You need social skills to have a conversation in real life -- but they're quite different from the skills you need to write good dialogue. Educator Nadia Kalman suggests a few "anti-social skills," like eavesdropping and muttering to yourself, that can help you write an effective dialogue for your next story. [Directed by Joyce Stenneke, narrate...
"These talks have inspired me to create, in my writing or in my life," says Carlton Cuse, screenwriter and producer of "Lost" and "Bates Motel." "These speakers have 'passionate optimism' -- that inner drive that allows us to risk truly expressing ourselves.”
You're in a movie theater, watching the new horror flick. The audience knows something that the main character does not. The audience sees the character's actions are not in his best interest. What's that feeling -- the one that makes you want to shout at the screen? Christopher Warner identifies this storytelling device as dramatic irony. [Dire...
Ingrid Betancourt was a presidential candidate in Colombia in 2002 when she was kidnapped by guerilla rebels. After six years in captivity and a high-profile rescue, she now writes about what she learned about fear, forgiveness and the divine.
Lakshmi Pratury remembers the lost art of letter-writing and shares a series of notes her father wrote to her before he died. Her short but heartfelt talk may inspire you to set pen to paper, too.
Sting's early life was dominated by a shipyard—and he dreamed of nothing more than escaping the industrial drudgery. But after a nasty bout of writer's block that stretched on for years, Sting found himself channeling the stories of the shipyard workers he knew in his youth for song material. In a lyrical, confessional talk, Sting treats us to s...
Bridging Education and Art Together (B.E.A.T.) transforms the lives of youth in under-served areas through music, dance and writing programs which include beatboxing, B-boying and B-girling (breakdance), music production and composition, and creative writing.
ReThinking with Adam Grant
Sci-fi writer Andy Weir doesn't love writing
April 4, 2023
[00:00:00] Adam Grant:
Hey everyone, it's Adam Grant. Welcome back to ReThinking, my podcast on the science of what makes us tick. I'm an organizational psychologist and I'm taking you inside the minds of fascinating people to explore new thoughts and new way...
Reading slowly -- with her finger running beneath the words, even when she was taught not to -- has led Jacqueline Woodson to a life of writing books to be savored. In a lyrical talk, she invites us to slow down and appreciate stories that take us places we never thought we'd go and introduce us to people we never thought we'd meet. "Isn't that ...
ReThinking with Adam Grant
Anne Lamott’s thoughts on love, writing, and being judgy
April 16, 2024
[00:00:00] Adam Grant:
What is something you rethought while writing somehow?
[00:01:57] Anne Lamott:
Well, because I have the classic writer's brain of having equal proportions of bad self-esteem and grandiosity, I kept thinking this is real...
The tumult and pace of the 21st century can often leave us feeling like helpless bystanders. In this instructive talk, writer Sakinah Hofler explains how we can use creative writing to deal with the events around us by using it as a tool to bear witness and -- in doing so -- better understand how we fit into their chaotic fabric.
A few days before she turned 61, writer Anne Lamott decided to write down everything she knew for sure. She dives into the nuances of being a human who lives in a confusing, beautiful, emotional world, offering her characteristic life-affirming wisdom and humor on family, writing, the meaning of God, death and more.
With her viral talk from TED2012 and her mega-bestseller "Quiet," Susan Cain urged society to cultivate space for the undervalued, indispensable introverts among us. Now, with her new bestseller "Bittersweet," she's back to explore the surprising lessons sorrow and longing teach us about creativity, connection and love.
Time can pass in the blink of an eye. These talks underscore the importance of not just stopping to smell the roses, but also taking a photo or two while you're at it.
How does The Onion comes up with satirical articles everyday? In this funny talk, Brian Janosch, a former editor at "America's Finest News Source," takes us into The Onion's writers' room and shares some lessons about how creative teams can work together and brainstorm successfully.
Have you ever seen or experienced something and wished you spoke up? Writer Sakinah Hofler makes the case for writing as a tool to help you process difficult memories and reclaim the power they may hold. Pick up a pen or pull up a keyboard and follow along as she walks you through how to unburden your mind and inspire reflection.
With almost 100 mystery novels, each one a cleverly constructed puzzle box of clues, misdirection, and human drama, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time. Her eccentric detectives, clever clues, and simplified suspects have stumped countless readers over the last century. So, how did she craft these perfect crimes? Jamie Bernt...
One of the most unique novelists in today's world literature, Elif Shafak's writing blends East and West, feminism and memory, the local and the global, bringing the periphery to the centre, giving voice to the voiceless and the disempowered.
Bassam Tariq delights in making eclectic career choices. A blogger, a filmmaker, and a butcher's shop owner, the common theme linking everything together is his boundless celebration of humanity.
John Hodgman is a writer, humorist, geek celebrity, former professional literary agent and expert on all world knowledge. He was the bumbling PC in Apple's long-running "I'm a Mac; I'm a PC" ad campaign.
Reading fiction can educate us emotionally, intellectually and spiritually, says Beth Ann Fennelly, creative writing professor and poet laureate of Mississippi. She makes the case for why we humans — and the world — continue to need literature.
Poets and doctors both save lives, just in different ways. World-champion slam poet Harry Baker shares the heartache of forfeiting the path of medicine for a self-guided career in poetry and writing. This talk is an ode to choosing to be different, woven through two poems that sing with universal truth. While he won't help the world by becoming ...