-
The Cistern by Ray Bradbury Short Story Analysis
Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Cistern” can be read as a celebration of plumbing and groundwater solutions, normally invisible to those of us who live in towns
-
Whistler’s Grandmother by Shirley Jackson Short Story Analysis
“Whistler’s Grandmother” by Shirley Jackson was published in the May 5, 1945 edition of The New Yorker. Find it also in the collection Just An Ordinary Day (1996).
-
How To Write Like Annie Proulx
Annie Proulx is an award-winning American novelist and short story writer, best known for The Shipping News and “Brokeback Mountain”. Below: features of her writing, as described by critics and readers (and me).
-
Stand By Me Film Study
Stand By Me is 1986 a film directed by Rob Reiner, based on a Stephen King novella called “The Body”. Alongside the Karate Kid franchise, The Breakfast Club, Dead Poets Society and a few others, Stand By Me is a tentpole coming-of-age film from my 1980s childhood. Unlike The Breakfast Club (and especially Dead Poets Society), when I re-watched Stand…
-
What is the definition of film noir?
Noir is a visual aesthetic in storytelling associated with certain plots and character archetypes. The term was popularised in the field of film criticism, hence film noir. It comes from several movements, notably the hard-boiled detective tradition of popular cheap paperbacks. Think Raymond Chandler, uber hard-boiled writer. A BRIEF HISTORY OF FILM NOIR SPOOF NOIR EXAMPLES FROM THE HEYDAY OF…
-
What is the objective correlative in literature?
When a story about one thing is really saying something about a character’s emotion. Objective correlative: The tangible manifestation of an intangible, created and used by the author to help the reader grasp the intangible concept. Most literature is about emotions or ideals — things that you cannot see or touch. So the objective correlative becomes a focus, a tangible surrogate.…
-
Asexuality Reading List: Fiction
If you’re looking for aroace fiction, you should know about The Aroace Database. If you’re into fantasy or YAL you’ll be particularly well-served.
-
Asexuality Reading List: Non-fiction
You don’t understand sexuality until you understand asexuality. Asexuality is not an absence of sexuality. Rather it is a ‘self-contained sexuality’.
-
Transphobic Urban Myths
Do urban legends seem unanimously ridiculous to you? Good. Because there’s a new one doing the rounds.
-
Write A Cosy Home Intruder Story
We collectively love stories of home intrusion. How else to describe the fascination behind The Bling Ring crimes also known as The Hollywood Hills Burglar Bunch? THE BLING RING A group of teenagers from The Valley broke into the homes of celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Audrina Patridge, stealing thousands of dollars worth of valuable items. News was big…
-
Why write in present tense?
Present tense is hardly new: Virgil’s The Aeneid (29-19 BC) Édouard Dujardin in Les lauriers sont coupés (1887) The Bleak House by Charles Dickens (1852-3) Jane Eyre contains chunks of present tense Ulysses by James Joyce (1922) Nathalie Sarraute (A French practitioner of the nouveau roman, a type of French novel that appeared in the 1950s) Various William Faulkner stories…
-
We All Half-Know Things
If you’ve ever written something — especially fiction — then offered it up for critique, you’ll be familiar with this feeling: “Ah yes, I could see that problem for myself, deep down. But I didn’t really know it until you pointed it out.”
-
Hairy Maclary’s Bone by Lynley Dodd
I look at the structure of Hairy Maclary’s Bone by Lynley Dodd (1984), which reminds me a little of Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins (1967).
-
How To Tell If A Pick-up Misogynist Is Hitting On You
Misogynists sell tips and tricks. They sell books and courses. They host podcasts. I listened to some of this crap so you don’t have to.
-
Framing A Story
Framing a story: Presenting a narrative to an audience so the story is immersive (but not too immersive), suspenseful (but not baffling), and complex (but not convoluted).
