There’s a point in one my favorite movies from childhood, Labyrinth, where the young heroine, frustrated at her lack of progress through the Goblin King’s maddening fantasy landscape, asks the Wiseman–who happens to have a bird for a hat–how to reach the castle at the center of the labyrinth. After an appropriately ponderous period of pause, given his advanced age, … Read More
Decolonizing the Imagination: Some Thoughts on Critique and Feedback
Good editorial feedback can make a huge difference in a writer’s life. Bad editorial feedback can make a huge difference too, and not in a good way. A post I wrote for JaneFriedman.com, “How to Spot Toxic Feedback,” has generated a lively conversation–so many people have had to muddle their way through inept, misguided, and sometimes even nastily personal feedback … Read More
Friday Roundup: Ursula K. Le Guin on Racism, Anarchy, and Hearing Her Characters Speak
I love the work of Ursula K. Le Guin, and in this I’m not alone. Though she’s primarily known as a science fiction (SF) writer, her admirers include literary heavyweights like David Mitchell, Salman Rushdie, and the fabulous Zadie Smith, who said that “Le Guin writes as well as any non-‘genre’ writer alive.” In this interview, reposted from Structo this week … Read More
Wednesday Works in Progress: Night-Blooming Cereus
This week I’ve started work on a different short story, “Night-Blooming Cereus.” It’s the tale of a woman facing a difficult diagnosis who forms a relationship with an elusive teenager in a place that’s dear to my heart, a little pocket park in Prescott, Arizona. I shifted gears from “Dream Studies” into this project because it’s been one year since … Read More
