Month: October 2017

  • What is ‘fuzz’ in writing?

    What is ‘fuzz’ in writing?

    Fuzz refers to an element of motivation which the author forgot to supply. Perhaps they meant to come back later to add more detail, but didn’t.

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  • Moral Dilemmas And Children’s Stories

    Moral Dilemmas And Children’s Stories

    What Is A Moral Dilemma? Philosophers are especially concerned with moral dilemmas, and ask the following question: Is it possible to do a morally wrong action in order to do what is morally required?  Various branches of philosophy disagree on the answer to that question. Some believe the question itself contains a paradox, rendering the […]

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  • Ghosts, Flaws and the Psychic Wound in Fiction

    Ghosts, Flaws and the Psychic Wound in Fiction

    There are various words to describe the event from a main character’s past which holds them back in the present: the fatal flaw, the psychic wound, the ghost. “Our culture believes strong individuals can transcend their circumstances. I myself don’t much enjoy books by Hardy or Dreiser or Wharton, where the outside world is so […]

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  • The Juniper Tree by Lorrie Moore Analysis

    The Juniper Tree by Lorrie Moore Analysis

    “The Juniper Tree” is a short ghost story by American writer Lorrie Moore, published in the collection Bark (2014). Or is it a ghost story? I interpret this story as a metaphor for the death of middle-aged friendship, and the mourning process one goes through when deciding to let a friend go. WHAT HAPPENS IN […]

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  • Birds In Children’s Literature

    Birds In Children’s Literature

    Birds occupy a special place in children’s stories, as they do in the Bible, in folklore and in fairytales. Are they good or are they evil? No other creature has so successfully been both, equally. If you’re writing a children’s story, you can do what you like with birds. Whereas dogs as companions in children’s […]

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