Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Be inspired....

...or entertained. A Lorrie Moore short story that sucked me in.

3 comments:

J.D. said...

She starts with the weather. Elmore Leonard's first rule of writing is never open with the weather. Perhaps it doesn't matter; she weaves it around the songbirds and traipsing through the neighborhood as they peck on the ground. I realize this is the New Yorker! But she starts with the weather. J.D.

Anonymous said...

I happen to love stories and books that open with the weather. Yeah, I've read Leonard's words about that.....takes all kinds, right?

J.D. said...

I fret over all that. I've read so much on what to do and what not to do: no weather, get right to the story, open with action, yada yada. Given all the advice from authors with how-to books and agents who warn of instant rejection if we overstep the boundaries, won't we all become cookie-cutter writers? Or worse, will too many suffer my fate? I am the classic unpublished bi-polar who can't find his voice with both hands. J.D.