Recent r/literature Posts Breakdown

I'm considering whether it is advantageous for me to create quarterly or semiannual summaries of posts I've created (and which have been abundantly upvoted) on r/literature. Most of these posts concern books or articles I've read and literary techniques or theories or thoughts I've developed and/or am developing as a result.

Perhaps this will be a good idea, perhaps not. But let's give it a go.

From biggest to smallest then!

Memory spreading its branches through THE VALLEN

Memory interconnected and disconnecting bits falling away

In the beginning of novel development, I tend to research every teensy-weensy little thing. For THE VALLEN, I went over memory and walls and how to build walls, and where and why walls were built, and how memory is stored, the latest neurological science, how technology enhances or impairs our memory, whether all of this translates to knowledge—and if it does—then what kind of knowledge?

A Word on Too Many Words

Reading over the Goodread comments on Amitav Ghosh’s Sea of Poppies, I somewhat ruined this book for myself. Well, even if shortlisted for the Man Booker award, the first 50 or so pages just rung my attention completely dry—so—it wasn’t just the Goodread comments with spoiler alerts, informing me about the unsatisfactory ending and prompting me to lay this book down before wasting anymore of my time reading another word (I admit I especially searched for those comments to substantiate my own suspicions…), it was all the so many words themselves…

Don’t yell at me, I’m an artist – Part I

 

Sarah Jung, pic filched here

There exist many stereotypes about creative types. Just the typifying of people as creative types is itself a corralling of certain individuals who exhibit certain traits into a certain group. A commenting along the lines of: “Oh, you’re a one of those…” or a: “Yes, I’m an it…”

The Perils of Diction

Filched from here

Let's take a step into the world of word choice, or diction. For a brief interlude into the elements of style (tone and diction), look here, and read up on how diction fits into a writing piece as a whole. Otherwise—all our readings up—let's dive in...

The Shapes of Refugee Stories

Image taken from here

I just can't read them all. There are too many migrant-refugee books and not enough hours and not enough energies to read every friggin' one of 'em.

So, I take a deep breath....and Google stuff...

If you've never taken a gander at Kurt Vonnegut's The Shapes of Stories thesis-that-never-was, now would be a good time to take one:

Diction & Dick Jokes: A Look at Carl Hiaasen

Writing humor is not something that all writers undertake.

Some dramatic novelists might stick in a silly scenario or sarcasm, but they'll steer clear of riddling their work with gags for fear it won't be taken as a "serious" work. Some non-fictionalists won't sully their work with a single dirty phrase for fear of appearing (cringe) unprofessional.

Past and Present Concerns on Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"

https://dinanaim.wordpress.com/

I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy and it was a quick read. It took me all of two sittings on two separate days. I saw the film first, years ago, and just happened to pick up the book out of a stack in a thrift store. Many people absolutely love McCarthy and his works, so I decided to read it and...

Magic Systems — Arden's The Bear & The Nightingale

http://avalinahsbooks.space/the-bear-and-the-nightingale/

There're whole heaps of praise out there on the internet for Katherine Arden's debut: The Bear and the Nightingale, a fairy tale-esque coming-of-age story taking place in medieval Russia. I'm not going down that praising path, though I did enjoy the book over Christmas break (absolutely a winter read). Rather, I'm going down the magic-system path. And when it comes to fairy tales, pinning down a magic system is about as difficult as making waterfalls flow backwards.

Heart of Darkness...On Xmas

Sometimes there's just too much to think about in a book. While perusing over the Scmoop entries on Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness, a dozen different blog topics came to mind. Should I focus on Conrad's diction? Or how about his style for this book, which isn't so much "poetic" as it is ruminative? Or maybe about the way Marlow's narration sets the mood? Or about themes of imperialism, humanity, madness, honesty/dishonesty and evil?

Rather, I've decided to talk about context, the circumstances surrounding both the author's life and the author's society that ever even allowed such a book to be contemplated, nonetheless written.

The Broken Earth Trilogy - Jemisin

Disregard the superb narrative techniques. Disregard the excellent plotting and characterization—particularly between a mother and a daughter—that throttles the both of them to a climactic showdown where, literally, the fallout of their relationship determines the fate of the world. Disregard the fact this is the first time an author has won three Hugos in a row and disregard all of the other milestones of this series.

What most came through Jemisin's masterwork, for me, is this...

Me on r/literature...why do I do this?

So...yeah...long day at work, and what do I do? Post stupid things on the internet...

Here's what I put on Reddit, in response to a post about: Is Literary Glory Worth Chasing? Which is in response to an New York Review of Books article.

What Makes Harry Potter So Good? 3 of 3

Mary GrandPre'

In my most recent post we looked at plot outlines in Harry Potter. Now, we look at the endings. Because the endings of each HP book are part of the allure. The part that keeps you wanting more. The part that leaves you with that warm, sad, lovey dovey fuzzy feeling and...well, you get the idea.

Here, I'll dive into the ending of the 3rd Harry Potter book, The Prisoner of Azkaban:

"You are truly your father's son, Harry," says Sirius Black.

Right as he's taking off—flying, escaping—on the hippogriff.

But the action hasn't stopped.

What Makes Harry Potter So Good? 2 of 3

Mary GrandPre'

It's all in the story, says just about everyone. "Where (for authors) does success lie?" In the story, they say.


But what makes the story? And what makes a story good?

What makes Harry Potter so good? 1 of 3

Mary GrandPre'

It's the 20th anniversary of the publication of the 1st Harry Potter book! And in celebration, I am writing 3 blogposts devoted to Harry Potter.

To be sure, there is no one thing which makes Harry Potter what it is. Just take a look at this Quora article that lists ten or more elements which, they say, contribute to Harry Potter's unbelievable success. But I'm not going to focus just on the success of Harry Potter.

Polar Bears and Zeppelins and Auroras, Oh My!

Let's talk conglomeration. Let's talk about why authors conglomerate multiple, varied —seemingly unrelated— elements into a single story.


In other words, what's the meat and potatoes of your story? What's the subject matter? What's the substance readers will sink their teeth into? What's the world you're building and why?


In Pullman's The Golden Compass, there are multiple worlds.

The Ending of a Book

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/

At last, we've come to it. The final pages. The point when we say: This is it. There's no more. Add a few blank pages, some acknowledgments, and there's the back cover. Staring you in the face. You're done.


Welcome, to the end of the book.

N. K. Jemisin: SFF's New Standard Bearer

Science fiction has a new standard bearer and her name is N. K. Jemisin. I read The Fifth Season, the first in a series of three books (The Broken Earth Trilogy) and egad. As in: "Egad! This book is a whopper of literary might and sff brilliance!"

Regret and its Apparitions

https://www.deviantart.com/ladykenora

Ah yes, the stench, the brewing disgust, the singeing alloy of regret. And the healing power of it.


Many authors write things they regret—books, sentences, misplaced words, whole bodies of work. Some authors even regret the success of their books. But I'd like to focus on characters and their own regrets, or lack of regrets.


Depicted in some beautiful fan-art above, is Severus Snape

Reading a Movie: Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi

So, I'll start off by admitting that I didn't finish this one.

It's sad really.

I wanted to enjoy Tomi Adeyemi's debut, but as I was flipping past page after page of wham-pow hits and somersaults and narrow escapes, of differing points of view, of this new kind of fantasy world sorta kinda based on Yoruba mythology, I kinda felt like I was reading Pirates of the Caribbean. Yes, the films. Just in book form.