How Art Reveals Truth in Science

It is quite possible … that we will always learn more about human life and personality from novels than from scientific psychology —Naom Chomsky In the 1920s, physicist Niels Bohr struggled to re-imagine the structure […]

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Our Deepest Fear

It’s not what you think it is… There’s a poignant scene near the end of the 2005 movie “Coach Carter” where a student finally responds to Carter’s insistent question of “what is your deepest fear?”. […]

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How to Accept Rejection

We’ve all suffered rejection and disappointment. Perhaps that job you coveted or someone you loved who might have even led you on before dropping you. It hurts. But you move on. And it does get […]

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The Power of Myth in Storytelling

“If a being from another world were to ask you, ‘How can I learn what it’s like to be human?’ a good answer would be, ‘Study mythology.’ ”—Joseph Campbell For Joseph Campbell, perhaps our era’s […]

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Are You a Closet Synesthete?

“A person with synesthesia might hear and taste her husband’s voice as buttery golden brown, feel the flavor of food on her fingertips, sense the letter J as shimmering magenta or the number 5 as […]

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Female Heroes in Literature

For my birthday last year, I went to the cinema to watch the popular—and somewhat controversial—Hunger Games. Well, controversial among some critics and followers of critics, anyway. I came across a particularly juicy tidbit by […]

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How to Hook Your Reader and Deliver

A great story opening arouses, delays and rewards. Constructing a compelling beginning—often called a hook—is a common challenge for even established writers, and one of the most important parts of a story. The opening should […]

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How To End Your Story

Have you ever seen the movie The Party with Peter Sellers? The first scene is priceless. Sellers plays an actor who is shot in a war scene; he subverts the script by refusing to die. […]

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Demystifying the Synopsis

A synopsis is a larger version of the book jacket blurb you see on the back of most paperbacks in the bookstore. You write a synopsis for the same reason: to sell a story idea […]

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Finding the Write Time and Place

  Look and you will find it—what is unsought will go undetected —Sophocles   Finding the Right Time and Place to Write During a time when I had a demanding job as an scientist with […]

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Should You Judge a Book by its Cover?

Most readers—me included—will pick a book off the bookstore shelf because its cover interests us: the title intrigues; the cover illustration attracts; the author’s name is one we trust. If you don’t know the author […]

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