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The Chaw Shop: Grist for the Miller

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Tuesday, March 8, 2011. Grist for the Miller. Talking – she explained that, though she could occasionally “get away with” (more on this telling phrase in a bit) reviewing books by worthy minorities or serious novelists, she’s ultimately beholden to her readership. Her loyalty, she told us, is not to the books she discusses, but solely to those nameless clickers scrolling away at home. Laura Miller: the carnival barker of the literary world. There those words were again – “get away with.&#...Where she use...

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The Chaw Shop: What's the Big Idea? - Intro & pt. 1

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Tuesday, September 6, 2011. What's the Big Idea? Intro and pt. 1. I have sent so many form rejections that some day, I’m sure a very special corner of Writer Hell awaits me: perhaps James Frey. Will stand over me with a whip while I’m forced to piece together copies of his books from a ball pit full of shredded galleys. Yet, in spite of all that, or perhaps because of it, I’ve come to what seems like a counterintuitive conclusion on the craft of the query: I think it barely matters at all. 8221; is a que...

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The Chaw Shop: What's the Big Idea? - pt. 4

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Friday, September 9, 2011. What's the Big Idea? Last night I saw my old playwriting teacher in a dream. He stood on a plinth in the midst of a desert of white sand as panelists from AWP crept past him on their hands and knees. Some of these he allowed to pass; others he incinerated with a single glance, sizzling them where they lay with blue-white thunderbolts from his eyes. When I say the writer must answer the question, “What is this book about? 8221; what do I mean, and how do I expect him to do it?

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The Chaw Shop: I am a double agent for the KGB, pt. 5

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Tuesday, April 19, 2011. I am a double agent for the KGB, pt. 5. Good news, everyone! My latest book review (of The Dewey Decimal System. A futuristic noir by Nathan Larson) is now live on the KGB Bar site. Check it out here:. Http:/ kgbbar.com/lit/book reviews/the dewey decimal system by nathan larson. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). I am a double agent for the KGB, pt. 5. In the Realms of the Unreal. So Good it Hurts. Something to Chew On. I Will Destroy You. Kids in the Hall. Jesus H. Christ.

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The Chaw Shop: What's the Big Idea? - pt. 8

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Wednesday, September 14, 2011. What's the Big Idea? In a haunting scene midway through The Silver Chair. Yeah, okay, I know. Next up: book reports. OR back to: what's a query for, anyway? AND the art of the pitch? AND literary rebellions and literary excuse-making. AND thinking about answers. AND victims vs. passive characters. AND "finding your voice". Labels: C.S. Lewis. Jesus H. Christ. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Whats the Big Idea? Whats the Big Idea? Whats the Big Idea? Whats the Big Idea?

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The Chaw Shop: What's the Big Idea? - pt. 5

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Saturday, September 10, 2011. What's the Big Idea? Looking back over the previous sections of this essay, and then at the ruinous wasteland of the novel I’m currently attempting to write, I feel I should clarify something. I don’t think it’s necessary, or for many writers, even possible to answer the question, “What is my novel about? A good way of approaching this is to look for connections. To answer this, Cody went through the process I describe above and invented an elaborate explanation: the poorly ...

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The Chaw Shop: What's the Big Idea? - pt. 6

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Monday, September 12, 2011. What's the Big Idea? Passive characters don’t get much love in the creative writing classroom. Yet passive characters number among some of the strangest and most memorable in classic stories: just think of Hamlet (“To be or not to be”), Bartleby (“I prefer not to”), and Fanny Price (“Don’t fucking touch me”). So what gives? Just like action, passivity needs to matter. It needs to present an obstacle to achieving or a means of attaining a goal. AND the art of the pitch? In othe...

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The Chaw Shop: What's the Big Idea? - pt. 10

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Friday, September 16, 2011. What's the Big Idea? Asking, “What is my novel about? 8221; is a little like asking, “What makes my life worth living? The other day, I mentioned to a friend from college that our old playwriting teacher made a few cameo appearances in this essay. 8220;I’ve told you my story about him, right? 8220;He’s writing his will.” Pronoun confusion aside, what a weird, dark thing to assume. And yet, when any of us write, what else are we doing but that, really? We’re imposing our ...

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The Chaw Shop: We Don't Need No Education

http://chawshop.blogspot.com/2010/03/we-dont-need-no-education.html

Monday, March 8, 2010. We Don't Need No Education. In fact, I think it's fair to say he didn't like school. (See college professor hat, bottom left.). In a way, Darger's naivete. Postmodernism for me, because it reveals that the logic of appropriation isn't merely something learned - an artistic shorthand, a trick. Rather, in the context of our modern society, it's something primal, even primitive: a dialect we grow up speaking, almost despite ourselves. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Three Pieces o...

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The Chaw Shop: Watching the Watchmen, pt. 2

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Tuesday, January 12, 2010. Watching the Watchmen, pt. 2. My favorite supervillain, until recently. And read it metaphorically instead. (The Comedian is dead, sure – and so are Silhouette, Dollar Bill and JFK. So what? Even the larger-than-life aren't larger than death.) Structurally, we fall into a Dr. Manhattan-like intellectual remove, reading this story on two levels, the specific and the abstract, almost before it even starts. And maybe then I'll get back to complaining about shit I hate. OK, I have ...