Archive for the ‘ANALYSIS’ Category
One of the things I keep learning as I write is how important it is not to mistake your own emotions for your readers’ emotions as they react to your story. Late in 2008, after what seemed like an unbelievable amount of planning & continuity problems, I finished a draft of a novel and went […]
Filed under: ANALYSIS, CHARACTERIZATION, EXPOSITION, VIEWPOINT, WRITING PRACTICE | 3 Comments
Tags: angst, i ching, Thomas Mann
My “Humanity” Hobbyhorse
Most of my posts on SpecTechnique have been about stuff you can do in fiction & language. But today I’m going to talk, for a chance, about something to avoid. And after you read this post, I hope you’ll avoid it too. Or at least think about it! In high school, I was asked to read Jane […]
Filed under: ANALYSIS | 2 Comments
Tags: humanity, lovecraft, ursula k le guin
When Empty Things Aren’t Empty
The opposite of existence is not nonexistence, but insistence: that which does not exist, continues to insist, striving toward existence… When I miss a crucial ethical opportunity, and fail to make a move that could ‘change everything’, the very nonexistence of what I should have done will haunt me for ever: although what I did […]
Filed under: ANALYSIS | 1 Comment
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