A monthly letter from Gotham’s dean of faculty, Kelly Caldwell (usually writing advice)
Recently, my Memoir Writing II class workshopped a story written mostly in past tense, until the final scene, when the writer shifted her verb tense from past to present. We agreed unanimously—we loved the switch. It made an already arresting moment even more breathtaking. Continue reading “Changing Tense”
“I love the way you fix up my quotes. You make me sound a lot smarter than I do in real life.”
Bob, a source I often interviewed when I worked as a newspaper reporter in Michigan, said that to me all the time. Every time, I’d flinch. “Bob!” I’d say through clenched teeth, “I am not fixing your quotes!” Continue reading “Authentic Dialogue”
The next time you’re thinking about giving up, think instead of Yvonne Puckett.
A few years back, Yvonne, a dancer, wanted to perform in the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera’s production of The King and I.
At the time, her father-in-law was Louis Adrian, conductor of LACLO’s orchestra. When she told him she planned to audition, he looked appalled. “You?” he said. “In the King and I? No way.” Continue reading “Dance It All Away”