY WRITTEN, IT WILL NOT BE DRAMATICALLY ACTED.

THERE IS NO MAGIC FAIRY DUST WHICH WILL MAKE A BORING, USELESS, REDUNDANT, OR MERELY INFORMATIVE SCENE AFTER IT LEAVES YOUR TYPEWRITER. YOU THE WRITERS, ARE IN CHARGE OF MAKING SURE EVERY SCENE IS DRAMATIC.

Read the rest

Fairy Tale Generator

Every once in a while it happens: You’re sick of all the old fairy tales, but you’re too tired to write a new one. So what do you do then?

You use the amazing Fairy Tale Generator, of course. Based on Vladimir Propp’s basic rules for fairy tales, this handy widget can sate your hunger for new stories without all the trouble of actually writing them.

Jim Henson’s “Storyteller” series

Fairy tale fan Lisa tipped me off to this amazing Jim Henson series a while back, and all I could think as I watched the videos was, “WHY have I never heard of this before? This is GENIUS.”

One of the most genius parts of the whole genius endeavor, in fact, is his version of one of my all-time favorites, “Hans My Hedgehog.”

Thanks, Lisa!

Summon Wolves with Your Mind

So maybe it’s a little bit of a stretch to say this is related to fairy tales. But you know what? Making connections between seemingly unrelated things = creativity calisthenics.

See if you can write a story outline about a man whose nagging wife drives him to desperate measures: a deal with the wolf king!