Monday, December 28, 2009

Snap a Pic for Me and Promote Yourself - Part III

This is the third installment of my online readers' gallery, featuring photos of people reading my books. (You'll find the first two posts here and here.) 

With the release in ebook form of both my books, this version adds a new twist: e-readers as well as hard-copy readers.

If you'd like to join the online fun (and get your book, business or web site promoted), read on...



Do you have a copy of either of my books? If so, I'd love to include a pic of you reading either The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write, The MoonQuest, or both in my Gallery of Readers Photo Album on Facebook.

And to help you promote your book and/or web site, I'll include in the photo caption not only your name but your promotional info/link. I'll also post a selection of the next batch of reader pics here in a future blog post.

If you have my email address, simply email me your pic and caption information. If you don't have my email address, contact me via Facebook, Twitter or my web site once you have the photo, and I'll tell you where to send it.

Thanks to Joan Cerio (top pic, above), Susan Larison, Anne Millbrooke, Lorri Greene, Anthony EllerCarlton Thomason and Helen H. David for their reader pics. Please click on their names to learn more about them and about their books and their work.

And please send me your pics. I'd love to add you to my gallery and let the world know something about you, your books and your work.














Last Chance to Save on Coaching Sessions with Mark David

• Let Mark David help you unleash the power of your creative potential!
Rates on all coaching series go up on January 1.
Book your coaching series now and lock in your savings for 2010!


Mark David's January Events / Albuquerque Area

• Free Talk
Topic: Acts of Surrender: Stepping into the New Year on Faith
Sun, Jan 10 ~ 10:30am ~ East Mountain Unity Center, Edgewood, NM


Mark David's January Workshops / Denver Area

• Free Talk, Author Q&A and book-signing
Topic: Birthing Your Book...Even If You Don't Know What It's About
Thursday, Jan 28~ 7pm ~ Bemis Public Library, Littleton, CO

Friday, Jan 29 ~ 6-9pm ~ Colorado Free University, Denver, CO

Saturday, Jan 30 ~ 10am-4:30pm ~ Colorado Free University, Denver, CO

Sunday, Jan 31 ~ 1-5pm ~ Phoenix Healing Center, Longmont, CO


Mark David's January Radio Events

Tuesday, January 12 — 4pm ET

• The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson
Special Guest: Cristina M.R. Norcross, author of the upcoming poetry collection Unsung Love Songs
Thursday, Jan 21 — 1pm ET

Monday, December 21, 2009

Shadow and Light

This piece is adapted from one I originally published in August 2007, during the final leg of my 30-month full-time road odyssey. I reprint it now, during this Solstice/Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza season, as a reminder of the play of shadow and light in our lives.

The shadows will tell me the story and I will write what I see. 
~ The MoonQuest: A True Fantasy

There's a scene in my novel, The MoonQuest, where one of the characters, horrified by the tyranny that has overtaken neighboring lands, describes the land itself as inherently malevolent.

"I will never set foot in that place again. It is evil. The land itself is evil," Fara says to Toshar, the book's main character.

I thought of that scene while driving through Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas a few years back.

So called because it follows a dramatic bend in the Rio Grande River, the park is a vast and remote desertscape of mountains, plains and river oases -- awe-inspiring in its natural beauty.

Is beauty, however, wasn't what prompted the realization that struck me so forcefully back then.

Beauty often suggests light. The catalyst for my Aha! was anything but.

As I drove east along the park's flatlands that day, an ominous complex of craggy cliffs captured my attention. Rising menacingly to the south and scraping the storm clouds that hung low in an unfriendly sky, these mountains felt, as my daughter would have put it back then, "creepy."

The scene felt dark, forbidding, inhospitable. And although a road offered access, I felt reluctant to follow it.

Yet, even as I drove past the turnoff, an inner voice urged me to reconsider.

Reluctantly, I turned around and headed south. After a short straightaway, a series of hairpin turns carried me up and up and then, surprisingly, down — into a basin-like valley ringed with mountains.

If my passage along the road into the Chisos Basin was dark, gloomy and threatening, the basin itself was bright, sunlit and welcoming. The sky, far from stormy, was largely clear. From this perspective, the mountains were gentle, embracing and enfolding.

Far removed from the prison I expected, this was a sanctuary, its soaring walls cathedral-like.

