My Writing About Books
I only began to write in the proper meaning of the word when my writing had to analyze books — while I was an English student up to my ears in literature at the University of Texas. The authors I read there, and the professors who guided me through their stories, taught me to think deliberately about structure, the first foundation of every story. Literature demonstrated why the course of beginning, middle, and end can be so effective in its mixtures of conflict, characterization, and theme. But it also demonstrated why stories that reimagine that basic structure and "break the rules" can also create the same transportation of a reader. Both modes of storytelling, along with their countless offshoots, have built the body of literature that first taught me how we write the stories that engage us.
And because I began with books, I still bear their torch in my writing when I can. Fiction and poetry are my personal passions, if not my mainstay professional interests. And they remain my passions in part because I'm sometimes lucky enough to write about them.
*Note: not all of these writing samples deal directly with fiction and poetry. But I've done my best to ensure that they all have the best elements of those two things: clear, engaging storytelling.*
And because I began with books, I still bear their torch in my writing when I can. Fiction and poetry are my personal passions, if not my mainstay professional interests. And they remain my passions in part because I'm sometimes lucky enough to write about them.
*Note: not all of these writing samples deal directly with fiction and poetry. But I've done my best to ensure that they all have the best elements of those two things: clear, engaging storytelling.*