About stories of all kinds
Therefore, if we built splendid castles... and pictured beautiful scenes, among the fervid coals of the hearth round which we were clustering, and if all went to rack with the crumbling embers, and have never since arisen out of the ashes, let us take to ourselves no shame. In my own behalf, I rejoice that… Continue reading ‘Let us take to ourselves no shame’
For the first time in months he was in reach of a real library, just the kind of scholarly yet miscellaneous library that his restless and impatient spirit craved. He was aware that the books he read... were merely a form of anaesthetic... But they were beginning to produce in him a moral languor that… Continue reading ‘Merely a form of anaesthetic’
One official sent her to another, and the other sent her back again to the first, and so backward and forward; until it appeared to me as if both must have been appointed for their skill in evading their duties, instead of performing them. Bleak House by Charles Dickens Bleak House by Charles Dickens, Collector’s… Continue reading ‘And so backward and forward’
One night as they lay lurking in the fireless dark, Túrin looked on his life, and it seemed to him that it might well be bettered. The Children of Húrin The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien I just adore the dry understatement of this epiphany. Although I would deny charges of lurking, I too… Continue reading ‘It seemed to him’
The wrong words. They were true a hundred times over, yet they sounded like a lie. Hadn’t he always known it? Words were useless. At times they might sound wonderful, but they let you down the moment you really needed them. You could never find the right words, never, and where would you look for… Continue reading The Wrong Words
Besides, you are bound to bear yourself as agreeably as you can toward those whom nature or chance or your own choice has made the companions of your life. Utopia by Sir Thomas More The world’s still not utopian, and neither are the people within it perfect—including myself. Others put up with me as much… Continue reading ‘Nature or chance or your own choice’
2021--there's something aesthetically pleasing about the combination of numbers that symbolize this calendar year. Perhaps it's just because it's not 2020. Entirely possible. Regardless, I like the look of it. And I also want to like the look of this blog. It's been kind of depressing, sporadic, and feeling low-reward for a while. And I… Continue reading Finding Blog Direction
Well, last night was the last night to update word counts and scramble in the last couple thou. I actually forgot about it—I was reorganising my bookshelf at the time. Was it in dire need of reorganising? No. But nor has it been any of the other five times I’ve completely reorganised it this pandemic,… Continue reading NaNoWriMo: How it went… and is still going.
In October, I seriously considered doing NaNoWriMo for the first time this year. Given the state of things and my nigh-jobless condition, it made sense. But I didn’t really know how it worked—I would have to look into it, prepare for it. I didn’t. Then it was already November, and while not too late to… Continue reading I think I just made a terrible mistake
Writers are often encouraged to start their novels off with a bang. Hook them in the first paragraph, the first sentence—heck, the first word. Sometimes, it takes on the form of marketing strategy. “Look at television commercials,” they say. “The scene is set, a problem arises, and the product appears as the answer to the… Continue reading Storm Warning: Writing the Inciting Incident
Fictitiously Yours 