Category Archives: writing

The Power of Words, Part IV: Temperature

Posted on 12. June 2014 by Nancy Pinard

In a manuscript workshop I recently conducted, a participant submitted a story in which the antagonist chose the dark side after being forced by his government captors to watch his daughter’s burning at the stake. The scene had lots of … Continue reading →

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The Power of Words, Part II: Things

Posted on 2. June 2014 by Nancy Pinard

–Say it, no ideas but in things– nothing but the blank faces of the houses and cylindrical trees bent, forked by preconception and accident– split, furrowed, creased, mottled, stained– secret–into the body of the light! from Paterson: Book I That’s … Continue reading →

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The Power of Words, Part I

Posted on 30. May 2014 by Nancy Pinard

Words are keeping me awake–the words of a friend I last saw when I was eighteen.  From the sky into my inbox, the words exploded in a world I hadn’t conjured in a long, long time. We played remember when, … Continue reading →

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Where to Go When You Don’t Know Where to Go

Posted on 27. May 2014 by Nancy Pinard

You don’t know what happens next. You believe you need to know. Not knowing makes you feel out of control, and you’re the author, after all. If you don’t know, who will? That’s another question you can’t answer. You stop … Continue reading →

Posted in making art, mystery, reading, writing | 1 Comment

The Secret of Einstein’s Ability to Adapt to Failure

Posted on 2. September 2012 by Nancy Pinard

As part of my attempt to embrace the complexity of Albert Einstein, I’m exploring a chapter in Lewis Pyenson’s book The Young Einstein:  The Advent of Relativity.  Pyenson begins by enumerating the failures Einstein overcame prior to being awarded the … Continue reading →

Posted in Dallas Willard, dealing with failure, Einstein, Helen Dukas, Lewis Pyenson, making art, point of view, reading, writing | Leave a comment

Ambiguity, Complexity, and Mystery

Posted on 13. May 2012 by Nancy Pinard

I just returned from two days spent at the Ohio University Literary Festival, where lectures were delivered by writers Amy Hempel (if you don’t know her story, “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried,” read it without passing Go), … Continue reading →

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The Need for Obsession

Posted on 5. May 2012 by Nancy Pinard

I am a writer.  I am also a tennis player.  (In fact, I have torn the ligaments in my right elbow playing tennis, and in lieu of having Tommy John surgery, I wear a wrist-to-shoulder metal  Bledsoe brace on my … Continue reading →

Posted in Annie Darwin, Charles Darwin, death, Einstein, Einstein's children, Einstein's Daughter, Generating Fiction from History and/or Fact, historical fiction, Mileva Maric, obsession, point of view, reading, Serbia, writing, Zurich | 1 Comment

The Inner Conflict

Posted on 20. March 2012 by Nancy Pinard

I will be teaching a workshop on writing the endings of short stories and novels at the Mad Anthony Writers’ Workshop April 13-15 in Hamilton, Ohio.  In the process of preparing, I was made conscious of subjects that generally remain … Continue reading →

Posted in Charles Darwin, Einstein, Generating Fiction from History and/or Fact, historical fiction, inner conflict, Mileva Maric, Pauline Einstein, reading, writing | Leave a comment

Learning from the Historical Fiction of Other Writers

Posted on 10. December 2011 by Nancy Pinard

I’m just finishing up a debut novel by Debra Dean called The Madonnas of Leningrad, a must-read for art lovers and anyone who wants to know what it was like to survive the terrible winter of the Nazi seige of … Continue reading →

Posted in Debra Dean, Fictional biography, Generating Fiction from History and/or Fact, Hermitage, historical fiction, methods for creativity, reading, Siege of Leningrad, The Madonnas of Leningrad, writing | Leave a comment

Grappling with Gaps in the Record

Posted on 1. December 2011 by Nancy Pinard

In keeping with my resolve not to change the historical record where it exists, I still wrestle with how to handle the gaps.   The writing of fictional biography gives me some license, of course, but I mostly interpret that to … Continue reading →

Posted in Auguste Forel, Bulgholzli Psychiatric Hospital, Eduard Einstein, Einstein's Daughter, Fictional biography, Generating Fiction from History and/or Fact, historical fiction, Marija Maric, Michele Zackheim, Mileva Maric, Milos Maric, point of view, reading, schizophrenia, Serbia, writing, Zorka Maric, Zurich | 2 Comments