Category: Narrators

Autobiography and Autobiographical Fiction, Beyond writer's block, Character Development, Contemporary Events, Creative Process, Fiction, Fictional worlds, Juicy Craft Points, Memoir, Narrators, News; things to look for, Poetry, Story, The Craft of Writing, The power of the arts, Workshops, Writing & Social Justice, Writing and Place, Writing for Social Change

News! Creative Writing Workshop: Writing Place and Placelessness Friday, Sept 23, 2022, 1:00-3:00 pm EST

Anya Achtenberg

for the International Women's Writing Guild Free Write withAnya Achtenberg Sefara-Rabi Writing Place and Placelessness A sense-of-place writing workshop to address place in a world of historical amnesia, diaspora, flight, trauma that knocks us out of place, gentrification; place as investment property, as profit. The poisoning of the sacred. Climate catastrophe.  All this with a deeper dive… Continue reading News! Creative Writing Workshop: Writing Place and Placelessness Friday, Sept 23, 2022, 1:00-3:00 pm EST

Autobiography and Autobiographical Fiction, Beyond writer's block, Character Development, Fictional worlds, Narrators, News; things to look for, Story, Writing love

Beyond Formula: Writing Love Scenes that Support the Story with Spirit, Passion, Grit, and Character Truth: Independent class beginning January 12, 2012!

Anya Achtenberg

Dear Writers, I want to talk with you about my independent classes. I continue to teach Claiming Our Stories: Working with the Power of Autobiography and Autobiographical Fiction, Parts One and Two, with writers.com/writers on the net, as you can see from my last posting. But I have been teaching Finding the Real Story: The… Continue reading Beyond Formula: Writing Love Scenes that Support the Story with Spirit, Passion, Grit, and Character Truth: Independent class beginning January 12, 2012!

Narrators, News; things to look for, Story, Uncategorized

Where have I been? Now, there is a question which could lead to story.

Anya Achtenberg

Dear Friends, I won't tell you know where I have been. But I will tell you where I am going to be. And what I will be doing in relation to teaching writing, right here in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Here we go, classes first, then news of a workshop, locally in Minneapolis: Finding… Continue reading Where have I been? Now, there is a question which could lead to story.

Autobiography and Autobiographical Fiction, General Writing, Language and the Way of Words, Narrators, News; things to look for, Voice

Why won’t Devil-girl just go away? Why now, the re-release of The Stories of Devil-girl?

Anya Achtenberg

On a simple level, here is an opportunity to support good literature at a time when The Market is often powerful at blocking quality and truth. And, in this case, this is an opportunity to help support organizations that are proven to be effective and bold and devoted to working to improve the lives of some of the… Continue reading Why won’t Devil-girl just go away? Why now, the re-release of The Stories of Devil-girl?

Autobiography and Autobiographical Fiction, Beyond writer's block, Character Development, Language and the Way of Words, Narrators, Voice

The Return of Devil-girl! or, The Stories of Devil-girl, a novella

Anya Achtenberg

The Stories of Devil-girl is a novella which I recorded on a double CD set and released shortly before the war in Iraq broke out in 2003. It works at the crossroads of poetry and prose, and of autobiography and fiction, perhaps also of the brutal and the magical. I began writing it in 1989,… Continue reading The Return of Devil-girl! or, The Stories of Devil-girl, a novella

General Writing, Narrators, Voice

Lyrical voice / narrative voice / character’s voice: Hints from Turkish music, one actress, and the power of travel

Anya Achtenberg

I have been listening to Turkish music after my sojourn in Turkey, and because of its very specific kind of driving energy, I realize again that the energy of different musics is part of what we deal with as writers, that one of the crucial elements often left out when we are "taught" to write,… Continue reading Lyrical voice / narrative voice / character’s voice: Hints from Turkish music, one actress, and the power of travel

Character Development, Narrators, Travel

The Effect of Travel on Storytellers

Anya Achtenberg

Having just returned from 2 months out of the country, including about 5 weeks in Turkey, I want to mention a few things about travel, and what for me seems to constitute a jolt to the writer who does travel, perhaps, especially, to the writer of story. Clearly, poets find themselves awash in images that… Continue reading The Effect of Travel on Storytellers