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By David Rothman

Related: “Writing Historical Fiction,” Paula Berinstein’s Writing Show interview about my novel The Solomon Scandals, is now online. – D.R.

image A Chicago-born writer named Isaac Rosenfeld could have been a Saul Bellow. Michael Dirda tells how Rosenfeld was “a front runner in the race to produce the Great Jewish American Novel.”

Instead, however, Rosenfeld, the subject of a new biography by Steven J. Zipperstein, too often forsook GJANs for talking, drinking, partying, and writing notebook entries.

imageIn 1956 Rosenfeld died of a heart attack at the not-so-ripe-old-age of 38. His friend Saul Bellow—who’d lived just blocks away and even written for the same high school newspaper—went on to be Saul Bellow.

“According to Hemingway,” Dirda aptly says of Papa, “more writers fail from lack of character than from lack of talent.”

How Paula can help you avoid being Rosenfeld

image Enter Paula Berinstein, host of The Writing Show, an ever-informative and -inspirational podcast, who recently self-published a short book called Unlocking Your Creativity: 52 Exercises for Writer (e-book available for $2.60 from Lulu and Amazon). Might her book unlock and unblock many kinds of writers, not just the GAJN variety?

By way of disclosure, I’ve been listening to Paula for many months; in fact, probably years. I often played her show on my iPod when I drove over to see my mother, who was dying in an assisted living center. So I was thrilled when, out of the blue, Paula invited me to discuss The Solomon Scandals and TeleRead—the latter show will be online in late July.

Creativity as a spur toward actual writing

Now back to the business at hand. Creativity isn’t the same thing as the willingness to write. But if you feel creative, you’ll be a lot more eager, and beyond that, Paula’s advice is just plain timely in this age of so many distractions—not just TV, YouTube and blogging, but also Twitter. Isaac Rosenfeld was sidetracked enough in the era of old-fashioned partying.

Within Paula’s book, I myself would have enjoyed horror stories like Rosenfeld’s. But that’s just gloomy me. Most readers will cotton far more to Paula’s sunnier approach, which lays out 52 exercises for writers.

What works: Highly individual

It’s highly individual, what works. Unlike Paula, I myself am not so sold on creating a ritual; I fear that it might actually be distracting. But you yourself may very likely agree with her if, say, you can associate writing with a trip to your favorite coffee shop—with your spiral notebook or netbook in hand. “Some rituals can function like a stimulus to Pavlov’s dog,” Paula wisely observes. “They become associated with a response so that every time we experience them, we respond the same way. A school bell rings and we’re ready to settle down and learn.”

Here are 19 more of the first 20 of the 52 exercises.

“2. Vary your routine. 3. Appreciate the chaos. 4. Get curious. 5. Use your senses. 6. Get ridiculous. 7. Free associate. 8. Play with words. 9. Observe. 10. Change your environment. 11. Go psychedelic. 12. Think geographically. 13. Recognize opportunity. 14. Immerse yourself in your favorites. 15. Increase awareness. 16. Look around your house or environment. 17. Go to the library. 18. Mix it up with images. 19. Listen to music. 20. Go from micro to macro and back again.”

Fave tip: #33

My favorite tip from Paula B would actually be #33, “Turn yours life into a dream… Picture scenes from your life. Now, change them. Substitute different people—even imaginary ones or people you don’t know personally—for those who were there. Change the settings. Make the people say things they never said; reply in ways you never did. Have new characters walk on. Change the outcomes.” You can do this with your life or with others or, better, with a mix of others.

Graciously Paula allowed herself to be a guinea pig for the above. Fact: She is a daughter of a professional investor in, among other things, oil leases. Fact: Her parents divorced. Fact: Paula majored in English and worked as a librarian. How to make a plot out of all this if, say, she wants to write a adventure novel as opposed, say, to something more psychological?

Well, let this-here oil stuff pan out big, and then Paula can inherit some or all of her father’s holdings, except perhaps we can move the oil and her from California up to Alaska (“change the settings”), where she uses her librarian skills to research the bad guys who are trying to deprive her of her legacy. Maybe throw in a sibling squabble, too? Perhaps along the way she falls in love with a sexy so-called friend who… No, that isn’t the complete plot, but we’re off and running.

Heeding your muses right at home

Paula’s guide is far from the only creativity-related book at the popular level—there are zillions in various areas, such as Syd Field’s guides to screen writings, where he offers handy nuts-and-bolts advice on creating plots and characters, information applicable beyond Hollywood. Also check out John August’s motivational advice for scriptwriters. What’s more, you can always take creative writing courses or, if you’re loaded, jet down to a workshop in South America.

But if you’d prefer to heed your muses right in the comfort of your own home and along the way develop your powers of observation—for many purposes, writing-related and not—Paula’s e-guide could be just the ticket. At $2.60, it’s cheaper than one to Brazil.

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Meanwhile, for my fellow Writing Show fans, here’s a Paula B bibliography

 
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