Tag Archives: writing

Idea-Seeds in C.S. Lewis’ Letters (Throwback Thursday)

Posted on August 9, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

This summer I introduced an occasional feature I call “Throwback Thursday.” This is where I find a blog post from the past–raiding either my own vault or someone else’s–and throw it back out into the digital world. This might be an … Continue reading →

Posted in Letters, Memorable Quotes, Throwback Thursdays | Tagged books, C.S. Lewis, Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, ideas, J.R.R. Tolkien, letters, literature, Out of the Silent Planet, Ransom Trilogy, The Problem of Pain, writing | 37 Comments

Lewis, Tolkien and Different Views of Fan Fiction

Posted on August 1, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

One of the assignments that I give my students, adapted from the late C.S. Lewis scholar Dr. Bruce Edwards, is for students to get into groups and sketch out an 8th Chronicle of Narnia in the form of a book … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged books, C.S. Lewis, copyright, FIonavar Tapestry, Guy Gavriel Kay, J.R.R. Tolkien, letters, Letters to Children, literature, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, The Screwtape Letters, writing | 110 Comments

The Peculiar Background to L.M. Montgomery’s “The Alpine Path” (L.M. Montgomery Series)

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

One of the more poignant aspects of Montgomery’s work for readers is how she charts her path as a writer in Emily of New Moon. Universally recognized as the book that most encoded her personality, it is also the one that … Continue reading →

Posted in L.M. Montgomery | Tagged August De Bubna, Ella Rodman Church, Emily of New Moon, Godey's Lady's Book, The Alpine Path, To the Fringed Gentian, William Cullen Bryant, writing | 15 Comments

“Stay in the Valley if You’re Wise”: Advice on Writing in Emily of New Moon (L.M. Montgomery Series)

Posted on May 24, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

While L.M. Montgomery could be viewed as a writer’s writer for her prose, imaginative vim, and her shaping of characters, her novel Emily of New Moon is almost a textbook on the writer’s life. A friend tipped me off to the … Continue reading →

Posted in L.M. Montgomery, Memorable Quotes, On Writing | Tagged Anne of Green Gables, creative writing, Emily Climbs, Emily of New Moon, L.M. Montgomery, Martha MacIsaac, Poetry, writing | 39 Comments

C.S. Lewis’ Pretty Awful and Peculiarly Interesting Letter on Writing

Posted on May 1, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

How many times have you heard of the struggling writer providentially bumping into an established author or writing a letter? And then that writer on the edge of hopelessness becomes the recipient of a little piece of advice or encouragement … Continue reading →