WE DON’T WRITE FROM NOTHING. You can’t move your readers unless you are moved. So, keep your creative juices stirred. One way is to throw a dinner party and invite a wide variety of people. Everyone throws a question or two in a hat, then you use those to jump start the conversations. What’s really on everyone’s minds?
Another way to spark creative thought is to imagine a guest list pulled from history, relatives, close friends, and those you may never have the opportunity to talk with, but wish you could:
Mark Twain
Gore Vidal
my 3rd grade teacher, Sister Rafael
James Michener
Dorothy Parker
Carl Sagan
a young person fighting drug addiction
Noam Chomsky
Cleopatra
a Syrian refugee stuck in a camp
Lady Gaga
Eminem
Langston Hughes
Michelle Obama
Emperor Qin
Ken Burns
Hitler
Jesus of Nazareth
the Dalai Lama
a slave
my mother
Mahatma Gandhi
a coal miner
Mohammed
a suicide bomber (after the fact-what would he think of it now-and why did he or she do it?)
Catherine the Great
Marie Curie
Einstein
Ho Chi Minh
Tom, the man who drilled our well – a rodeo rider
A self-admitted book addict, Valerie was the kid with the flashlight under her pillow. A life of travel with exposure to many different cultures led to a pervasive interest in people, with degrees & teaching credentials in Cultural Anthropology & English.