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Author Archives: Kate Stover
“When I was 4 months pregnant and suffering from morning sickness, I was . . . thrown into a filthy, windowless, smelly horse stall.”
Satsuki Ina’s memoir includes excerpts from her parents’ letters from the years they were imprisoned during WW II in a so-called “relocation center” for American citizens who had Japanese ancestors. Her parents never talked about it. While Ina knew that … Continue reading
“Think mystery, not mastery.”
Have you ever gotten stuck when working on a creative project? What do you do when your work grinds to a halt? Here’s an idea: spend 10 or 15 minutes every morning doing a type of meditation where you write … Continue reading
Posted in memoir
Tagged automatic writing, free writing, Julia Cameron, morning pages, The Artist's Way
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“You have to give yourself the space to write a lot without a destination.”
After winning the UK’s most prestigious writing award, this Irish novelist was asked which books had influenced her most. She said she loved Writing Down the Bones because it told her to “just have a go and see what comes … Continue reading
“I don’t think you’re dying, ” I said. “I think you’ve just got a touch of cancer.”
What’s the hardest book to write successfully? For me, it would be a novel about teenagers who have cancer, fall in love, and then die. The challenges include: creating a page-turner (even though the readers know how it will end), … Continue reading
Posted in fiction
Tagged best-selling author, John Green, mix of humor and sadness, The Fault in Our Stars
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“Show me yourself.”
Anna Quindlen says that when Barry Jenkins was filming The Underground Railroad, he directed the actors to “Show me yourselves.” In other words, don’t act. Similarly, Quindlen recommends doing the kind of writing where you don’t posture for an audience. … Continue reading
Posted in memoir
Tagged Find Meaning, Memoir, personal narrative, Write for Your Life, writing
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“When people write reviews, they are really writing a kind of memoir – here’s what my experience was eating at this restaurant or getting my hair cut at this barbershop.”
Is this book a memoir? The title – The Anthropocene Reviewed and the subtitle Essays on a Human-Centered Planet — offer no clues. However, in the introduction, the author says that he wants to tell us stories about his life … Continue reading
“In 1848 William and Ellen Craft, an enslaved couple in Georgia, embarked on a five-thousand-mile journey of mutual self-emancipation across the world.”
How does a writer create suspense when the outcome of the real-life story is already known? This book excels at keeping readers at the edge of their seats. How? Woo did a “staggering amount” of research to learn the sensory … Continue reading
Posted in non-fiction
Tagged Ilyon Woo, Master Slave Husband Wife, sensory details, suspense, unforgettable
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“There are those who believe they know – and those who hope they may yet know.”
Seven pages into the preface of his huge collection of poems, Carl Sandburg tells us that he will not pontificate on the art of poetry, which is what famous writers often do in that section. Instead, he says “A poet … Continue reading
Posted in poetry
Tagged Carl Sandburg, Complete Poems, leader as learner, learning, seeking, traveling
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“I learned that writing a memoir is like figure skating: it looks effortless and beautiful from the outside. . .”
“… while in reality, you stretch thy groin so much that you nearly split yourself in half for the whole world to see.” The author, JVN, whose trademarks are joy and kindness, shares what happened after the first memoir was … Continue reading
“There is a difference between wallowing and bearing witness.”
Lakin continues, “Think of yourself in the role of storyteller . . . instead of as the victim who has been wronged and deserves retribution or pity . . .” For all the memoirists who are reluctant to write about … Continue reading
“Part of these essays probably are rooted in genuine recollections, but how, in the circumstances, can we trust anything that he [John Forster] says in them?”
But how much can we trust the new conclusions drawn by this author, writing 150 years after Dickens died? That’s the question readers need to consider. Newly digitized information is now available, and the author has a Ph.D. in English … Continue reading
Ten Years of Writing about Fiction Has Taught Me This
Fiction is the wildest form of writing. It attracts explorers, artists, and fighters. Their goals might be to punch a hole in the wall between the writer and the reader (Knausgaard), or tell us how the idea of equality fell … Continue reading
Posted in fiction
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Ten Years of Writing about Poetry Has Taught Me This
Poetry is the most textured form of writing. It attracts artists who weave sounds and images with mystery. They may be cranky (T. S. Eliot) or homesick (Heaney) or humorous (Billy Collins). They may believe that poetry is an instrument … Continue reading
Ten Years of Writing about Memoir Has Taught Me This
Memoir is the most entrepreneurial form of writing. It attracts inventors who are willing to take risks and use nontraditional skills and interests. Though their goal might be as simple as recording history, or telling stories, or finding meaning, their … Continue reading
Posted in memoir
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