A Mini-M.F.A. in the Psychology of Character
How do you know what your hero is capable of? A modernistic St. Martin cuts his cloak in half to share with a poor man. Mainz, Germany. Craft books like The Negative Trait Thesaurus and The Positive Trait Thesaurus can help you build strong characters.
The Reverse Backstory Tool Brings Your Characters to Life
This character is walking right off this building into a story. Statue on the front of the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany. © Laurel Decher, 2016. Reverse Backstory Tool Angela Ackerman’s and Becca Puglisi’s Reverse Backstory Tool in THE NEGATIVE TRAIT THESAURUS is the perfect way to jumpstart a new story or re-animate a faded […]
Stories we tell ourselves
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xY2JSv3t0k Recently, my husband and I watched a movie version of Kurt Vonnegut’s short story “WHO AM I THIS TIME?” with Susan Sarandon and Christopher Walken. Christopher Walken’s character, Harry, is so shy he only talks to women if he’s “in character” in a play. No one really tries to connect with him until Susan […]
6 ways rhythm helps us feel at home in a new world
New neighbor changes the rhythm of our walks. ©Laurel Decher, 2016. (1) Every culture has its own heartbeat. On the weekend, I practiced a new skill and had a sudden aha! moment about learning to adapt to a new culture by finding the beat. When I lived in West Africa for a year, the people […]
Marc Chagall’s stunning gift of reconciliation
St. Stephan’s church in Mainz, Germany has stunning stained glass windows. The church burned on February 27, 1945 and Marc Chagall designed most of the current windows in the late 1970’s.
The windows show love stories of all kinds: Colorful people and angels float in a sea of blue glass. In light of the Holocaust, I was especially touched by the window of Abraham pleading with three angels to spare Sodom and Gomorrah.
If it’s fixed, should you break it? Revision and the magic wardrobe
A writing and interior design metaphor. My life unintentionally provided me with another writing metaphor this weekend. We moved to Germany three years ago and kind relatives gave us two huge cupboards to hold our camping, photography, coats, linens and suitcases. Closets are rare in Germany so wardrobes without magical countries are the norm. The […]
Create something new: Lessons from a re-cycled Convent, a Peacock with a Looking Glass, and a Cow with a Drinking Problem
Roman pipeline to convent to farm. Gut Schillingskapellen, Dünstekoven. © Laurel Decher, 2016. In the small village of Swisstal-Dünstekoven, a one-time convent was built solely with materials scavenged from the Roman water line. Now it’s a farm with Scottish Highland cows and reflective peacocks. Lesson #1: Try a bit of creative re-cycling. If Roman ruins are […]
“It happened so fast”
In the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Michelle Kwan skated an amazing and beautiful program without apparent effort. What touched me most about this performance was what happens at the end. At about 4:58 in this video, while waiting for the judges to put up the scores, Michelle Kwan tells her coach: “It happened so fast.” https://youtu.be/XObfIoPbFf8/ […]
What do gardens, libraries and exploring have in common?
Fantastic tree in the botanical garden. Orto Botanico, Palermo, Sicily. © Laurel Decher, 2016. Planting a tree in Palermo a few hundred years ago means a gigantic tree is still living today. A botanical garden is a living library and so is a zoo, an art museum, or a national park. These storehouses of genetic […]
Create something new: What would you do with 500 olive trees?
500 olive trees. Sciacca, Sicily. © Laurel Decher, 2016. I recently came across another inspiring example of using your inheritance to create something new. Alessandro inherited 500 olive trees with his grandfather’s Sicilian property. Most people look at 500 olive trees and think olive oil, but Alessandro had a different idea: soap. His engineering Ph.D. […]
6 ways THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO RATCHET shows its warm and funny heroine
Get handout Click here to download Six Ways to Reveal Character handout as a pdf with links to Karl Iglesias’ website and to WRITING FOR EMOTIONAL IMPACT. I’ve been studying Karl Iglesias’ insightful and practical WRITING FOR EMOTIONAL IMPACT while reading Nancy J. Cavanaugh‘s funny, charming, and warm THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO RATCHET for Middle […]
Hope for Spring: Prince Charles’ Duchy Home Farm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcHXZV74BL4/ We just watched DER BAUER UND SEIN PRINZ (The Farmer and his Prince) about Prince Charles’ organically run farm. I ordered the DVD from the local bookstore here in Germany. Oddly, it’s unavailable anywhere in the Commonwealth. The film made me think about growing things and raising chickens. For years after failing with chickens […]