Close Enough to See Well

This is a Matteo fragment. Matteo is character, who is gradually coming to life through such fragments as can be written with one-dip-of-the-pen--an antique "scratch pen" given to me many years ago. Matteo sits on the weathered bench and watches the passing ferries. He does not notice the thin metal plaque pressing against his back, preserving memory of Kay and Sophie and their lasting friendship.

Over the past few months I've been working with one foot planted firmly in the ground of dispute resolution design and the other in the literature of classic fairy tales as I've worked at developing a vocabulary that might help bridge the imaginative space between those two fields. Somewhere in that space between literary reflection and dispute resolution practice, these stories have been helping me think about courage, friendship, care, and the difficult art of abiding with and within conflict.

Four years after I published the second edition of my book -- Structured Negotiation, a Winning Alternative to Lawsuits-- something unexpected happened that brought me great joy. An Australian peacema...

And thinking again with the heart - an Australian point of view Not a writing exercise this time; but a reflection on reclaiming moral imagination - something that is drawing my attention as I read Vigen Guroian's "Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination" (1998) In Australia, we say someone is “a wake-up to something”

A Josip Novakovich exercise in scene development. Task: Describe a train ride... Objective: To show the experience of travel. Novakovich, Josip. Fiction Writer's Workshop (p. 41). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Once the year, for few days in August, they’d open the Exhibition Line, and you could take the train right into the Show. The Northern and Western lines had diesels and modern steel and glass open carriages that let you walk down the centre aisle - and even from one carriage to another.

Warning: explicit and graphic detail - meat processing. This is the second of two scene development exercises: The Task: Describe places where you have worked …Describe how the people handle their tools and machines. Objective: To concentrate on the details and energy of a workplace. Workplaces make perfect story setups because they make it easy for you to integrate the place and the character.

The Task: Describe places where you have worked ...Describe how the people handle their tools and machines. Objective: To concentrate on the details and energy of a workplace. Workplaces make perfect story setups because they make it easy for you to integrate the place and the character. People shape the place, the places shape the people. Novakovich, Josip. Fiction Writer's Workshop (p.

The Task: "Describe three places you have been. Don’t worry about pretty words; mention the important and some unimportant details you remember." Novakovich, Josip. Fiction Writer's Workshop (p. 40). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. “Braeside” 1965 There were only two seasons in Far Western Queensland’s Channel Country when Christy his father went on to Braeside in 1965 - dry and bloody dry.

...with just a touch of the unusual. A Josip Novakovich exercise from "A Fiction Writer's Workshop". Espresso Saucer A scarlet espresso saucer sits, without its cup, on my writing table. It is of soft, thick china that shines, reflecting the late afternoon sun as a small bright light on its raised outer rim - a scattering of crumbs from my last biscuit held in stationary orbit like an asteroid ring in the space between its outer and inner lips.

A Josip Novakovich exercise in describing the setting for an event connected to an item in a home in which I grew up. The item I've selected is a Jarvis Walker 'Little Jim' fishing rod. For readers not familiar with fishing Queensland's Gold Coast in the late 1950s, Jarvis Walker was an Australian fishing rod manufacturer. The Little Jim model was solid fiberglass and about 4 feet long.

Available Now in English and Spanish! the 2nd edition of Structured Negotiation A Winning Alternative to Lawsuits by Lainey Feingold Forewords by Haben Girma (U.S.) and Susana Sucunza (Spain) Re...

A writing exercise in giving one intense emotion I’ve experienced to a fictional character. I had to make sure the character is not me, but the emotion should be mine. The task required me to create a scene employing the fictional character and the emotion and to involve another person as an antagonist or a co-protagonist. Novakovich, Josip. Fiction Writer's Workshop…

An exercise in using history to create fiction. "After all, the history we get is reconstructed from letters, hearsay, newspapers, archaeology, and so on—sounds like writing fiction from multiple sources!" Novakovich, Josip. Fiction Writer's Workshop (p. 23). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Deborah fastened a ribbon around the high neck of her modest, mended gown and resolved to go through with her plan.

An exercise in interpreting scriptures through filling in gaps in stories. I have taken, for my subject, Joseph Barsabas who is also called Justus - the one passed over in Acts 1:21-26. This is the testimony of Joseph son of Saba, written in captivity at Betaris in the reign of Emperor Galba, in hope of martyrdom for our Blessed Lord — that peace and blessing may be upon you.

Another Novakovich "Fiction Writers' Workshop" Exercise Silver cup filled with raspberries and a loaf of bread - photo via Canva My Mother never went down to the end of the town without consulting me. But as you may know—if you have read Mr A.A. Milne’s poem—James’ Mother did. James James Morrison Morrison Wetherby etc. etc. that is. She did go down to the end of the town, and quite the kerfuffle it caused.

Le Père de Christy Est Mort. Photo by Brian A Jackson / Getty Images, via Canva. Filter applied by A.C. Wood. Another Novakovich exercise. This time the task is to "think about an incident that you avoid remembering—or can’t clearly remember—and write about it. School was over for the year, yet Christy still wore his uniform — long trousers and blazer now that he was in high school.

Another Novakovich exercise. This time, I am sourcing a story from a memory of a childhood fight. Some elements are true; some are made up or altered. photo from Anchalee via Canva Pro There was no reason why it happened. At least, no reason that I knew. Though in later years I speculated that it might have been this or it might have been that.

An exercise in sourcing story from youngest memories. Christy invited me into his kitchen and began to make us both a cup of tea. Will here do?” he asked jiggling the tea bag in the small pot. “This will be great,” I replied. “OK. If I put this cushion on the table?” “Sure. You go right ahead and get yourself set up there.”

Photo by Maglara/ Getty Images, via Canva. Text and design: A.C. Wood. In this exercise, I had to write a set of three paragraphs - each from a glimpse of a scent in a cafe - that held the possibility of a story. Here's a couple of of them. You can find the full set of three with our Craft Notes over on…

A #smallwriting exercise I set up at the old card table To write such lines as I am able. 2. Across the yard on sunny morn The wattle-scented breeze is borne. 3. Grevillea in gold and green Against blue sky is gladly seen. 4. Herb or hemlock here is grown And which it be is not yet known. 5. A pigeon preens and puffs its chest…

Written as an exercise from Josip Novakovich’s Fiction Writer’s Workshop (2nd ed., 2008), Chapter 1, Exercise 1 Suburban Brisbane, in the lead up to Christmas, surrenders to expectation. The air grows heavy ahead of the late afternoon storms that sweep in from the West as shoppers hurry to finalise their purchases before they hit. There are other expectations, too – of family gifts and gatherings; of Christmas parties, Secret Santas, work bonuses, holiday expense, and layoffs.

A backpacker hostel this time. A step up from the caravan parks and campgrounds. Halloran dumped his pack on the rusty, steel-framed bed. Walked downstairs to check the notice board. "Mangoes. Three days at Mataranka." "Money looks good," he thought. "But how much for the board and transport with this crowd". He'd make sure to ask the agency later.

They never really seem to dry out, these places. You can't get away from the damp. The driveways squeak and glisten with rain spilling from the busses. The air is stale with the sweat of travelers and the acid stink of diesel and cold cement. The walls are finished in joyless tones of algae and fog. The plastic seats are sticky.

This week I was able to polish a song lyric that had sat with me for almost 50 years. Over those years, I had promised myself that I would complete the lyric ... some day; but had never gotten round to it until I put in a determined effort over two days - all to complete just three lines. But they turned out to be a line in each verse.

A Stretch Toward Moral Imagination