The Engines of Narrative

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At the beginning of WG Sebald's The Rings of Saturn, the protagonist sets off on a solitary walk in the county of Suffolk. He walks carefree for hours…
Elizabeth Gaffney
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a generative, non prescriptive writing prompt
Elizabeth Gaffney
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Getting more specific about what drives your characters
Elizabeth Gaffney
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focus on what your character can't stand
Elizabeth Gaffney
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a generative, nonprescriptive writing prompt
Elizabeth Gaffney
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on literary letters
Elizabeth Gaffney
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pearly white, gold, or wooden, they tell tales...
Elizabeth Gaffney
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modulating volume in dialogue
Elizabeth Gaffney
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With thanks to Emily Rubin, who was reminded, as we read Frankenstein aloud in The 24-Hour Room this week, of the three questions Anna Deavere Smith…
Elizabeth Gaffney
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It’s been a beastly summer in a lot of the world, so I can’t help being drawn to thoughts of ice. In Frankenstein, the monster is impervious to extreme…
Elizabeth Gaffney
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Sometimes we fiddle and fuss with our prose but neglect the larger gyres of story. Other times the big plot arcs drive the writing. What is the thing…
Elizabeth Gaffney
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Mary Douglas's classic work of cultural anthropology Purity and Danger points out the relativism inherent in our concept of dirt: Soil on the forest…
Elizabeth Gaffney
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