My characters often start out with a loss of some sort, usually a loss of emotion or purpose or hope. What I do in the course of my writing is weave a thematic arc of fulfillment. It is my constant theme as a creator.

Vera Nazarian

Categorized in : Character Writing Loss

The act of sharing with readers was at first too much of an intimate thing. But it evolved into an intense necessity to share.

intense too-much firsts

Ice is most welcome in a cold drink on a hot day. But in the heart of winter, you want a warm hot mug with your favorite soothing brew to keep the chill away. When you don’t have anything warm at hand, even a memory can be a small substitute. Remember a searing look of intimate eyes. Receive the inner fire.

eye heart memories

Here's a new 'Blessing' for our time -- 'May Anderson Cooper neve... by Vera Nazarian

Here's a new 'Blessing' for our time -- 'May Anderson Cooper never be sent to report on your town!

towns blessing may

There is only Love -- and Stories. All else is but a shadow dream... by Vera Nazarian

There is only Love -- and Stories. All else is but a shadow dream.

shadow stories dream

I relished the sweet sense of keeping a unique secret in my mind - a wonderful magical universe that I could go to any time, any place, and no one had to know. It was my personal place, better than any I've read about in any other book. And when I wrote, I was in the process of pulling that personal universe out of nothing and into the cold reality of the greater world.

unique sweet book

Wisdom is nothing more than the marriage of intelligence and compassion. And, as with all good unions, it takes much experience and time to reach its widest potential. Have you introduced your intellect to your compassion yet? Be careful; lately, intellect has taken to eating in front of the TV and compassion has taken in too many cats.

cat compassion taken

The desert is a place of bones, where the innards are turned out,... by Vera Nazarian

The desert is a place of bones, where the innards are turned out, to desiccate into dust.

arizona desert dust

When tough times come, it is particularly important to offset them with much gentle softness. Be a pillow.

gentle tough-times important

Why does every road eventually narrow into a point at the horizon? Because that's where the point lies.

horizon doe lying

At some point, sitting in the school library, during reading period, I looked up from my leopard print hardcover composition notebook where I was scribbling a derivative [John Ronald Reuel ] Tolkien epic full of purple prose in tiny handwriting and thought to myself, "Damn! I am a writer! How did that happen?".

notebook reading school

Listen to the trees as they sway in the wind. Their leaves are telling secrets. Their bark sings songs of olden days as it grows around the trunks. And their roots give names to all things. Their language has been lost. But not the gestures.

song wind inspirational

Respect the young and chastise your elders. It's about time the w... by Vera Nazarian

Respect the young and chastise your elders. It's about time the world was set aright.

elders young world

SUN, MOON, AND STARRY SKY Early summer evenings, when the first stars come out, the warm glow of sunset still stains the rim of the western sky. Sometimes, the moon is also visible, a pale white slice, while the sun tarries. Just think -- all the celestial lights are present at the same time! These are moments of wonder -- see them and remember.

sunset stars summer

I started to write. And I wrote and wrote all through high school... by Vera Nazarian

I started to write. And I wrote and wrote all through high school.

high-school writing school

I've always been creative verbally, had a flair, my teachers said - wrote great expository essays in elementary school, scribbled little poems, embraced all writing assignments. And all along I read voraciously - first in Russian and then, after we left the USSR, in English, and even Spanish.

writing teacher school

The satisfaction of short fiction does not come close to the rich pleasure I get as a writer in the long deep immersion in the same long work and its growing complexity. I suppose you might say I love to wallow in my characters and imaginary worlds. I love to play with the whole necklace, not just one glittering stone.

play character long

The desert is an ideal illusion of a blank slate - so much mystery in endless layers is hidden underneath its bright, pseudo-sterile surface.

layers pseudo desert

In the desert, water gives life, while in the ocean an island stands to give anchor. Opposites are desirable and necessary. Once again, you see the theme of taking away a precious element of the world or making it rare and precarious.

anchors ocean islands

A made-up proverb from Dreams of the Compass Rose says, "In the desert, the only god is a well." I love exploring the intensity of such juxtaposition, the dangerous edge.

desert dream rose

I also find the desert a wonderful metaphor for desolation and yet the exact counterpart of the ocean with its hidden depths. Both are vast, harsh, implacable, homogenous to the untrained eye, and beautiful. Bothallow the wind to roam on the surface. And both serve as wonderful vehicles for human survival stories.

ocean eye beautiful