Category: FICTION IN PHASE SPACE

Beginnings: Inviting entry point into story. A good hook gets to interesting and relevant details of character, setting or plot quickly as wells as asking interesting questions

For the reader, it’s rather like wearing earphones plugged into someone’s brain, and monitoring an endless tape-recording of impressions, reflections, questions, memories and fantasies, triggered by physical sensations and the association of ideas. Unlike stream-of-consciousness, which is not punctuated an interior monologue can be integrated into a third-person narrative. It’s a character talking/thinking, using words…

Intrusive Author: Eliot, Tolstoy and earlier An omniscient narrator who, in addition to reporting the events, allows the novel to be used for general moral commentary on human life, sometimes in the form of brief digressive essays interrupting the narrative. Modern fiction has tended to suppress or eliminate the authorial voice, by presenting the action…

Suspense is a powerful storytelling tool that captivates audiences by creating tension and anticipation. It operates on the principle of withholding information or delaying the resolution of important questions, thereby piquing the audience’s curiosity and keeping them engaged until the climax. There are two main types of questions that suspense raises in the minds of…

Skaz is a fascinating narrative technique that unites a vernacular colloquial style with a naive and immature narrator. The storytelling imitates actual speech, making it almost unintelligible, akin to transcripts of recorded conversations. However, this illusion is precisely what gives the narrative its powerful effect of authenticity and sincerity. The essence of skaz lies in…

Huge in the 1800’s. Samuel Richardson’s long, moralistic and psychologically acute epistolary novels of seduction, Pamela (1741) and Clarissa (1747), inspiring many imitators such as Rousseau (La Nouvelle Hélotse) and Laclos (Les Liaisons dangereuses)

The Rashomon effect is a term related to the notorious unreliability of eyewitnesses. It describes a situation in which an event is given contradictory interpretations or descriptions by the individuals involved. The parable of the blind men and an elephant is a story of a group of blind men who have never come across an…

Proper names have an odd and interesting status. Our first names are usually given to us with semantic intent, having for our parents some pleasant or hopeful association which we may or may not live up to. Surnames however are generally perceived as arbitrary, The Art of Naming: Characters in Fiction In the realm of…

Coined by the eminent philosopher and psychologist William James, the term “stream of consciousness” serves as an apt depiction of the unbroken current of thoughts, emotions, and sensations that course through the intricate channels of the human mind. This concept captures the essence of the mind’s ceaseless activity, where one idea effortlessly gives way to…