Short Stories and Stuff

No blog this week from me, because I’ve been working on adding to my short story collection. It’s interesting going through one’s back catalogue. Probably more interesting to me than anyone else, if I’m honest, but for those who might feel the urge, you can read some of my output (the highlights ) at : https://forgedtruth.wordpress.com/short-stories/

What Decides Genre – Part Two

So, following on from my previous post of a week or so back ( https://forgedtruth.wordpress.com/2013/10/16/what-decides-literary-genre/), last night I heard someone reading a piece of prose that sounded to me exactly like poetry.  In my defence, the reader hadn’t tried to label the piece herself, so I felt free to rush in and make a judgement (itContinue reading “What Decides Genre – Part Two”

What Decides Literary Genre?

This week, I heard someone reading a poem that sounded to me exactly like prose.  Now, I’ve always been bad at understanding or passing any meaningful comment on poetry (it’s my blind spot) but the more I listened the more I realised I was responding to the poem exactly as if it were a shortContinue reading “What Decides Literary Genre?”

Thinking About The Identity Plot

On a long journey yesterday, I finished listening to Amy Hungerford’s Lectures on the American Novel Since 1945, which – by the way – I thoroughly recommend to any one interested in modern literature.  Central to her argument is that old patterns in literary novels, such as the ‘Marriage Plot’ of Victorian novels, have more recentlyContinue reading “Thinking About The Identity Plot”

Three Months Cometh

This morning, facing up to a three-month cancer check, found myself sitting at the keyboard at 4 a.m., trying to explain to my on-line diary why I was sitting at the keyboard at 4 a.m. Failed miserably. Failed inevitably. Waving my hands in the air as if I might conjure unknown words that everyone couldContinue reading “Three Months Cometh”