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Non-Fiction

Things that are ostensibly true.

Reading Material

Today marks the tenth anniversary of when I began keeping a record of every book that I read.  Therefore, without further ado, I present the complete reading material of a decade.

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“Miguel”

Miguel, ma belleThese are words that go together wellMy MiguelMiguel, ma belleSont les mots qui vont tres bien ensembleTres bien ensemble

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Closing Windows

http://grantland.com/features/simmons-oklahoma-city-thunder-nba-championship/ Bill Simmons ‘meditation’ on the uncertainty of the future, the ephemerality of opportunity. The thing about sports is they tell you when it’s over.  Everybody talks about giving 110% and never quitting, but only as long as the game is going on.  When the final buzzer sounds, whether you’ve won or lost you know to … Continue reading »

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Non-Insane Proposals for Publishing Industry Professionals

What I don’t understand is why we writers believe that those on the other side of the transom act in such illogical ways, ways in which I definitely wouldn’t act if I were in their shoes. Agents.  If I were an agent I wouldn’t read anybody’s stories or novels. 

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Begging the Question

We call a story good because of what is written, not who wrote it.  But sometimes people invert the relationship—i.e., we believe a story must be good because a particular name is attached to it. In “A Legend in His Own Mind” (The New Yorker, Dec. 22 & 29, 1997, pp. 54-65), John Walsh reports … Continue reading »

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Annals of Superhuman Persistence, Vol IV: Veronica Roth

On March 31, 2010, 21-year-old Veronica Roth wrote a blog post titled “You + $$$ = ?”  Two weeks later, Roth sold her first book, a dystopian YA novel about a society segregated by moral virtues and a girl who doesn’t fit in.  “I was in Psych learning about exposure therapy,” she recalls. She started … Continue reading »

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Annals of Superhuman Persistence, Vol. III: Samantha Shannon

21-Year-Old Novelist Samantha Shannon on Her Debut, The Bone Season Samantha Shannon’s “inspiration for The Bone Season, the ambitious first novel in a projected seven-part series to be published by Bloomsbury, came from an internship with literary agent David Godwin the summer after her first year at Oxford.  

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Andre’s Law

ANDRE: “You see, I think that people today are so deeply asleep that unless, you know, you’re putting on those sort of superficial plays that just help your audience to sleep more comfortably, it’s very hard to know what to do in the theater. ‘Cause, you see, I think that if you put on serious … Continue reading »

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Pritchard’s Law (Updated Feb. 2, 2015 w/ Proof)

Pritchard’s Law says, in one (narrow) application, there will be an inverse relationship between the amount of plot per page in a novel and the quality of its prose.  The more plot, the worse prose. Below are passages from various novels quoted by James Wood in The New Yorker.  He specifically singled out these passages … Continue reading »

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Annals of Superhuman Persistence: Vol. II: Hugh Howey

Four years ago, he decided to give writing a shot. He and his wife were living in a 750-square foot house in Boone, N.C. He was unemployed; his wife was working as a psychologist. He had an idea for a story about a young spaceship pilot who travels across the galaxy in search of her … Continue reading »

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