Fiction Is Fun Because You Get To

I Feel Like I Go Back And Forth Between Being Fairly Fatalistic And Really More Hopeful About The Possibilities Of Things Changing. And Will See How That Goes In This Election Cycle. That Will Probably Strongly Affect How Fatalistic I Am.

I Started Out As A Poet Who Primarily Wanted To Write About Image And Moment. Over The Years I've Been Trying To Teach Myself How To Do Plot And Scene. My First Story Collection Had The Most Issues With The Plotlessness, And When I Was Writing My Second Collection I Was Teaching Myself How To Make Things Happen.

The Happiest I Have Ever Been Is In The Life That I Led With My Wife And Kids.

A Novel Requires A Certain Kind Of World Building And Also A Certain Kind Of Closure, Ultimately. Whereas With A Short Story You Have This Sense That There Are Hinges That The Reader Doesn't See. I Would Say That All Short Stories Have Mystery Naturally Built Into Them.

Plot And Scene Are Still The Hardest Things For Me, Though I Think They're The Building Blocks Of What Makes A Story Work.