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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…