I stepped from the car and all the heaviness lifted so rapidly, it was as though it had never existed.

Later, as I drove out -- back into the still-overcast "outside world" -- I remembered Toshar's response to Fara:

"The land mourns, Fara, for all the blood that soaks into it. The land weeps, for all the hatred that desecrates it. The land rages, for all the malignance that grinds into it. But the land is not evil, Fara. M'nor smiled on Q'ntana once. She will again."

And as I remembered that, I realized that this land -- as menacing as it still appeared -- was not evil, was not possessed by the dark forces I first ascribed to it.

Rather, the land was a metaphor for my own dark forces, my own fears.

When I drove into the darkness of the Chisos Mountains, I was driving into the darkness in my own heart. And when I reached its light-filled center, the heart of this mountain cluster, I had actually reached the center of my own heart, itself always filled with light.

You see, there is no darkness outside of me -- not in the land, not in another. All the darkness in the land and all the darkness in the world exists within me or it could not reflect itself back at me through outer means.

The call to drive up the mountain was not to confront and transform some shadowy Dark Lord of the Rocks. It was a call to enter into my own shadowy self, into the fears that, as they do for Toshar, still tug at me "with tiny crab claws."

Only by acknowledging my own shadow can I reconnect with the light that always lies at its center. Only by entering into the heart of my darkness can I be embraced by the eternal flame of my own divinity.

Does that mean there is no darkness in the world? Of course not. But that darkness cannot exist independent of the darkness we each carry within us.

It's easy to demonize those who rape, torture and kill, those who abuse the Earth, those who disparage, disrespect and disempower. Too easy.

What's hard is to remember that nothing can exist outside us that doesn't live within.

What's hard to remember is that only by acknowledging those inner demons, only by walking through our fears, only by driving into the heart of our darkness, can we touch the light that always resides at the center -- of each of us.

• What shadowy parts of yourself can you acknowledge and own today?

• Who (or what) can you stop demonizing today, seeing them instead as reflections of the darkness you carry?

• How can you free those inner demons onto the pages of your writing in a way that strips them of their power over you and, instead, empowers your work?



Photos by Mark David Gerson: Chisos Mountains, Big Bend National Park


Give the gift of creativity and inspiration this holiday season...

For a limited time only:
Special Holiday Editions of Mark David's books and CDs

• Gift-wrapped books + book/CD packages signed by Mark David to your friends/family members, and shipped directly to them with a card bearing the holiday message of your choice. More information here. (Shipped Express Mail in the U.S. for delivery by Christmas.)

• Gift-certificates for coaching sessions, for the writer or writer-wannabe on your holiday gift list. More information here. (Shipped Express Mail in the U.S. for delivery by Christmas.)


Mark David's January Events / Albuquerque Area

• Free Talk
Topic: Acts of Surrender: Stepping into the New Year on Faith
Sun, Jan 10 ~ 10:30am ~ East Mountain Unity Center, Edgewood, NM


Mark David's January Workshops / Denver Area

• Free Talk, Author Q&A and book-signing
Topic: Birthing Your Book...Even If You Don't Know What It's About
Thursday, Jan 28~ 7pm ~ Bemis Public Library, Littleton, CO

Friday, Jan 29 ~ 6-9pm ~ Colorado Free University, Denver, CO

Saturday, Jan 30 ~ 10am-4:30pm ~ Colorado Free University, Denver, CO

Sunday, Jan 31 ~ 1-5pm ~ Phoenix Healing Center, Longmont, CO


Mark David's January Radio Events

Tuesday, January 12 — 4pm ET

• The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson
Special Guest: Cristina M.R. Norcross, author of the upcoming poetry collection Unsung Love Songs
Thursday, Jan 21 — 1pm ET

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Write (Right) Now

Too often we sit in judgment of ourselves and our work.

"This isn't good enough," we think. "This will never be good enough." Or, "This story has been told better before by someone else." Or, "This book has been written before."

Know this now and for all time: It is good enough. In this moment, this word is good enough, and so is this one.

This moment is always as good as it gets -- in this moment. So make the best of it. In this moment, give yourself permission to write the worst junk in the world, the same permission I give myself in this moment when I fear what I write for you isn’t good enough. It is, in this moment. I must believe this, as must you, or we can never move into the next moment and then the next, when those moments, too, form the present moment.

