I'm a bit more than halfway through Lolita, and am beginning to feel disturbed and disgusted. A slow, sickening feeling has been building for a while, and finally made me realize that Humbert is not a pathetic loser, but a cold predator. He is telling his story with the object of gaining sympathy. To do this …
write six billion stories
If you were an immortal, how many stories could you write before you got bored of the whole idea of stories? I can't imagine ever getting tired of making stuff up... but I suppose there must be a limit. Every thing that has ever happened, never happened, can't happen, or must happen--all are stories. How, with …
Chapter titles
Something Borne is doing--which I'm sure is done, but I can't think of another time I've seen it--is giving each chapter a provocative title. I really like this idea and might try it out to see if it fits in any of my writings. A chapter titled 'what I found in [character's] room' for example, …
How to set the tone
Look at that tree. It's a pretty normal tree, right? I tried to pick a very neutral picture of a tree--one that could be anywhere, with anything going on around it outside the frame. Anything could be happening to the person observing it. How would you choose to describe this tree? That choice should …
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
I found myself inspired by the end of this book. The final sentence really wraps it up, and I liked the color it gave to all the preceding (and proceeding?) stories. It's not really a spoiler, but it goes something like this: "Your efforts will be nothing but a drop in the ocean!" "What is …
Jonas David 