Posts Tagged ‘advice’

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My Advice

In Fiction on April 5, 2013 at 11:45 am

Old Pocket Watch

My Advice

The universe erupts and expands.
Fourteen billion years pass.
You live and die.
And after eons more
the universe chills to a thermodynamic nothing.
My advice?
Get warm,
make some music
and eat.

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Advice for new bloggers: Keep it up

In Writing on May 2, 2012 at 1:14 pm
Iridium fountain pen nib, macro.

This is a pen. Don’t use it on your computer.

A month ago I started this blog, gave it a name and wrote my first post.

I received an underwhelming four views that first day, and had few hopes I would ever do much better than that. But here I am, still going, and I’m glad to say my initial skepticism has been proven wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

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Avoiding ‘punchlines’

In Writing on April 17, 2012 at 7:22 am

After yesterday’s post, I thought it might be useful today to talk about a writing principle related to that story: the principle of avoiding ‘punchlines.’

What is a ‘punchline’ story?

We’ve all read punchline stories — stories where the whole meaning or effect hinges on a twist at the very end. Punchlines are the basis not only of jokes but also of mystery stories and spy thrillers and many a metaphysical mind-bender. These stories, just like jokes, are better or worse depending on how hard or easy it is to predict their final twist.

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