There may be pieces of writing where the character wants nothing, takes no action, no stakes are conveyed, and nevertheless we are moved. My *suspicion* is that desire, stakes, etc, in such a piece may just be subsurface. But I’m obliged to admit that a genius may find a way to succeed without them.
Whatever the cultural context, a separate core truth is that a genius (writer/artist/creator) can make anything work. At a basic level, I’d say that the only measure of any art’s success is whether it makes you *feel* something. 6/
THAT SAID: Matthew Selasses, in CRAFT IN THE REAL WORLD, argues that this view of story is not objective but rather a Western convention, and cites examples of quite divergent storytelling traditions. Those don’t feel instinctive to me, but I loved every word of the case he makes. And, finally: 5/
You’re right, real life doesn’t always work this way. But real life isn’t story. Story is a way of presenting action and consequence in a way that illuminates human behavior. Plenty of aspects of real life don’t get captured in narrative, and they’re not invalid; they’re just not stories. 4/
And this is key: the character must *care* about fulfilling the desire, usually enough to prompt them to act. If they desire something passively - job satisfaction, say, or meaningful romance - then not much is likely to happen, and the reader is likely to care no more than the passive character. 3/
Stakes exist to measure the importance of that desire: how life will be for the character if it’s fulfilled or thwarted.
Obstacles exist to demonstrate that the desire hasn’t been fulfilled, and that the character must act, often involving decision and risk, to achieve that fulfillment. 2/
That’s not gaming theory. It’s intrinsic to storytelling. Because story derives from irresolution.
A story starts w/a character who wants or lacks something. Even a seemingly random inciting incident creates a situation where the desire matters. 1/
Amazing to be reminded that, in the 1960s and early 70s, the humble CT suburb where I grew up was home to this small midmod gem, long since vanished
I’m not big on scolding prescriptivism these days. Language is fluid; we use it as we wish and it rises to meet our needs.
But clarity still has value. And in contexts like this headline—and countless online real estate listings—for the love of god please say “New York State” unless you mean NYC.
In his first 100 days, Zohran Mamdani has:
-Delivered millions in restitution for workers cheated by gig companies
-Cracked down on predatory landlords
-Launched the first stage of a universal childcare program
-Fixed thousands of potholes in NYC streets
This is what leadership looks like.
If Franzen and Lerner were to follow the lead of King and Straub and collaborate on a series of horror novels, would you read y/n
Three modern story-songs that drip with charm:
“Kathy: A Story of Love, Lust, and the Country” by Kate Stephenson
youtu.be/iJNS0vje_A4?...
“White Trash Romance” by Karen Jonas
youtu.be/N3bkgEUPlFc?...
“Two Horses” by Black Country, New Road
youtu.be/oX_yA8aVwIA?...
“Kathy: A Story of Love, Lust, and the Country” by Kate Stephenson
youtu.be/iJNS0vje_A4?...
“White Trash Romance” by Karen Jonas
youtu.be/N3bkgEUPlFc?...
“Two Horses” by Black Country, New Road
youtu.be/oX_yA8aVwIA?...
Sitting in a diner today,
reading about Paul
writing Yesterday,
I thought,
I’ll sit here a little longer,
and read,
until it comes on the radio
And I have
And it has
Every year I think the same thing: the greatest moment in Oscar history will be when they announce a winner WHO WASN’T EVEN NOMINATED
Left: Bingham Hall, Yale University, 1928 (Walter B. Chambers, architect)
Right: Sleeping Giant Observation Tower, Hamden, CT, 1935 (Russell T. Barker, architect)
History: Never before has life been this stressful
Also history:
The National Association of Black Bookstores aims to “amplify Black voices, and preserve Black culture by increasing the visibility, sustainability, and impact of Black bookstores and booksellers.”
You can hover over the page, or you can enter it.
I don’t second-guess folks who rank “Wild Honey Pie” toward the bottom of the list of Beatles songs. But today I realized that WHP bears a surprising resemblance to the guitar interludes in “Girl.” Can you hear it?
As a fond callback to that classic, it suddenly feels more embraceable.
The soundtrack, yes, and also the eeriness. And I presume you stuck around for the post-credits bit? One of the most astounding parts of the film.
Ahh, I see. Glad you gave it a chance!
Fellow Johnson devotee here - we were *saturated* with Sinners content and applause, all deserved, in first half of last year. Perhaps a regional issue?
Question: I’m refreshing my schoolboy French with Duolingo. When I write a sentence ending with an exclamation point, it shows an error and adds a space before the exclamation point. Yet this doesn’t seem to be true of periods.
What explains this French usage nicety?
Just now I was waiting for my lunch and an unfamiliar song started playing, kind of a whingey song, and I listened because I couldn’t change the channel, and eventually it dawned on me that this song I’d never heard before was “Wonderwall”
Who knew today was gonna be the day
larry david on bkcoffeeshop when
larry david on bkcoffeeshop when
if you're an older person who finds words like mogg and maxxing annoying, just starting using them. people over the age of 30 have the superpower to end trends by simply adopting them
I think
the reason I mourn—
unreasonably, I know,
my values are descriptivist—
the erosion of strict meaning
adhering to words like “literally”
is not that I don’t know
when people mean it figuratively.
It’s that
we will no longer have
any word that means,
literally,
literally.
Lighten up!