Full Description
Millions of Suns is an open invitation for all writers to create something new. Each chapter features a pair of essays-in-dialogue between two working artists, Sharon Fagan McDermott and M. C. Benner Dixon, which addresses a specific writing element such as metaphor, inspiration, place, surprise, or imagery. These hybrid essays reveal how two very different writers approach the building blocks of their craft. Explore how white space intersects with grief, how the act of reading changes over a lifetime, or how "familiarity, in life and in stories, invites us in and gives us a hand to hold." Witness the ways that race and climate change find their way onto the page. Learn how memory can be an act of betrayal or healing.
With decades of combined teaching experience, McDermott and Benner Dixon share practical craft-of-writing advice with the reader, including over fifty engaging writing prompts to spark the creative process. These prompts guide readers toward the freedom and joy that comes with finding one's authentic voice. Embracing both the painful and the playful, Millions of Suns is an ideal text for classrooms, professional development, or daily writing practice. Through humor, lyricism, and poignancy, the fundamental message of the book remains the same for newcomers and career authors, whether they write poetry, fiction, non-fiction, or memoir. Let Millions of Suns open a door for you into your creative work, inviting imagination, memory, and inspiration into your writing life.
Contents
An Introduction to Millions of Suns
1. MEMORY
Taking Flight: On Memory
Everything I Can't Remember
Memory Prompts
2. IMAGERY
The Clouds at Bearfence
Fresh Firecoal Chestnuts, Finches Wings
Imagery Prompts
3. SURPRISE
Surprise!
Now Narrowly We Knew Her
Surprise Prompts
4. INSPIRATION
Wild Dogs and Pittsburgh Sunrise: When Inspiration Calls
Find a Door: Entering the Writing House
Inspiration Prompts
5. METAPHOR
A Question about Metaphor
What my Metaphors Say
Metaphor Prompts
6. PLACE
When I Say Here
To Reach the Moon: On Place
Place Prompts
7. READING
When a Child Meets her Words
Confessions of an Acolyte: Regarding Jealousy and Ambition
Reading Prompts
8. STRUCTURE
White Space: The Fullness in Emptiness
The Thing of It: Prose as Physical Object
Structure Prompts
9. THE PRESENT MOMENT
What is it Then Between Us?
The Fragile Planet
Present Moment Prompts
10. REVISION
How to Build a Bicycle
The Power of Do-Over
Revision Prompts
11. WRITER'S BLOCK
Postcards
Note to Self
Writer's Block Prompts
12. BEAUTY
Whatever is Lovely
Three Ways of Looking at Beauty
Beauty Prompts
References
Acknowledgements