It is good enough. If you do your best to write freely and easily from your heart, it is always better than good enough. It is perfect.

Whatever you write is perfect. Whatever you experience is perfect. Whatever you feel is perfect. In this moment. Which is the only moment that matters, for it is the only moment that exists.

• What can you do in this moment to bring you back to the present moment?

• What can you stop worrying about, wondering about or trying to figure out?

• What can you stop judging?

Close your eyes for a moment. Focus on your breath. Be present. With your words. With your writing. In your life.



Give the gift of creativity and inspiration this holiday season...

For a limited time only:
Special Holiday Editions of Mark David's books and CDs

• Gift-wrapped books + book/CD packages signed by Mark David to your friends/family members, and shipped directly to them with a card bearing the holiday message of your choice. More information here.

• Gift-certificates for coaching sessions, for the writer or writer-wannabe on your holiday gift list. More information here.


Mark David's January Events / Albuquerque Area

• Free Talk
Topic: Acts of Surrender: Stepping into the New Year on Faith
Sun, Jan 10 ~ 10:30am ~ East Mountain Unity Center, Edgewood, NM


Mark David's January Workshops / Denver Area

Topic: Birthing Your Book...Even If You Don't Know What It's About
Thursday, Jan 28~ 7pm ~ Bemis Public Library, Littleton, CO

Friday, Jan 29 ~ 6-9pm ~ Colorado Free University, Denver, CO

Saturday, Jan 30 ~ 10am-4:30pm ~ Colorado Free University, Denver, CO

Sunday, Jan 31 ~ 1-5pm ~ Phoenix Healing Center, Longmont, CO


Mark David's January Radio Events

Tuesday, January 12 — 4pm ET

• The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson
Special Guest: Cristina M.R. Norcross, author of the upcoming poetry collection Unsung Love Songs
Thursday, Jan 21 — 1pm ET

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson (#6): Radio for Writers and Readers

Episode Six:
Thursday, Dec 17, 1pm ET
(click here to listen live or to the archived version any time after the show airs)


• Ask the Writing Coach (your questions for me about writing and creativity) and a feature interview with Karen Walker author of Following the Whispers

I first met Karen Walker at a meeting of a writers' group here in Albuquerque, and I was immediately struck by her warmth, her genuineness and her open heart. All those are eloquently evident in her memoir, Following the Whispers, which is a powerful, profound and poignant telling of her journey from a childhood of abuse and emotional abandonment to the courage and trust that mark her life today.

Karen says she always knew that the whispers were there, those intuitive sensings that were ready to guide and heal her. But it took a 50-year odyssey to gain the confidence and courage to follow them. And it took more courage still to share that journey so openly and movingly on the page.

During this month's feature interview, Karen will share more about her book and her story and will offer practical tips for memoir-writers everywhere. It promises to be a moving and inspiring conversation, and I hope you'll tune in (and join in, with your questions and comments).

During the first segment of the show, I'll offer some writing tips and inspiration and take your questions about writing and the creative process and about me and my books, The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write and The MoonQuest: A True Fantasy.

Please tune in, and bring your questions and quirks -- for me and my guest!

There are three ways to ask questions of my and my guests or to post comments:
• Post your questions in the show's chat room (free Blog Talk Radio account required)
• Post your questions directly to me on Twitter (@markdavidgerson)
• Post your questions directly to me on on my Facebook wall

The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson, is all about writing and creativity, and it's for writers and readers alike -- an opportunity to listen to writers and creators of all sorts talk about how and why they create and, of course, about what they create. It's also an opportunity for you to ask your questions -- of me during the first segment of the show, when I offer writing tips and inspiration, and of my guests during the interview portion.

Listen to The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson on the third Thursday of every month at 1pm ET (10am PT). Coming up in January: a feature interview with poet Cristina M.R. Norcross, author of a new poetry collection, Unsung Love Songs.

The Muse & You Show Archive
If you miss any live broadcast, you can listen to the archived episode, which is available shortly after each show on the show's web page. You can also download any show directly into your computer for later listening.

#5 ~ Nov 19Dan Stone author of The Rest of Our Lives

#4 ~ Oct 15Kristin Bair O'Keeffe author of Thirsty

#3 ~ Sept 17Joanne Chilton and Jeanne Ripley co-authors of Wings to Fly

#2 ~ Aug 20Jared Lopatin, author of Rising Sign

#1 ~ July 29Julie Isaac, founder of Twitter's #writechat, and Malcom Campbell, author of
The Sun Singer and Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire


Give the gift of creativity and inspiration this holiday season...

