Writing about writing and reading
I got this as a gift last year, and am finally finishing it now after a long hiatus of distraction. This is unequivocally the best book on writing I've ever read. Each page--each sentence--is a useful insight that most 'how to write' books would stretch out into an entire chapter. It is a joy to …
Continue reading "Several short sentences about writing, by Verlyn Klinkenborg"
The worries I wrote about in my previous posts on this did not come to be, and the book ended up being less infuriating than Harry August, but also less interesting. Jeff Winston is living twenty-five years of his life over and over again. Each time he dies of a heart attack at exactly the …
With all the advances in AI showing seemingly creative potential, I wonder if in some distant future, AIs will be able to scan the whole of human writing, and determine what makes for the perfect story--and start churning them out. I've always been a proponent of AI, and see it as more helpful than harmful …
What would your character do if approached by a drunk in a bar? Lost in the woods with no food or flashlight? Locked unjustly (or justly) in solitary confinement? If they were told they just swallowed poison? This is an exercise I was just doing recently with my sister, and it's fun and also informative. …
It is so easy to take things for granted. But any of the things you enjoy in life could vanish at any moment. Not only that, but they almost certainly will vanish or change at some point before your death. Do you love your job? You won't always have it. Or even if you somehow …
Jonas David 