for writing technique geeks
Novels which adequately explore the nuances of female friendships are disproportionately few. Historically, stories about friendship between women have waxed and waned. For instance, there were plenty of poems about female friendship between women in the late 1600s but by the 1700s there were very few. Who knows why — I suspect homophobia, and increasing …
There is a rule in literature that good women are good looking. Though many have tried, it’s actually really hard to subvert this ideology. Many have tried and failed, because the tropes associated with beauty are so damn appealing.
Home-away-home. That’s the classic pattern of a children’s story. When we’re talking about stories in general, we might say the Odyssean Mythic pattern. A hero goes on a journey, meets a variety of opponents and allies along the way, then either returns home or finds a new one. Unfortunately, not all young people have a …
Old Mother Frost” is a German fairy tale also known as “Mother Holle”, “Mother Hulda” and “Frau Holle”.
“Carnation” (1918) is a short story by Katherine Mansfield, included in her Something Childish collection. I like this one very much — a rare story of blossoming female friendship. SETTING OF “CARNATION” Mansfield often opens stories in medias res and grounds us in the setting: On those hot days The entire story takes place in …
Good People is a 2014 film with a screenplay written by Kelly Masterson, based on the novel by Marcus Sakey. Good People is an excellent example of a film with terrible female characters, created by a roomful of men.
This month I’m blogging a series aimed at teaching kids how to structure a story. This seven-step structure works for all forms of narrative. It works for picture books, songs, commercials, films and novels. Today I take a close look at another Dr Seuss early reader, Green Eggs and Ham. Green Eggs and Ham is buddy …
Jeff Kinney’s Diary Of A Wimpy Kid was first published in 2004. The twelfth in the series is due November 2017. Kinney originally planned ten, unless the quality dropped off. At this point he plans to continue indefinitely, so long as they’re still popular. Television tie-ins, film versions and highly illustrated diaries of the Wimpy Kid ilk …
Continue reading “Diary Of A Wimpy Kid And The Buddy Comedy”
**CONTAINS ALL THE SPOILERS** Stranger Things is a Netflix series created by the brilliantly named ‘Duffer Brothers’, out this year but set in 1983. Though I suspect strong ‘recency bias’, season one scores a very high 9.2 on IMDb. The show feels like a mixture of Twin Peaks (with the missing kids and small community), Freaks …
Why Fans Love Gilmore Girls A Fan’s Notes On Gilmore Girls from The Awl. Watching With Your Kids Here’s a good argument for watching Gilmore girls with your daughter even if you see problems with it. I kind of live by this rule. That’s how my nine-year-old knows that sex is mostly recreational — honestly, …