Mina Witteman – author | editor | teacher of creative writing

Posts from the “The Views” Category

Trip, slip or be pushed to death?

Posted on June 8, 2011

Sicily. An island with a rich history, not in the least because of that one mountain that dominates it: Etna. The Arabs named it the Mountain of Fire and word goes that Zeus trapped the deadly monster Typhon underneath it. It’s easy to imagine the father of all monsters lurking below the surface of the Etna, you only have to stick your hand in one of those fuming crevices and you know he’s there, the last son of Gaia who set out to destroy Zeus. He almost got the job done, ripping out Zeus’ sinews in their first battle. But Zeus struck back, like a true ruler of the Gods should, and threw Mount Etna on him, trapping him to all eternity. Or not……

Turn Left At the Canal

Posted on May 25, 2011

Last Friday I took my muse to the theatre, something I do way too little, but then my muse spends a great deal of his time abroad (or so goes my rather lame excuse). The title of the play, “Bij het kanaal naar links” — “Turn Left At the Canal”– was appealing enough: I used to live close to a canal and my mom was relentless in trying to keep me away from that mysterious child-beckoning waterway. Bad, bad people roamed the banks, she said, no place for children. Needless to say her warnings lured me to that baleful place like a firewall lures a hacker to a website. The writer of the play is Alex van Warmerdam. He is a prize-winning Dutch playwright, poet, actor and…

Welcome to Amsterdam

Posted on March 16, 2011

It was a warm and sunny day. A spring day, if you wish. Not the type that you immediately start rummaging through your closet for shorts and skirts, but a pleasant 15 degrees. Just enough to open your window, lean out and catch a ray or two, while watching tourists saunter by. Tourists? Yep. And with them hunting season has opened. One major player in the hunting game is the city’s parking management. When the sun shows and the tourists start pouring in, they hop in their nifty white vans. Like true bounty-hunters they roam the streets and canals, routing meter infringers, time offenders and the general parking knave. Today they made their first catch. A sweet little Opel left by its inconsiderate owner…

Amsterdam view: writing a good read

Posted on October 26, 2010

These days I am writing an average of 3,500 words a day revising my thriller DARK FIBER. It’s hard work, leaving me no time for a social life whatsoever. Luckily that isn’t a problem at all, because my protagonist Jonathan Kelder doesn’t have a social life either, and part of my method of writing is that I like to experience what my protagonists’ go through. If they go out rafting, I go out rafting. If they hike cold and misty mountains in Canada, I hike the same cold and misty mountains. I love doing what my protagonists do. And I think it works. One of the compliments I get from readers is that reading my books make them feel like they are actually joining…

Amsterdam view: a writer’s autumn

Posted on October 20, 2010

Today’s a writing day. I can feel it in my bones, I can see it outside. It is the most perfect weather for a writer, here in Amsterdam. Like yesterday – when I did 5,000 words on the revision of my techno thriller Turing’s Deceit, a.k.a. Dark Fiber – autumn races past my window, pushing on every writing fiber in my body. A stiff northern wind brings me sunshine and bright skies one minute, hail and thunderstorms the next. It is as if the Northern gods urge me to write faster and faster, as if they want me and my protagonist to hurry up, and get us to Ragnarök to fight that mythical war against the great serpent. I am wondering whether my protagonist…

Paris view: Sadness down in four notes

Posted on October 15, 2010

    It is very rare that I get to read a book that immediately touches the right chord. Jennifer Donnelly’s Revolution is such a book. Andi Alpers, her protagonist, grabbed me by the throat at the very first page and didn’t let go. I read Revolution in one go, not wanting it to stop. Not the words, not the music in it. Ever! Revolution is about Andi Alpers, a gifted musician and student. She is a senior at a prestigious private school in Brooklyn when grief threatens to destroy her life. She is angry with her father for moving on with his life, heartbroken by the pain she sees in her mother, who’s not able to cope with life anymore, and she blames…

Amsterdam view: high school research

Posted on October 14, 2010

    It was a almost like a trip down memory lane. I had to report at school, at 12 sharp. High school, that is. Now I have been at high schools quite a bit these past years. It comes with the territory: children’s book writers go out for reading and signing sessions at schools. It’s fun and it creates an audience, it sells books. I often combine a reading session with a workshop creative writing. It’s amazing how much talent there is out there! After spending a couple of hours with kids I usually head home tired but totally replenished. My inspiration cup filled to the brim with intriguing protagonists and unexpected plot twists, and with the strongest urge to write, write and…