For a limited time only:
Special Holiday Editions of Mark David's books and CDs

• Gift-wrapped books + book/CD packages signed by Mark David to your friends/family members, and shipped directly to them with a card bearing the holiday message of your choice. More information here.

• Gift-certificates for coaching sessions, for the writer or writer-wannabe on your holiday gift list. More information here.


Mark David's January Workshops / Denver Area

Free Talk, Author Q&A and book-signing
Topic: Birthing Your Book...Even If You Don't Know What It's About
Thursday, Jan 28~ 7pm~ Bemis Public Library, Littleton, CO

Writing workshop -- From Memory to Memoir: Writing the Stories of Your Life
Friday, Jan 29 ~ 6-9pm ~ Colorado Free University, Denver, CO

Writing workshop -- Write in the Flow: Answering Your Call to Write
Saturday, Jan 30 ~ 10am-4:30pm ~ Colorado Free University, Denver, CO

The Call to Write: Answering the Voice of Your Muse
Sunday, Jan 31 ~ 1-5pm ~ Phoenix Healing Center, Longmont, CO


Mark David's January Radio Events

Mark David's monthly guest appearance on Unity.fm's Spiritual Coaching program
Tuesday, January 12 — 4pm ET

The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson
Special Guest: Cristina M.R. Norcross, author of the upcoming poetry collection Unsung Love Songs
Thursday, Jan 21 — 1pm ET

Saturday, December 12, 2009

The Art of Surrender

I didn’t know anything about a book called The MoonQuest when its words began to flow through me.

I didn’t know The Voice of the Muse was a book when its words began pouring from me.

All I knew in both instances was that my Muse was calling me and that the only way to answer its call was to write.

As I wrote, the books took care of themselves.

One day’s writing led to the next. One draft led to the next. One book led to the next.

Each day, draft and book drove my pen. My pen, in turn, drove me.

My only job was to release all attachment to form, structure, content and outcome. My only job was to write and let the words go where they chose and create what was theirs to create.

As it turned out, what was theirs to create were books. They could have been screenplays, short stories, articles, journal entries or exercises. They could have been anything at all.

My job wasn't to try to figure that out. My job was to write, to surrender to the imperative of my Muse -- a wiser soul in all things creative than I could ever pretend to be.

Life can be like that too. When God or our higher self or our intuition or our heart guides us in a particular direction, our responsibility is to surrender -- using our discernment, of course...a discernment that gets sharpened and honed with each experience.

We can no more figure out the bigger life picture with its infinite possibility than we can the bigger creative picture with its. In both cases, the full potential lies so far beyond our imagining that, truly, surrender is the only viable option.

What can you surrender to today? In your writing? In your life? How can you start? Now?

• adapted from The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write, two-time award-winner in 2009: a New Mexico Book Award and an Independent Publisher Book Award


Give the gift of creativity and inspiration this holiday season...

For a limited time only:
Special Holiday Editions of Mark David's books and CDs

• Gift-wrapped books + book/CD packages signed by Mark David to your friends/family members, and shipped directly to them with a card bearing the holiday message of your choice. More information here.

• Gift-certificates for coaching sessions, for the writer or writer-wannabe on your holiday gift list. More information here.



Mark David's December Radio Show

The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson
Special Guest: Karen Walker, author of Following the Whispers
Thursday, December 17 — 1pm ET

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The Birth of a Book

A version of this piece about the genesis of The MoonQuest first appeared in my now-discontinued New Earth Chronicles blog. I share it again here to remind that you don't have to know how your story will end before you begin. You don't even have to know how it will start. All you need to do is begin. All you need to do is place one word after the other...and trust...


It's March 1994. I see The Celtic Tarot in Toronto's Omega Centre bookstore and it so seduces me that I can't not buy it. Days later, I use the deck in a writing class I'm teaching: With eyes closed, each student draws one of the major arcana cards and then, with eyes open to the chosen card, is led through a guided visualization into writing.

Generally when I teach, I don't write. I watch the students and hold space for them.

