Here’s a three minute video about concrete character desire, with an example from The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. It’s powerful to see what a character wants played out in concrete, literal terms, demonstrated in the actions he’ll take to accomplish this desire. Try it yourself!

I also want to talk about the relationship of reading to writing, that I began discussing in the newsletter this week. What do you read for inspiration? What do you wish you could do? How do you use the books you love as models for your own writing? Do you read them (or reread them) while you are in the midst of writing or planning? Or do you save them for between projects?