The story meme

Participating in Splotchy’s Story Meme was so much fun, I plan to expand on my narrative contribution to the storyline. Before that, let’s reacquaint ourselves with the world of Lydia, Digby, and Fenrir.

Setting and time have an advocate!

In response to my recent remarks on the elements of fiction, faithful commenter Bitty (who knows some stuff about writing) makes a case for giving bigger props to setting and time:

“A Family Supper” by Kazuo Ishiguro takes place in the span…

Elemental

I mentioned earlier that in On Writing Short Stories, author Tom Bailey divides fiction into these familiar and basic elements:

character, plot, setting & time, metaphor, and voice

You could make a case for letting setting and time stand alone like the others,…

Notes from the spiralbound

I read Tom Bailey’s On Writing Short Stories, his section on basic elements of fiction: character, plot, setting & time, metaphor, and voice. Wasn’t sure which of these elements to focus on at first. Thought about starting with plot as…

Permission

M and I have devised a scheme that is helping me to write (that is, non-bloggy writing) more often: every Monday and Wednesday, I head off to class. That is, I head for the attic, or perhaps the dining room,…

Steve Clemons on John Bolton: The nomination hearings in progress

I’m going to have to put The Washington Note back on the blogroll. Steve Clemons’s blog is providing excellent commentary on the Bolton hearings (and has been all over Bolton for some time, states Robert Silvey in his own piece on the controversial…

Falluja II: Beyond the city limits

Via Prometheus 6, another reminder of what the Falluja offensive is failing to accomplish. Emphasis mine:

Beyond Embattled City, Rebels Operate Freely

Iraqi insurgents have extended their reach over large swaths of the country, including sections of the capital, making it unlikely…