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The Pocket Muse
Jun. 7th, 2002 10:44 pmThis is a nice little book by Monica Wood which I picked up at Wild Rumpus, a children's bookstore here in Minneapolis (I love that store because it has an adult-sized door and a child-sized door for customers to enter). A nice mix of evocative photos, meant to spark creative juices, and suggestions meant to get the wheels turning in a writer's mind:
Write about the last time you felt indispensable.
Write about a person whose reputation rests on the appearance of an inanimate object.
[A picture of an old, paint-flaked, ornate door] Enter here.
Go to a restaurant with someone patient. Pretend to be listening to him while you eat. Meanwhile, grab a swatch of conversation from Table A and another from Table B. Combine and enjoy.
Haven't actually tried any of the suggestions yet, but it looks more potentially fruitful than many other books of its ilk.
BTW: If you want to be a novelist, you absolutely MUST pick up The Unstrung Harp, or Mr. Earbrass Writes a Novel by Edward Gorey. It's all true. Every word.
On November 18th of alternate years Mr Earbrass begins writing 'his new novel.'
"Weeks ago he chose its title at random from a list of them he keeps in a little green note-book. It being tea-time of the 17th, he is alarmed not to have thought of a plot to which The Unstrung Harp might apply, but his mind will keep reverting to the last biscuit on the plate."
Awfully hot and muggy in my office. I think I'm hanging it up for the night--must leave early for that appearance in Wisconsin tomorrow a.m.
Cheers,
Peg
Write about the last time you felt indispensable.
Write about a person whose reputation rests on the appearance of an inanimate object.
[A picture of an old, paint-flaked, ornate door] Enter here.
Go to a restaurant with someone patient. Pretend to be listening to him while you eat. Meanwhile, grab a swatch of conversation from Table A and another from Table B. Combine and enjoy.
Haven't actually tried any of the suggestions yet, but it looks more potentially fruitful than many other books of its ilk.
BTW: If you want to be a novelist, you absolutely MUST pick up The Unstrung Harp, or Mr. Earbrass Writes a Novel by Edward Gorey. It's all true. Every word.
On November 18th of alternate years Mr Earbrass begins writing 'his new novel.'
"Weeks ago he chose its title at random from a list of them he keeps in a little green note-book. It being tea-time of the 17th, he is alarmed not to have thought of a plot to which The Unstrung Harp might apply, but his mind will keep reverting to the last biscuit on the plate."
Awfully hot and muggy in my office. I think I'm hanging it up for the night--must leave early for that appearance in Wisconsin tomorrow a.m.
Cheers,
Peg
