Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Han Ong's Fixer Chao, Martin Amis' Money, Bret Easton Ellis' Less Than Zero, The Fuck-Up by Arthur Nersesian and Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club. These are all influentialnovels to me, perhaps even models for me to study and aspire to. What do they all have in common? What these novels…
Bittersweet: A Love Story – Part One
After five years, I have finally begun work on this roman à clef as an exercise to get me back into writing condition, the same way a boxer or weightlifter gets into shape after a hiatus. It took me a huge portion of my day just to write the 3,300 words here, partly because it…
Thoughts on a so-called education in the English subject
For six weeks, I attended a course entitled 'Introduction to Literature Study'. I had high hopes for the class. Being an aspiring novelist, I felt that taking the class would somehow open my eyes to the literary form in such a way that would improve my writing. Unfortunately, in those six weeks, I learned very…
A Matter of the Heart
The weather reminded Jack of happy times. For some reason, he had always enjoyed chilly rainy days. Despite such days being wet and cold, thoroughly unpleasant to one's skin, he relished such weather.Perhaps it was how the rain seemed to clear the way for him on city streets. That's how it seemed to him as…
Contentions With Studying Poetry
Poetry is supposed to be appreciated. Good poetry invokes an emotion, it paints a picture with words in your heart that no image can. Good poetry is supposed to be read and enjoyed. But what about whenit comes to studying it? I must say that the study of poetry is by and large a farce.…
