Healing through story
I’ve never been to the catacombs of Paris. Never come face to face with the roots of Irish humor. But on this Mannequin Monday books take me where I have never been. Elle Marr, Tana French…
Words don’t simply clothe a blank form. They transport the viewer.
And an excerpt from my next book Surfrider,
We don’t always like the first outfit we try on. The same holds true for dressing our mannequin with words. The first words don’t always suit our taste.
This Mannequin Monday I talk about books I have not finished.
And, as always, I offer you a bit of my own writing, this time the opening chapter from the draft of my next story.
Thanks for joining me this week. And enjoy your holiday.
“Write hard and clear about what hurts.” Advice from Ernest Hemingway. Looking this week for the hurt in our story. The hurt in our characters. The hurt masked by our mannequin’s facade.
I am reading Under a Gilded Moon, historical fiction set in North Carolina in the time of the Vanderbilts.
And I offer a character sketch for Tessa Warren from book two in my Film Crew series. Welcome to another Mannequin Monday!
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.
Continue reading
Welcome to another Mannequin Monday. Today we dress the naked form, the blank page, with both words and moving images. A quote from author/painter Huguette Martel’s graphic story, Adventures of a Would-be Filmmaker: “When I die, and if there is life after death, I want to finally be able to walk in very high heels.” And in this week’s interview, camera operator Georgia Packard encourages any filmmaker to emulate Ansel Adams in walking around their subject from all angles before shooting.
Continue reading© 2025 Bob Gillen
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
Recent Comments