Regardless of how long you’ve been writing, or how successful you’ve been in your literary career, you have more to learn. This series of essays is dedicated to that proposition. Each is a boiled-down observation on some element of the craft I’ve been trying to master for more than fifty years. I offer these thoughts to my colleagues and welcome your lessons in return.
Write Away Essays:
by David Benjamin “Vinnie and Hawk lounged in the theater lobby, blending in to the theatrical scene like two coyotes at a poultry festival.” —Robert B. Parker, Walking Shadow MADISON, Wis.—In my newspaper days, it was necessary, if I wanted coverage of high-school sports in my circulation range, to teach a kid from the high……
Read More...by David Benjamin “ … You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. there is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane,……
Read More...by David Benjamin “That the Jester should be brother to the Sage may sound like blasphemy, yet our language reflects the close relationship : the word ‘witticism’ is derived from ‘wit’ in its original sense of ingenuity, inventiveness. Jester and savant must both ‘live on their wits’…” ―Arthur Koestler, The Act of Creation MADISON, Wis.—Every……
Read More...by David Benjamin “The real trouble with the writing game is that no general rule can be worked out for uniform guidance.” ― Erle Stanley Gardner MADISON, Wis.—A while ago, during my futile search for new literary representation, I got rejected by a New York agent named Peter, whose full name I won’t reveal. Peter……
Read More...by David Benjamin “The days of pioneering, of lassies in sunbonnets, and bears killed with axes in piney clearings, are deader now than Camelot; and a rebellious girl is the spirit of that bewildered empire called the American Middlewest.” ―Sinclair Lewis, Main Street MADISON, Wis.—A while ago, I was one of several writers reading passages……
Read More...by David Benjamin “We do this because it gives us, vicariously and from a great distance, a share in the glamour and the counterfeit heroism that accrues to sports champions. As we suffer through every day’s degrading race against our fellow rats, the Packers are an endless, regularly scheduled series of voyages into the unknown.……
Read More...Specialty writers are a rich resource to a storyteller. The most important lesson they teach is attention to detail, especially when the story ranges far from home. by David Benjamin “When we championed trash culture we had no idea it would become the only culture.” ― Pauline Kael PARIS—During my sojourn in Japan, I was……
Read More...Writing can be taught, and there are curricula—and prestigious college seminars—devoted to “creative writing.” But can you teach creativity? by David Benjamin “However great a man’s natural talent may be, the art of writing cannot be learned all at once.” ― Jean-Jacques Rousseau MADISON, Wis.—It has always been my conviction that you can’t teach creativity.……
Read More...Readers can turn agains an author if the details of a report or a story are so inaccurate that they are noticeable. Credibility can be a chasm for the writer who doesn’t bother to check and double-check. by David Benjamin “People know accuracy when they read it; they can feel it.” ― Alan Furst MADISON,……
Read More...by David Benjamin “It is strange how often a heart must be broken “Before the years can make it wise.” ― Sara Teasdale MADISON, Wis.—Before I was out of high school, I had twice suffered a broken heart. In the summer of ’66, a girl named Linda broke my heart so gently that it barely……
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