If my students remember anything about me, it will probably be how much I love Flannery O’Connor, Robert Olen Butler, Pinckney Benedict, Charles Baxter and other literary heroes. If they remember anything I’ve said, it will probably have something to do with conflict, the accumulation of detail, change, meaning, or desire. Yearning, I remind them, … Continue reading On Desire
Tag: Sheryl Monks
What We Mean When We Talk About Meaning in Short Fiction
In order to understand meaning in short fiction, you may also want to look back at "What is a Story, as Opposed to a Vignette?" whereby I attempt to define a short story, and "The Intersection of Pity & Fear: A Look at Endings in Short Fiction" where part of what I attempt to unravel … Continue reading What We Mean When We Talk About Meaning in Short Fiction
What is a Story, as Opposed to a Vignette?
It has been several years ago now that I workshopped what I was then referring to as a "story" called "Barry Gibb is the Cutest Bee Gee" at the Tinker Mountain Writers' Workshop at Hollins University. I had whipped it out quite fast and at the last minute, as we are sometimes apt to do. But … Continue reading What is a Story, as Opposed to a Vignette?
More on Pity and Fear in Fiction
Previously posted on my old blog 50 shimmering pages. You might also enjoy "The Intersection of Pity & Fear: A Look at Endings in Short Fiction." October 6, 2013 As a boy I used to go to the Chamber of Horrors at the annual fair, to look at the wax figures of Emperors and Kings, of … Continue reading More on Pity and Fear in Fiction
The Intersection of Pity and Fear: At Look at Endings in Short Fiction
I'm re-posting older essays from my previous blog 50 shimmering pages. Love to hear what you think. October 6, 2013 For my craft thesis in the MFA program, I wrote an essay called "The End is Near: Examining the 'Satisfying' Ending in Short Stories." I'm currently revising my short fiction in hopes of pulling together … Continue reading The Intersection of Pity and Fear: At Look at Endings in Short Fiction
The Novel Tells a Story
Scheherazade avoided her fate because she knew how to wield the weapon of suspense--the only literary tool that has any effect upon tyrants and savages. Great novelist though she was -- exquisite in her descriptions, tolerant in her judgments, ingenious in her incidents, advanced in her morality, vivid in her delineations of character, expert in … Continue reading The Novel Tells a Story
Moody Me: Chasing a Feeling
Moody Me: Chasing a Feeling For all my efforts to understand what makes a piece of writing good or ways to break it down into lessons that I or my students or maybe even you might try to apply, sometimes I really think there's nothing to know but that truth follows truth. The only time … Continue reading Moody Me: Chasing a Feeling
