Gerard Bianco Studio

Back in the day, when I was studying painting and portraiture at the Art Students League on 57th Street in New York City, the book that was required reading in almost every class was “The Art Spirit” by Robert Henri. I refer to this book as, “The Art Bible” for artists. The content in this book is educational and highly inspirational for beginners, professionals, and everyone in between. I still have my copy, pictured here and below, which I purchased back in the 70s. (Did you catch the price I paid back then? $2.50.) I lovingly read this book over and over. As you can see, it’s been so well-read that it’s falling apart and held together with rubber bands. For me, it’s like an old friend I keep saying “hello” to, or an old pair of tattered slippers that are still so comfy. I like to underline important content in a book I’m reading. As you can see, almost every passage has been underlined. The information in this book is so deeply moving and important that whether you’ve been painting

        Back in 2011, I introduced my 6-Step formula for writing a short story. I published it again in 2014. Here it is once again with a few changes and a much better graphic. I thought it would be a good idea to resurrect the formula for those who may have missed it. It works the same today as it did back in 2011. This formula also works for writing other short formats such as flash fiction and even a novella.         A short story usually contains 1,200 - 7,500 words. The short short or flash fiction usually contains between 100 – 1,200 words. Experienced non-fiction writers can usually spit out 1200 words before breakfast.          But, when it comes to writing a short story, an experienced fiction writer knows that short fiction can be more difficult than writing a full-length novel. The brevity of the story constricts the wordsmith, depriving him of deep development of a character, the plot, and setting as he/she could carve out in a full-length novel. Every line and paragraph