But this night's group is different. These five women are a subset of a larger University of Toronto class that I have just led through ten weeks of creative awakening. They don't require my usual overseeing and so, once they're settled into writing, some inner imperative has me draw a card of my own: The Chariot.

That same imperative has me pick up a pen and push it across the blank page. What emerges is a surprise: the tale of an odd-looking man in an even odder-looking coach that is pulled by two odd-colored horses. I know nothing about this man and his horses. I know nothing about this story. All I know is what emerges, word by word, onto the page.

Next morning, I'm drawn back to the story. I add to it. I keep adding to it daily, almost obsessively, rarely knowing from one day to the next (some days from one word to the next) what the story is about or where it is carrying me. A year later in Amirault's Hill, Nova Scotia, on the anniversary of that Toronto class, I complete my first draft of The MoonQuest.

It's May 2007, many drafts and years later. I'm in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a few weeks from seeing the first printed copies of The MoonQuest in book form.

I open my email to a message and image from Courtney Davis, the British artist who created the Celtic Tarot deck, now sadly out-of-print. The image is The Chariot card, which I haven't seen since I gave away my copy of the tarot deck in 1997. Davis has sent me the image so that I can write a caption for an upcoming retrospective of his art.

When I see The Chariot for the first time in a decade, I'm startled. Even though the cover designer never saw the tarot card and knows nothing of The Celtic Tarot or how it inspired me, there's a definite connection between the two. Not only are the horses identically colored, they are identically placed. There's even a tiny chalice just above the wording on the card. Apart from that, the two images just feel the same.

Today, The MoonQuest is an award-winning book on its way to becoming a movie. And although the story's opening has changed since that 1994 writing class and although the odd-looking man has been superseded in importance by other characters, The Chariot's inspiration is still evident throughout The MoonQuest's story -- a story that knew itself far better than I did...a story that knew me better than I knew myself...a story that insisted I trust it to reveal itself to me, moment by moment, word by word...a story that never let me down.

• How can you trust your stories to reveal themselves to you?

• How can you surrender to the mystery of the blank page? Can you do as author Ray Bradbury suggests: jump of the cliff and trust that you'll sprout wings on the way down? Can you write the story that wants to be written by you, even if you don't yet know what it is?

• Can you start? Now?


Art Credits: The Chariot tarot card by Courtney Davis; The MoonQuest cover by Angela Farley.


Give the gift of creativity and inspiration this holiday season...

For a limited time only:
Special Holiday Editions of Mark David's books and CDs

• Gift-wrapped books + book/CD packages signed by Mark David to your friends/family members, and shipped directly to them with a card bearing the holiday message of your choice. More information here.

• Gift-certificates for coaching sessions, for the writer or writer-wannabe on your holiday gift list. More information here.


Mark David's December Radio Show

The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson
Special Guest: Karen Walker, author of Following the Whispers
Thursday, December 17 — 4pm ET


Holiday Book Signing to celebrate Mark David’s New Mexico Book Award for The Voice of the Muse

• Albuquerque, NM ~ Saturday, December 12
Hastings (Juan Tabo/Lomas) ~ 4-7pm

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

A Light on the Creative Journey

"There are no rules."
~ Mark David's first rule for writing (and most everything else)

On Saturday, November 28, I was privileged to be part of Steve and Barbara Rother's Virtual Light Broadcast. In a 26-minute interview with author/editor Sandie Sedgbeer, recorded live before a studio audience in Las Vegas, we talked about writing, spirituality and the creative process.

"The universe is made up of stories, not atoms," I told Sandie, quoting poet Muriel Rukeyser. We all have stories to tell and we all have an innate ability to free those stories onto the page in a process that is nearly always life-changing -- for ourselves and for our readers...



Give the gift of creativity and inspiration this holiday season...

For a limited time only:
Special Holiday Editions of Mark David's books and CDs

• Gift-wrapped books + book/CD packages signed by Mark David to your friends/family members, and shipped directly to them with a card bearing the holiday message of your choice. More information here.

• Gift-certificates for coaching sessions, for the writer or writer-wannabe on your holiday gift list. More information here.


