Archive for May, 2007
THE WALL - or - Fluffy Bunnies and the Art of Deadlines.
By David Niall Wilson
Deadlines. Did you ever wonder why they call them that? Dictionary.com tells me it’s the boundary beyond which a prisoner should not pass unless he wants to risk being shot. That would be an example of old-school deadlines. These days I live a life full of self-imposed, work-imposed [...]
LOOK FOR THE GOLD
(How about a big Storytellers welcome for Robert Jones - he’s agreed to do occasional fill-in essays - and to catch a few of those 31st dates that we ignore so well, and so thoroughly. Welcome aboard, Bob)
by R. C. Jones
Rewards come in many forms. One of the most commonly recognized rewards [...]
A Story For All Ages
By Dick Hill
Written as a STORY FOR ALL AGES, presented for the congregation of the Universal Unitarian Church of Greater Lansing for children and adults alike in Joe Pesce and Brando as the don voices, just before the youth went to their religious education classes. Freely adapted, hell, ripped off, debased and screwed with, [...]
Defining History, and other acts of Futility
(This is a post from our past, a golden oldie to fill a gap. Starting next month we have three new Storyteller Members to introduce, and we’re excited about it. I hope you enjoy this, and accept our apology for the weekend…Wayne and I had some technical back-and-forth glitches and the holiday ate [...]
Time Is, Time Was, Time Will Be
There was almost no essay today. (Stop with the cheering, you lot. You get another thirty days without me now.)
That’s because tomorrow, the calendar starts getting interesting. Come one o’clock, my wife is putting me on a plane for a two week stint at one of our sister studios, there to work with various and [...]
Prometheus With Vertigo
by Janet Berliner
Last month in my column Bradbury And I, I left you dangling, wondering where Ray Bradbury would say he wanted to play next.
“The world knows you best as the author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, and of innumerable short stories and film scripts,” I said. “You’re in love with France, in [...]
Cult of Personality: Traits of a Writer
By Justine Musk
(**Note from the “management**) This column was supposed to appear last month. It never made it from the overseas Kiosk to US e-mail, but we bring it to you now as Stan has company this weekend…flexibility is good. Justine wanted me to leave in the happy birthday to Skipp, but [...]
The End
Thanks to Mr. A, who took me up on last month’s invitation and emailed me with a Storytellers Unplugged request. Mr. A’s requested topic is endings, and why so many endings, primarily in short stories written by novice writers, fall short. Why do they sometimes fail to resolve the story’s conflict? Why do protagonists become [...]
Twelve Years
ByRichard Steinberg
“The rainbow never made it to Piatigorsk. Three colors only were in evidence: the white of the snow, the gray of the sky, the black of the souls and the hearts.”– from The Gemini Man
It was the spring of 1995, I wasn’t living in poverty; but poverty was just down the street, two buildings [...]
Time to Write
By Jeff Mariotte
You don’t have to have read many of my posts here at Storytellers Unplugged to know that I don’t believe writers should wait around for inspiration to strike. Regular keyboard time, daily if possible, exercises the writing muscles, and employing those muscles, through hard work, replaces inspiration. The daily “inspirations”—how should [...]
