Creativity & Writing Resources
Here is an assortment of resources to support your writing process.
STORYTELLING |
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Andrew Stanton: The clues to a great story
"Use what you know. Draw from it. It doesn't always mean plot or fact. It means capturing a truth from your experience, expressing values you personally feel deep down in your core."
Harvard Business Review: Storytelling That Moves People
"Self-knowledge is the root of all great storytelling. A storyteller creates all characters from the self by asking the question, 'If I were this character in these circumstances, what would I do?'"
Ira Glass on elements of good storytelling
"You want to be constantly raising questions and answering them from the beginning of the story and that the whole shape of the story is that you're throwing out questions to keep people watching or listening and then answering them along the way."
"Use what you know. Draw from it. It doesn't always mean plot or fact. It means capturing a truth from your experience, expressing values you personally feel deep down in your core."
Harvard Business Review: Storytelling That Moves People
"Self-knowledge is the root of all great storytelling. A storyteller creates all characters from the self by asking the question, 'If I were this character in these circumstances, what would I do?'"
Ira Glass on elements of good storytelling
"You want to be constantly raising questions and answering them from the beginning of the story and that the whole shape of the story is that you're throwing out questions to keep people watching or listening and then answering them along the way."
CREATIVITY |
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The Writing Trek
In her essay "The Getaway Car," Anne Patchett says, "Every time I have set out to translate the book (or story, or hopelessly long essay) that exists in such brilliant detail on the big screen of my limbic system onto a piece of paper...I grieve for my own lack of talent and intelligence. Every. Single. Time." It's normal to go from "This is such a good idea" to "I am garbage."
Bored and Brilliant Challenge
"Our brains are doing some really important work when we think we are doing nothing, so research suggest we get our most original ideas when we stop the constant stimulation and let ourselves get bored." - Manoush Zomorodi
TED Radio Hour: Slowing Down
Tim Urban of Wait But Why says that procrastination can be an asset, "...for someone who wants to kind of really invent something that seems new, that seems fresh, that takes emotional and mental toil over long periods of time."
Oprah's Super Soul Conversation with Lin Manuel Miranda
"[Empathy is] the number one tool in your toolbox as an artist. You can't do anything if you can't imagine yourself in someone else's shoes. That's the whole gig."
In her essay "The Getaway Car," Anne Patchett says, "Every time I have set out to translate the book (or story, or hopelessly long essay) that exists in such brilliant detail on the big screen of my limbic system onto a piece of paper...I grieve for my own lack of talent and intelligence. Every. Single. Time." It's normal to go from "This is such a good idea" to "I am garbage."
Bored and Brilliant Challenge
"Our brains are doing some really important work when we think we are doing nothing, so research suggest we get our most original ideas when we stop the constant stimulation and let ourselves get bored." - Manoush Zomorodi
TED Radio Hour: Slowing Down
Tim Urban of Wait But Why says that procrastination can be an asset, "...for someone who wants to kind of really invent something that seems new, that seems fresh, that takes emotional and mental toil over long periods of time."
Oprah's Super Soul Conversation with Lin Manuel Miranda
"[Empathy is] the number one tool in your toolbox as an artist. You can't do anything if you can't imagine yourself in someone else's shoes. That's the whole gig."
WRITING PROCESS |
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Bird By Bird, by Anne Lamott
"Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs: our need to be visible, to be heard, our need to make sense of our lives, to wake up and grow and belong. It is no wonder if we sometimes tend to take ourselves perhaps a bit too seriously.”
Jennie Nash on Your Creative Push
"Even the most successful writers are having the same struggle that you are. It doesn't end, it's what the work is...that struggle, that doubt...it's not going away. And you might as well make a place for it and recognize it and know it's always going to be there and make peace with it...Project: easy. Editorial solution: easy. It's the emotion that's hard."
"Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs: our need to be visible, to be heard, our need to make sense of our lives, to wake up and grow and belong. It is no wonder if we sometimes tend to take ourselves perhaps a bit too seriously.”
Jennie Nash on Your Creative Push
"Even the most successful writers are having the same struggle that you are. It doesn't end, it's what the work is...that struggle, that doubt...it's not going away. And you might as well make a place for it and recognize it and know it's always going to be there and make peace with it...Project: easy. Editorial solution: easy. It's the emotion that's hard."
WRITING CRAFT |
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Bird By Bird, by Anne Lamott
"Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs: our need to be visible, to be heard, our need to make sense of our lives, to wake up and grow and belong. It is no wonder if we sometimes tend to take ourselves perhaps a bit too seriously.”
Writing Class Radio Podcast
Writers and teachers Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer explore how we write our way to the truth because, “There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other than by writing and telling our stories.”
Jennie Nash on Your Creative Push
"Even the most successful writers are having the same struggle that you are. It doesn't end, it's what the work is...that struggle, that doubt...it's not going away. And you might as well make a place for it and recognize it and know it's always going to be there and make peace with it...Project: easy. Editorial solution: easy. It's the emotion that's hard."
"Writing can be a pretty desperate endeavor, because it is about some of our deepest needs: our need to be visible, to be heard, our need to make sense of our lives, to wake up and grow and belong. It is no wonder if we sometimes tend to take ourselves perhaps a bit too seriously.”
Writing Class Radio Podcast
Writers and teachers Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer explore how we write our way to the truth because, “There’s no better way to understand ourselves and each other than by writing and telling our stories.”
Jennie Nash on Your Creative Push
"Even the most successful writers are having the same struggle that you are. It doesn't end, it's what the work is...that struggle, that doubt...it's not going away. And you might as well make a place for it and recognize it and know it's always going to be there and make peace with it...Project: easy. Editorial solution: easy. It's the emotion that's hard."