Healing through story
No story without a character. This week I talk about the people who inhabit a story. The mannequin itself, before it’s dressed. So many memorable characters in fiction.
And I offer you a short piece inspired by a Rodin sculpture.
Enjoy!
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Turn down the volume and listen to the silence. Mannequin Monday brings us a note of quiet this week. Drape the form in soft fabric. In words that rise out of the silence in our hearts. A moment of stillness.
A few words from a biblical psalm help us be still.
As always, a lighthearted story of my own.
“A shuddering ripple, a thrill of strength.” Rainer Maria Rilke’s description of Auguste Rodin’s sculptures. Mannequin Monday this week examines the work of Rodin, with implications for authors.
I offer my own story, Scars Tell a Story, where I try to absorb some of Rodin’s artistic outlooks into my writing.
Putting a grin on our faces isn’t easy these days. I share a few lines of humor from two books I recently read. Authors James McBride with Deacon King Kong and Louise Penny with All the Devils Are Here drape our weekly mannequin in smiles.
And I offer another short story of mine, about a writer’s own King Kong.
In our creative work we give form to feelings. In writing, music, sculpting, painting, photography, film. “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” Anaïs Nin.
This week Mannequin Monday looks at the wonder of re-reading a novel. I re-visit authors Louise Penny and John Steinbeck to help us with that.
Robert Frost once said about writing: “a poem is never a put-up job—it begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.” Mannequin Monday this week looks at the brokenness at the heart of any impactful poem or story.
I include a sample from my upcoming book Surfrider, the second in the Film Crew series.
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“Show us a world we’ve never seen before.” A sense of place in writing. Not simply setting. A place. A world. Almost a character in itself. This Mannequin Monday finds us working on creating worlds with our words. I visit one of Louise Penny’s novels, The Long Way Home, for descriptors of a unique world.
I include a piece of my own writing. “The Rain is a Thief.” A short story of tragedy – and release – set in a black night of rain.
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