Ask the Author: Leon Conrad
Answered Questions (8)
Leon Conrad
A curious maverick sets out to find answers to questions which don't yet have satisfactory answers. One question, however, is particularly challenging: "Who am I?"
Leon Conrad
I would love to visit the Magic City that E. Nesbit writes about in her book of that name - and meet all of the heroes and heroines in the books that form the walls and buildings - where the world of the everyday and the world of play come to life and dance in the liminal spaces they create when they join.
Leon Conrad
It was there - and then it wasn't ... my mind focused, alert, I squinted, gazed defiantly at the space before me, not wanting to blink, but where my reflection had gazed back at me a second before, all I saw was the reflection of my room. Where was I?
(This, by the way, was composed using a mini Call and Response Variation 2 structure underpinned by a reverse Chinese Circular Structure cycle).
(This, by the way, was composed using a mini Call and Response Variation 2 structure underpinned by a reverse Chinese Circular Structure cycle).
Leon Conrad
I mention this in a book list I submitted to Literary Quicksand (https://literaryquicksand.com/2022/08...) in relation to a couple of books on writing that I turn to when I'm stuck.
That, and Aristotle's '10 Categories of Being' which I mention both in 'Story and Structure' and in 'Master the Art and Craft of Writing'.
That, and Aristotle's '10 Categories of Being' which I mention both in 'Story and Structure' and in 'Master the Art and Craft of Writing'.
Leon Conrad
The best thing? Hmmm - the best thing for me, personally, is being able to swim in the sea of ideas and chart the seascape ... in words.
Leon Conrad
Cultivate a relationship with your muse.
Hone your craft.
Follow your heart.
Trust your instinct.
Read great works.
Hone your craft.
Follow your heart.
Trust your instinct.
Read great works.
Leon Conrad
There are two aspects to story: first, there's the story you want to tell; second, there's the question of how you tell it. Having concentrated mainly on the first aspect in 'Story and Structure' where I look at how you can structure the story we want to tell in the best way possible, I'm now working on a book of writing exercises that will address the second aspect to story. The book is called 'Master the Art and Craft of Writing' and is due out towards the middle of 2023.
Leon Conrad
'Story and Structure' began unexpectedly one summer afternoon in 2010.
I’m in my cosy study, warm coffee on the desk, good book in my hands, and I’m stuck. I can’t go further. The book is H. Porter Abbott’s 'Cambridge Introduction to Narrative', and I’ve just come to the passage in which he writes:
"What is necessary for the story of Cinderella to be the story of Cinderella? …
This is a question that can never be answered with precision."
'Really?' I wonder. 'Never? How come?'
I’m the kind of guy who gets intrigued by questions we don’t have satisfactory answers to – it took me 10 years, but I finally figured out the answer to the question of what’s necessary for the story of Cinderella to be the story of Cinderella and to answer it … with precision.
I’m in my cosy study, warm coffee on the desk, good book in my hands, and I’m stuck. I can’t go further. The book is H. Porter Abbott’s 'Cambridge Introduction to Narrative', and I’ve just come to the passage in which he writes:
"What is necessary for the story of Cinderella to be the story of Cinderella? …
This is a question that can never be answered with precision."
'Really?' I wonder. 'Never? How come?'
I’m the kind of guy who gets intrigued by questions we don’t have satisfactory answers to – it took me 10 years, but I finally figured out the answer to the question of what’s necessary for the story of Cinderella to be the story of Cinderella and to answer it … with precision.
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