by Jason S. Ridler, PhD.
WARNING: This article will not end with me being rich and famous, having a bestseller or a million-dollar movie deal, or even being able to quit my day job. Nor will it instruct you on how to hit those targets. If those are your goals, please, go elsewhere.
How can taking an improv acting/comedy lesson improve your writing? Well, for one thing, it forces you to think differently about story.
Gruber was living on dreams and precious else during those lean, dangerous years. He played hide and seek with his landlord until he could scrounge his rent, reduced his food budget by eating “automat” soup (a meal made of the free ketchup and crackers available at the automat, stirred in a bowl, with the hot water for tea to taste), and dropping off manuscripts on foot to avoid any postal costs.
A few years back, I was hit with an emotional blow so fierce that it stunned every aspect of my life. I was numb, in a state of confusion, and alone. The details are private, but my recovery answered for me a question often asked in genre circles: What is the value of “escapism” in fiction? Is it a value at all?
This sweeping urban fantasy explores what it means to be human in a world where humanity itself may be optional, where ancient gods run pawn shops, and where the difference between monster and hero often depends on which side of the story you’re telling.
Jean Marie Ward writes about all things weird, wonderful and downright peculiar in her hometown of Washington, DC. Sometimes she writes fiction. It makes a lot more sense than the facts. Her web site is JeanMarieWard.com.
