For me, part of the fun of writing is learning about new stuff. Setting, character, even dialog has to be researched so that it’s believable. It has to be right.

The Internet is a perfect tool. Anything you want to know is out there in cyberspace. And libraries have been providing curious writers with answers for centuries. But I like to take my research a step further. I need to observe and study the people, places and things that I write about firsthand. I want to experience it – to feel it.  Continue reading →

Some time ago I attended a writer’s workshop. After the morning sessions, I tagged along with a few of the others for lunch at the student union. We all chatted while standing in line with our food trays and dinnerware. Walter, a writer in our group, came over and introduced himself while I searched for a clean utensil from a metal cup.

“You sure ask a lot of questions,” he said.

I found a clean knife. “Yes. I know. Sometimes it just doesn’t come easy for me, especially that diagramming plot stuff. I write like I drive – reckless and without a map.”   Continue reading →

I write about UFOs and extraterrestrial aliens. The fictional story possibilities are endless – as infinite as space.

Every mystery can be answered by the alien invasion, any body abnormality, too. Ever have a ringing sound in your ear? Sure you have. Everyone has at one time or another. That ringing you hear is a message from a UFO. Plausible? Sure. Why not? No doubt there are wards full of people at this very moment trying to decode the alien message. They are prevented by a continuous diet of Clozaril, Loxapine or Mellaril. Are they being confined in state hospitals because of a government conspiracy?

See how it works? All kinds of story ideas.  Continue reading →

I’ve been attending writer’s conferences for many years and have learned something new and valuable at each of them, but my experience at a particular conference taught me a lesson I’ll never forget.

It took place on a warm weekend in spring. Madison was alive with students who welcomed the weather in shorts. Shirtless joggers passed hand-holding couples in a snake-like dance on the sidewalks, and keg parties spilled out onto the scruffy lawns of student flats and apartments, day and night.  Continue reading →

I’ve recently gone from unsuccessful novelist to unsuccessful screenwriter.

I found out why so many novelists complain about screen adaptations of their work. A full-length feature film should be written in a maximum of 130 pages. Try cutting a 350-page novel down to that. I did. I tried to take a lousy novel and turn it into a better screenplay. I took out everything but dialog. That only cut it down to 200 pages – so I slashed and carved some more. I think I’ve ended up with what some people might call an “art film”.

Now I’m writing another – a work that is intended to be a script from the start. It’s a horror story and I’m about halfway through. Tonight, I realize that the only way I can hope to save this thing is if I make it into a musical.  Continue reading →

Where do you get your imagination?

People who’ve read my stuff ask me where it comes from. “Where did you ever get an idea like that?” they ask.

From as far back as I can remember, my father told me I was adopted. He said I was left on his doorstep with a note from the king of Prussia, whose realm was under attack.

I saw the note. Large black letters scrawled on cheap lined paper decreed that the king’s baby must be hidden, educated and trained to return and save the Prussian crown. It even had a dripped-candle-wax seal that would appear to be official to any five-year-old.  Continue reading →

One of the best day jobs a writer can have is in an office. Once you’re there for a while, you’re considered a trustworthy employee. Security becomes relaxed and you become convinced it’s your right to exploit the company’s computers, printers, copiers and the endless supply of paper. It’s not really theft. It’s more like a fringe benefit, isn’t it? I believe in an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, but it’s after hours when the day job really pays off. Once everyone has gone home, the entire building is mine.

I spend so many nights at the office; I’m on a first-name basis with the cleaning staff. I can tell you the names of their children – their interests and ambitions, too. Why just last week, Maria invited me to her wedding; and Hector has been giving me Spanish lessons during his 9:00 PM lunch break on Tuesdays. During the lunch breaks on Thursdays, I read chapters of my novel to the entire cleaning crew.  Continue reading →