Tag: creative-writing
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on collaborating
“This is good, but there’s not enough of Story B.” “There’s way too much Story B. It should be all about Story A.” “Have you considered Story C?” These are all real bits of feedback my client has heard from dev editors this past month. All these editors are pros who have worked on multiple…
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on juanita the ice mummy
“And here she is: Juanita, the Inca mummy,” said the tour guide as we circled around the glass case. “Although she wasn’t mummified; she’s been frozen since her death 550 years ago.” This was our third day in Arequipa, Peru, a city surrounded by volcanoes—majestic, silent, constant. Their ice caps float like clouds in the…
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on the author as authority
Last week, I was in a conversation with Red Thread Books’ Sierra Melcher about this idea: the Author as Authority. It’s right there in the word. And yet many authors forget it. But what does it mean exactly? 1. You are the authority over your own book. Not your ghostwriter, editor, or marketing team. It’s…
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Memoir in Miniature
A one-session deep dive into a single meaningful memory Sometimes memory calls to you. A conversation you can still hear.A room you remember exactly.A realization that changed something. It may be faint, with lots of details missing—but you still want to explore it. Maybe you feel like that memory has more to say, but aren’t…
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on being good enough
Tuesday afternoon in 2013, Greenwich Village. A little French cafe where nothing cost less than $19. I was meeting my friend and MFA colleague Brian, so we could talk shop about our novels. “I love my novel’s story,” I said as our Americanos arrived. “I know the idea is solid. But I feel like…I’m not…
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on how to start writing
“…and that’s my memoir idea. I’m so excited,” my friend C. said. “But…how do I start?” Ah, the age-old question. How do you start writing? My friends, here is the answer: ⚔️ First, you must register with the Secret Society of Real Writers. 🧬 This requires giving a DNA sample to see whether you have…
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on connection
When I first moved to Peru, I became obsessed with learning Spanish. I eavesdropped constantly. I was dying to understand, dying to know: What are people saying? About a month in, I was walking along the boardwalk in the tiny beach town where I lived. An older couple walked past me, hand in hand. The…
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on the failure of words
People sometimes ask me what it was like to live in the Amazon. I wish I could transport them there, just for a second. Or upload a snippet of virtual reality into their brain so they could experience it too. Because, like most places, it’s impossible to explain. You’d think that I, as a writer,…
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on changing
September 2005, South Bend, Indiana. I’m 17 years old, sitting in a class called Musicianship. Having declared myself a music major, I am now expected to do things like sight-sing melodies and sight-clap rhythms. (What is that, you ask? It’s when you have to read sheet music without an instrument. Alone, in front of the…
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on expansion
At midnight, the table went silent as we began eating our 12 grapes, one with each clang of the bell on TV. “Make a wish!” I’d been told. “Or rather twelve wishes. One for each grape.” I’m in Madrid with my boyfriend’s family, and it’s my first time eating grapes on New Year’s Eve. And…
Kimberly Bunker, MFA 