A gate to worlds.

They rise from us as if by magic, in words and ink, paint and pixels. When we write or make art, we summon into being worlds clothed in images.

In any writer’s or artist’s life, the percentage of this world-making to see publication is minute. Supporting that small public display is a vast root system: years of work and thought, of experimentation and play, an ongoing inner dialogue.

How does a writer-artist conduct that dialogue? Here are some thoughts about the puzzles, questions, and processes that drive the long journey to a finished book.
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Why build worlds?

A writer-artist’s work circles around a few central questions that can endure for decades. What are my questions? What are yours?

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Book World

Every story has its story: behind every book is a tale of how it came to be written. 



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Roots and Sparks

As  the deep framework of a novel develops, you can shift back and forth between the verbal and the graphic.

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Wild Worlds

The deepest source is the earth we walk on, and of which we are a part.

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All material on this site, both text and graphics, is ©Betsy James, and may not be used commercially without her permission.