I want to say a few more words about the senses in literature. So much can be accomplished through visceral detail. Consider the first paragraph of Anton Chekhov’s “The Beauties”: I remember, when I was a high-school boy in the…
On Method by David Massey
I read a statement by an author recently that if one does not follow a regular regimen of daily composition, one is not a serious writer. This was a fairly vain statement, it seemed to me, because it relegates the…
On Style by David Massey
Katherine Anne Porter said as true a thing as there is to say about style: “You do not create a style. You work, and develop yourself; your style is an emanation from your own being.” When I began writing seriously,…
Leaning on the Senses by David Massey
The senses are all we have. Without them we would be only a blob of protoplasm without even a sense of touch, and therefore with no ability to survive. Fiction is much the same. The fiction writer who best deploys…
How to Write a Sugar-Soaked Story by Noelle Sterne
Taking a break from writing, I flip the television channels and my eyes and remote land at a bright-screen, an urban setting with upbeat music, slick high-rises, and smartly dressed people hurrying about. A respite from the moody brown tones…
The Train Whistle by Nancy Scott
It always startles me. I always feel its vibrating, out-of-place call. Usually, I hear it just before or during rain or snow. I have heard it off and on for the 13 years I’ve lived in this apartment. I never…