Mark David's December Radio Broadcasts

• Guest appearance — Insights for the Soul Radio
Monday, December 7 — 10pm ET

• Monthly featured appearance — Unity.fm’s Spiritual Coaching Radio
Tuesday, December 8 — 4pm ET

The Muse & You with Mark David Gerson
Special Guest: Karen Walker, author of Following the Whispers
Thursday, December 17 — 4pm ET


Holiday Book Signings to celebrate Mark David’s New Mexico Book Award for The Voice of the Muse

• Albuquerque, NM ~ Friday, December 4
Hastings (Tramway/Candelaria) ~~ 5-8pm
• Albuquerque, NM ~ Saturday, December 12
Hastings (Juan Tabo/Lomas) ~ 4-7pm


Mark David's December Workshops

Vision & Revision: An Intuitive Approach to Editing
Sunday, December 6 ~ 1-5pm ~ Albuquerque, NM

Enhanced Reiki I (co-led with Marisha Diaz)
Saturday, December 13 ~ 1-6pm ~ Albuquerque, NM

Friday, November 20, 2009

"The Voice of the Muse" Wins 2009 New Mexico Book Award

Mark David Gerson’s Medal-Winning Writing Book Honored in Statewide Competition

Mark David Gerson’s The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write was named a winner in the 2009 edition of New Mexico’s premier literary contest, the New Mexico Book Awards.

The top prize in the competition's self-help category was announced at an awards banquet in Albuquerque earlier this evening. Some two dozen books were honored at the event.

This is Gerson’s second honor for The Voice of the Muse. Earlier this year, it earned a Silver Medal as one of the best writing books of 2009 in the Independent Publisher Book Awards, also known as the IPPYs.

The 2009 New Mexico Book Awards, open to New Mexico authors and publishers, attracted more than 300 entries and included books released by Viking, HarperCollins and Random House, as well as by major university presses.

Gerson is no stranger to the New Mexico Book Awards. In 2008, he won in the science fiction/fantasy category for his novel, The MoonQuest: A True Fantasy. That same year, The MoonQuest also won a Gold Medal IPPY for best visionary novel.

Gerson’s screenplay adaptation of The MoonQuest is currently in active development toward feature film production.

The Voice of the Muse, distilled from Gerson's 30-plus years as a professional writer/editor and nearly two decades as a writing teacher and coach, is a dynamic blend of inspiration and instruction for anyone in any genre seeking to write more effortlessly, flowingly and engagingly. It has been likened to such classics in the genre as Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones and Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird

Lauded by critics as "the wise guide any writer would dream of" and a "phenomenal guide to overcoming writer's block and unleashing your creative potential," The Voice of the Muse has been equally praised by novice and seasoned writers alike.

Gerson has also recorded The Voice of the Muse Companion: Guided Meditations for Writers, a two-CD album that includes powerful exercises to free up and deepen creative flow. It's sold separately from the book.

Both Gerson's books are available from www.markdavidgerson.com and from Amazon.com and other online retailers, as well as from selected U.S. retailers. The CD is available from www.markdavidgerson.com and Amazon

A writing/creativity coach, editor, project consultant and script analyst, Mark David is also a popular speaker on topics related to creativity and spirituality. He is host of The Muse & You, a radio show about writers and writing, and is a regular featured guest on Unity.fm's Spiritual Coaching radio program.

Mark David Gerson lives in Albuquerque, NM, where he’s currently working on a memoir and on a sequel to The MoonQuest.

Written and audio excerpts from The Voice of the Muse book, The Voice of the Muse CD and The MoonQuest

Calendar of Mark David's upcoming writing classes, workshops, events and appearances.

Register for Mark David's classes and workshops.

Mark David's approach to coaching writers

All About Balance

In honor of Pat Bertram's blog tour, I'm featuring her post about balance here. Today on her blog, you'll a find a post by me -- "Creating Perfection"

A Guest Post by Pat Bertram

Someone asked me where they should insert dialogue into the novel they were writing. I went blank for a moment, unable to comprehend the question. Insert dialogue? To a great extent, dialogue is the story. The most personal way people interact is by dialogue, and a story is or should be about people interacting, about relationships. Even action-oriented stories come down to a basic relationship: the hero vs. the villain.

A better question might be where to insert exposition, but even that is a specious question. Nothing in a novel should be inserted. Each element should flow one into the other, making a cohesive whole. I’ve heard people say that they’ve finished writing their novel, now all they have left is to go back and insert the symbolism. If you have to insert something for the sake of inserting it, it’s better to leave it out. Symbols, like other elements should flow out of the story. 

