Posts by Lee Martin
A Writer’s Faith
I hated working in the family garden when I was a teenager because, of course, I had teenager things to do, and all of that tilling and hoeing got in the way. Now, decades later, I’m eager to work up the soil in the raised bed Cathy and I rent from our community garden and…
Read MorePracticing the Techniques of Our Craft
For some reason, I’m thinking today about how I learned to drive. When I was around twelve years old, my father started letting me steer his Oldsmobile on the gravel roads near our farm in Lukin Township. I’d scoot close to him on the bench seat and steer while he operated the gas and, if…
Read MoreThe Bare Bones of Storytelling
Here’s an old joke about a boy who didn’t speak for the first five years of his life. Then, one night at the dinner table, he says, “These mashed potatoes are lumpy.” His parents are amazed. His father says, “Son, you can speak!” The mother says, “Why did it take you so long to say…
Read MoreUsing the Senses to Tell the Truth
Our first job as writers is to create a convincing world on the page. Ours is a truth-telling enterprise whether we’re inventing or remembering. Whether we’re writing fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry, we rely on the concrete details to gain the trust of our readers. How can we ever hope for our work to tell…
Read MoreDetermining the End of a Novel
We’ve reached that time of year when we. . .well, when we mess with time. Springing forward to Daylight Savings Time, has cost us an hour. What could have happened between two a.m., standard time, and what should have been three a.m., standard time, will never happen. That hour disappeared as soon as we moved…
Read MoreCommunion: Telling It All
When I was in high school, I had a friend who lived down the street. His mother, who cleaned people’s houses, was often away from home. Her husband was quite elderly and nearly blind. When it came to meals, my friend usually had to fend for himself. It became easy for him to rely on…
Read MoreAn Object Exercise for Prose Writers
Thanks to a friend, my wife Cathy now has a new hairstyle. It’s short and spiky just like this post is going to be. This is a writing activity for those who write memoir. Recall a time in your life when you acquired something new. Maybe it was a hairstyle, or a fashion, or maybe…
Read MoreEmbrace the Positive: The Benefits of a Writing Community
Cathy and I have been hosting MFA students from my fiction and creative nonfiction workshops for Cathy’s excellent vegetable soup and her wonderful homemade bread. It’s a way to extend the community of the workshop and to remind ourselves we are all more than just the work we do. I love hearing my students’ stories…
Read MoreReimagining True Stories
Last week, I had the pleasure of offering a workshop, via the wonderful Larksong Writers Place in Lincoln, Nebraska, for those who might be interested in reimagining a true story. This has been my approach for six of my novels, including my most recent, The Glassmaker’s Wife. I start with a factual story, and then…
Read MoreExplosions: An Exercise for Plotting a Narrative
Cathy and I were having a perfectly pleasant Sunday. We’d had a lovely gathering of students the night before, had slept late, and then gone to brunch. I was in the kitchen, steeping a cup of tea, while Cathy was putting away some clean dishes. Somehow—she doesn’t really know how it happened—a Pyrex measuring cup…
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