Writer. Contributing Editor at The Discarded Image. Digital Content Strategist. Here's where I publicly explore the books I'm reading, the projects I'm working on, and other current interests. Category Archives for Well Said
Well Said: Charles Baxter on what characters want
Writer Charles Baxter on five questions to ask yourself about stories, starting with “what do these characters want?”: …this is an old thing to say, but if you want to write something about issues, write an essay. That’s what essays … Continue reading
Well Said: Ingrid Hill on magical realism
Novelist Ingrid Hill (author of Ursula, Under in my Top Novels list) on magical realism as “the devil’s trampoline”: If tragedy is incomplete comedy—a dire trajectory, descending but never rising again—magical realism is comedy bounding off tragedy’s trampoline into another … Continue reading
Well Said: ten bad stories for every good one
Novelist and short fiction writer Joe Meno on Hard Truth #1 about writing: In order to write one good story, you’re going to probably write ten bad ones. You have to actually in this weird way enjoy or accept that … Continue reading
Well said: learning to love discontinuity
Novelist and short fiction writer Tessa Hadley on the exhilarating discontinuity of short stories compared to novels: There’s something more discontinuous about our reading relationship with short stories (not more strenuous, though, because reading good novels can be just as … Continue reading
Well Said: brevity vs. breathing room
Fiction writer Josh Weil on why brevity is not always a good thing: We’ve all been there: a moment when something of such import happens that the space life allows for it seems too small. For me, the time my … Continue reading
