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Mary is a master of many forms, and we discuss and compare writing screenplays, poetry and novels. She tells us about compartmentalization, visual plot and character. In film, Mary says, character is demonstrated by what you do in difficult circumstances when you are given a choice. Mary is a retired professor, and we get into day jobs and PhDs. On the other hand, we also delve into liminal states, transcendental meditation and that article in the New Yorker about psychadelics. Does writing require an altered state and how do we get there? Robert Olen Butler talks about the “Dream State” for writing. Mary writes across many genres and has written for many decades. We discuss science fiction, feminism, the role of reading in writing, and editing: ruthless cutting, reading aloud, motivation, evoking world and more.
Books Discussed
Travelers with No Ticket Home
Remembrance of Things Past by Proust
Station Eleven
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From Where You Dream by River Olen Butler
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Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
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Time and Again by Jack Finney
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From Time to Time by Jack Finney
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The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
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Links
Inception
Renee de Palma co-writer and filmmaker
Mary’s web site resources, interview series and newsletter
Mary Mackey
Mary Mackey is a bestselling author who has written six volumes of poetry including Sugar Zone winner of the 2012 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellence. She is also the author of thirteen novels some of which have appeared on The New York Times and San Francisco ChronicleBestseller Lists. Mackey’s novels have been translated into twelve languages including Japanese, Russian, Hebrew, Greek, and Finnish. Her poems have been praised by Wendell Berry, Jane Hirshfield, Marge Piercy, and Dennis Nurkse for their beauty, precision, originality, and extraordinary range. Garrison Keillor has featured her poetry four times on The Writer’s Almanac. Also a screenwriter, she has sold feature-length scripts to Warner Brothers as well as to independent film companies. Mackey sometimes writes comedy under her pen name “Kate Clemens.” She has a B.A. from Harvard College and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from The University of Michigan and is related through her father’s family to Mark Twain. At present, she lives in northern California with her husband Angus Wright. ” In Spring 2014, Marsh Hawk Press will publish a new collection of her poetry entitled Travelers With No Ticket Home.
Story Makers is a podcast that features in-depth conversations with accomplished writers, filmmakers and industry experts about story craft, technique, habit and survival–everything you need to know to stay inspired, connect to your creativity, find others’ wonderful stories and your own success.
The hosts:
Elizabeth Stark is a published, agented novelist and distributed filmmaker who teaches and mentors writers at BookWritingWorld.com.
Angie Powers is a distributed filmmaker and published short story writer with an MFA in creative writing and a certificate in screenwriting from UCLA who teaches story structure at BookWritingWorld.com.