read it
You will not want to miss this: A Hundred Years at 15, written by my brilliant friend Xujun Eberlin.
The Book of Laney
Category: Uncategorized
"Nothing can happen ‘somehow.’"
Chapter four of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Steering the Craft is on repetition, but I’ve not much to say on that one–rather am skipping right to the brief chapter five on “Adjective and Adverb.” What I loved was this: “Somehow” is a weasel word; it means the author didn’t want to bother thinking out the story–“Somehow she just knew….” “Somehow they made it to … Read More "Nothing can happen ‘somehow.’"
This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Keeping in line with my F. Scott Fitzgerald obsession of late, I finished reading This Side of Paradise yesterday (from the Library of America edition of Novels and Stories 1920-1922). Of course, I loved this portrait of the artist as a young man (though not as much as Gatsby or Tender is the Night)–and was tickled in reading how closely Fitzgerald’s own chronology fits … Read More This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald
"Listening with a careful ear to one’s prose isn’t the same thing as falling in love with the sound of one’s voice"
Chapter three of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Steering the Craft is devoted to sentence length and complex syntax. She says, wisely: Rhythm is what keeps the song going, the horse galloping, the story moving. Sentence length has a lot to do with the rhythm of prose. So an important aspect of the narrative sentence is–prosaically–its length. And then there is this bit which is … Read More "Listening with a careful ear to one’s prose isn’t the same thing as falling in love with the sound of one’s voice"
Kong ex machina
Last night, Allen and I watched–well, watched is being generous, really–let’s say instead that we fast forwarded through the latest version of King Kong, and somewhere in the middle of the scene when the dinosaurs, and Naomi Watts, and King Kong were flailing around in the vines before they tumbled to the ground, Allen dubbed the ape, “Kong ex machina.” I’m not sure I … Read More Kong ex machina
"How can a reader trust a writer who seems to be ignorant of the medium she works in?"
My favorite part of the second chapter of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Steering the Craft is her “opinion piece” (i.e. rant) on “Grammatical Correctness.” Here’s just a bit of it: I detest the self-righteous tones of those who sneer at other people’s speech, and I distrust their motives. But I have to walk a razor’s edge here in this book, because the fact is … Read More "How can a reader trust a writer who seems to be ignorant of the medium she works in?"
"A good reader has a mind’s ear."
The first chapter of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Steering the Craft is about the sound of writing. I very much liked this quote: A good reader has a mind’s ear. Though we read most of our narratives in silence, a keen inner ear does hear them. Dull, choppy, droning, jerky, feeble: these are faults in the sound of prose, though we may not know … Read More "A good reader has a mind’s ear."
Congratulations to some of my favorite Minnesotans
Hearty congratulations to all, especially Heather Goodman, Kelly Flanigan, Kim Teeple, and W. Michael Garner for their inclusion on this list–The Loft announces the winners of the 2006 Loft Mentor Series Competition. Well done, you fiction writers, you!
The Dead Fish Museum, by Charles D’Ambrosio
Of the many compelling readings at Tin House workshop this past July, Charles D’Ambrosio’s was among the most compelling. He read an excerpt from his short story, Screenwriter, which was originally published in The New Yorker and now can also be found in his brilliant short story collection, The Dead Fish Museum. In reading this collection, you get the impression that this is a … Read More The Dead Fish Museum, by Charles D’Ambrosio
the lens of time
Had something of a breakthrough day yesterday on my revision when the mists cleared and things started to fall into place. Every morning before I work, I’m continuing to read from Ursula K. Le Guin’s Steering the Craft. I can’t say enough good things about this book, as Le Guin is not the sort of instructor who tells you what you HAVE to do, … Read More the lens of time
micro.sudden.flash.fiction. — sign up!
My dear friend, the brilliant Randall Brown is instructing a course you will want to sign up for (if you know what’s good for you) so that you can learn everything you ever wanted to know about flash but were too afraid to ask. The course is called Micro. Sudden. Flash. Fiction. and here is a blurb for it: Flash is for the fearless. … Read More micro.sudden.flash.fiction. — sign up!
Jim Tomlinson’s "Things Kept, Things Left Behind" — to be released MONDAY!
Hope you all have ordered your copy of this Kirkus star reviewed book already. I have and I cannot wait until it gets here. Extremely happy for Jim–a deserving writer and a fine human being!
myfanwy collins 