Tag: style

Posted in: 2023

186. This Is What I Mean by Literary Fiction

I’m solo today and this episode is a kind of prequel. I’m going to be interviewing the great American writer Lorrie Moore in a few weeks about her new novel, I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home, due to be published later this month. I’ve been a lifelong fan of her work, and in this episode I will give an overview of her past works, and my views on what it is about her books and her style that makes her exceptional. The title of this episode is “This Is What I Mean by Literary Fiction,” number 186 of the podcast.

Loorie Moore’s Amazon Author Page
 https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lorrie-Moore/author/B000APWFEY

Lorrie Moore’s First Published Story in “Seventeen” Magazine (1977)
 https://archive.org/details/sim_seventeen_1977-01_36_1/mode/2up
(scroll to page 92) 

Posted in: 2023

174. Avoid Verbal and Narrative Clichés in Your Writing

I talk about these two types of clichés to avoid. I use "verbal cliché" to mean hackneyed phrases and worn-out imagery that may have been imaginative and fresh at some time in the history of the language now, but has since gone stale. I use "narrative cliché" to mean the use of familiar tropes and situations in the story you are telling. This episode mostly is about fiction and film.

Garner's Modern English Usage
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/garners-modern-english-usage-9780197599020

Imagining and Knowing: The Shape of Fiction, by Gregory Currie
https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199656615.001.0001

Posted in: 2023

141. How to Stay Busy: Writing, Coaching, Getting Unstuck, and World Peace

Before I introduce today’s guest, I wanted to talk briefly about a new feeature—and a new episode—that I’m adding weekly to the show. I’m calling it “One More Word,” and it will be just me talking about an English word. It could be a word in the news, it could be some new jargon, it could be a word you’ve used for years but which has an interesting history. The episode will be short (5 minutes or so) and I hope you’ll find it interesting. The premiere episode is this Saturday, February 18. Please listen.

So for today’s show … This is episode 141 — How to Stay Busy: Writing, Coaching, Getting Others Unstuck, and World Peace.

My guest is Murielle Marie, who has over 20 years experience in business, most recently as a thriving international career in coaching and helping creatives and entrepreneurs get unstuck. She’s got a large social media following, and in the midst of everything she is also writing a thriller.