Wendy Allen, “Maple, 1989”: Collage, Mixed Media, Lloyd Hall, The Banff Centre
A few thoughts self scribbled down after yesterday’s symposium/discussion between mentors and participants here in the Banff Writing Studio:
- The end of a novel is not the end of a STORY.
- The writer is not responsible for hope.
- Sample story: Someone comes. They make someone miserable. And then they leave. (Or maybe they don’t leave. Thereby extending the misery? Wouldn’t it be so Deus ex machina for the cause of misery to just pick up and go?)
Self this afternoon finished reading the first story in the Bluestem Spring 2015 issue: Meagan Cass’s “ActivAmerica.” Oh, it is a good one. Here are a few of the gorgeous sentences:
Out on the track, the cold settled over our bodies like wet cement.
* * *
“No weather exceptions for non-management,” the monitor told us, his face shining with Vaseline, heavy lines around his mouth, dark shadows under his eyes . . . “You’d have to check the binder . . . I think there’s a liability clause.” I didn’t want to know his story, what they were paying him and who was sick in his family and why he needed the money. I only wanted to kick him in the shins.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
