January 25, 2019
I have been thinking for a while about how our attempts to define craft terms influence our students’ (and our own) aesthetics, and I have wanted to try other definitions. The first post is here.
–
Characterization:
what makes the character different from everyone else
One of my favorite exercises for characterization is taken from Danzy Senna: start a series of sentences about the same character with ...
January 07, 2019
Three-Minute Review: Kate Schultz on Lauren Moseley's Big Windows (Carnegie Mellon Press, 2018)
-
5) What snack should you have while reading this book?
A ripe, red, homegrown tomato. In “Summer,” Moseley’s speaker describes a toxic relationship with a volatile partner. The partner likens the speaker’s hair to a “wilting magnolia bloom,” curses and throws dishes when accidentally breaking an egg ...
December 18, 2018
Three Minute Book Review: Katharine Coldiron on Stacy Austin Egan’s You Could Stop It Here (PANK Books, 2018)
-
1) What book is this book’s nemesis?
House of Leaves. This book privileges simple storytelling and immature voices. Not in a bad way: these stories showcase voices cusping maturity, tiptoeing up to it, attracted to it like moths to a weak bulb. And the writing is so plain and pure that it ...
December 05, 2018
I have been thinking for a while about how our attempts to define craft terms influence our students’ (and our own) aesthetics, and I have wanted to try other definitions. The first post is here.
–
Character arc:
how a character changes or fails to change
Story arc:
how the world in which the character lives is changed or fails to be changed
I was taught character arc as how a character changes or fails ...
