Unfinished Tales I decided to do something I haven’t done since my first offering on this website (which was little shy of a year ago). To print a story that is very much in process. Part of the reason is: I think it makes for good reading (or if it doesn’t, it makes, at any…
Tag: fiction
“Reunion” by John Cheever
I remember listening to “Reunion” (a very short story by John Cheever) on the New Yorker Fiction Podcast. That was actually the first time I ever heard the story. It might be the first time I was introduced to John Cheever. The reader was Richard Ford, and he noted that the story begins with 2…
The Wedding (An Archaic Concept of Me, Delivery 9)
We began in Delivery 1 with a vignette. A vignette of lingering kisses, stillness and soft murmurings, bountiful cushions on a big, round mahogany bed, privilege taken for granted, and lithe young minds congratulating each other on their own manifestations of abundance. A vignette delivered to us by a much older version of a young man…
Not Just a Phase?
I’ve written about the first time I kissed a girl. I’ve written about how much it would have meant to me to have queer role models. And I’ve written about why it was really important for me to have access to queer books as a teenager. I’ve never really talked about the “not just a…
An Archaic Concept of Me: Mutual Proposal
We are moving into Delivery 8, where we discover more about the early adult life of the fictional characters, Aleena and Stuart. If you prefer to read contiguously from the opening sentence forward, here are links to the previous 7 deliveries onto 2 Rules of Writing. https://2rulesofwriting.com/another-world-within/an-archaic-concept-of-me/ https://2rulesofwriting.com/another-world-within/an-archaic-concept-of-me-2/ https://2rulesofwriting.com/another-world-within/to-the-future-where-we-know-ourselves/ https://2rulesofwriting.com/another-world-within/archaic-concept-of-me-keep-going-son/ https://2rulesofwriting.com/another-world-within/mindfulness-archaic-concept-5/ https://2rulesofwriting.com/another-world-within/archaic-concept-of-me-shoulder-energy/ https://2rulesofwriting.com/another-world-within/forget-it-an-archaic-concept-of-me-delivery-7/ Where we began,…
Character Motivation (Caturday Questions)
Middle Cat said something interesting the other day. He said: “Character is the most important part of any story. If you think back to any of your favorite books, or even movies, the thing you’ll remember most clearly is the character. And probably the most important part of that is character motivation. If you know…
“Forget it” (An Archaic Concept of Me: Delivery 7)
A Moment of Authory* Self-Reflection Some months back, Iʼm half way through writing the book before I notice almost all of it is internal narrative of the main character. I had been considering going back to edit it towards more external action, and less dominated by early-adult thought-angst of not fitting in. But then I…
Roe v Wade: News into Art (Caturday Questions)
We had a cartoon prepared for today. Then Roe v Wade got overturned and now it doesn’t feel right to do the same kind of piece we usually do. Still. Here’s the comic right at the top if you’re looking for a quick smile. CONTENT WARNING (if you continue below the comic) discussions of sexual…
Patience and the Writing Process
I have a reputation among my writing colleagues as someone with a lot of patience. Which is weird because I spend more time with myself than I do with anyone else [citation needed] and I don’t think I’m particularly patient with myself. It’s something I’m working on. And (again, ironically) one of the things that…
Pride on the Calendar! (Caturday Questions)
Part of what brings us together as humans is that we celebrate anniversaries. Cats, of course, have no patience for keeping a calendar. To this day, Big Cat has no idea why every year on June first (Big Cat does NOT know that it’s June first) his Human-Mom serves up a big platter of rainbow…