Novels need to be balanced. Dialogue interspersed with exposition or action makes for a more interesting story than dialogue or exposition or action alone. A novel that is mostly dialogue seems lightweight; a novel with too much exposition feels heavy-handed; a novel that is all action gets boring after a while. 

One way to make sure the elements flow together is to know what you are trying to accomplish.

What kind of story are you writing? What is your story goal? What is your premise? What is the core conflict? Once you know the core of your story, you can make sure every element connects to it. Sometimes you won’t know the core until you’ve finished the first draft. In which case, just write, let the words flow out of you and into the story. Then, when the draft is finished, read it to see what you have. Do any themes jump out at you? What is the gist of the story (the core conflict)? How can you use the various story elements help you bring out that conflict? Does every action have a reaction? Does every reaction have a cause? Which element will bring the conflict into sharper focus? If a particular conflict is a physical one, then action interspersed with terse comments is best. If a particular conflict is personal, then dialogue interspersed with bits of action is best. 

Where to insert dialogue, then, is not the real question. The real question is what do you want to say, and how do you want to say it?

Pat Bertram is a native of Colorado and a lifelong resident. When the traditional publishers stopped publishing her favorite type of book -- character and story driven novels that can’t easily be slotted into a genre -- she decided to write her own. Daughter Am I is Bertram’s third novel to be published by Second Wind Publishing, LLC. Also available are More Deaths Than One and A Spark of Heavenly Fire.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Muse & You #5: Radio for Writers and Readers...with Mark David Gerson

Episode Five:
Thursday, Nov 19, 1pm ET
(click here to listen live or to the archived version any time after the show airs)

• Ask the Writing Coach (your questions for me about writing and creativity) and a feature interview with Dan Stone author of The Rest of Our Lives

Some months back, I got a call from a friend here in Albuquerque. "You've got to meet this guy, Dan," he said. "He writes fantasy, like you. I know you'll have a lot to talk about."

He does (write fantasy) and we did (find a lot to talk about). And when I read his book, I was bewitched. The Rest of Our Lives is a compelling, original story that is sure to touch you with its humanity and universal wisdom. Blending magic, romance and the paranormal, this timeless tale is enchanting, entrancing and always entertaining.

The author, of course, is Dan Stone, and he brings to this first novel, his experiences as a poet, journalist and editor, as a college instructor and human resources trainer, as a personal and professional development coach, and as a mystic and an intuitive "Daneller." No, that's not a typo. And if you want to know what a Daneller is and does, you'll just have to tune in on the 19th (or listen to the archive, which will be available immediately after the live broadcast goes off the air).

During this month's feature interview, Dan will share more about his book and other writings, about his creative process and about "the stream of well being that is ever flowing." It promises to be an eclectic, free-ranging conversation, and I hope you'll tune in (and join in, with your questions and comments).

During the first segment of the show
, I'll offer some writing tips and inspiration and take your questions about writing and the creative process and about me and my books, The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write and The MoonQuest: A True Fantasy.

Please
tune in, and bring your questions and quirks -- for me and my guests!

There are three ways to ask questions of my and my guests or to post comments:
• Post your questions in the show's chat room (free Blog Talk Radio account required)
• Post your questions directly to me on
Twitter (@markdavidgerson)
• Post your questions directly to me on on my
Facebook wall

The Muse & You, a production of Red River Writers, is all about writing and creativity, and it's for writers and readers alike -- an opportunity to listen to writers and creators of all sorts talk about how and why they create and, of course, about what they create. It's also an opportunity for you to ask your questions -- of me during the first segment of the show, when I offer writing tips and inspiration, and of my guests during the interview portion.

Listen to
The Muse & You on the third Thursday of every month at 1pm ET (10am PT). December's guest will be Karen Walker, author of Following the Whispers.

The Muse & You Show Archive
If you miss any live broadcast, you can listen to the archived episode, which is available shortly after each show on the show's web page. You can also download any show directly into your computer for later listening.

#4 ~ Oct 15Kristin Bair O'Keeffe author of Thirsty

#3 ~ Sept 17Joanne Chilton and Jeanne Ripley co-authors of Wings to Fly

#2 ~ Aug 20Jared Lopatin, author of Rising Sign

#1 ~ July 29Julie Isaac, founder of Twitter's #writechat, and Malcom Campbell, author of
The Sun Singer and Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire