Complicating Your Conflict
by Ayşe Papatya Bucak
“With every fulfilled wish, the drama of the story is elevated”: Ayşe Papatya Bucak with some unconventional advice for crafting conflict.
“With every fulfilled wish, the drama of the story is elevated”: Ayşe Papatya Bucak with some unconventional advice for crafting conflict.
“Ozzie’s sacrificial journey is a typical Rothian romp. It’s also meticulously made”: Michael Byers on how Philip Roth pulls off allegory in “The Conversion of the Jews.”
“The writer’s first tool—even more important than language—is empathy”: Michael Byers on ZZ Packer’s “Brownies” as a story about becoming a writer.
J.T. Bushnell on Amy Tan’s “Rules of the Game,” a “quintessentially American story, one that has roots in a literary tradition that dates back to Flaubert and Chekhov.”
Twice recently, while riding the train, I’ve noticed someone reading David Foster Wallace’s Oblivion, and both times I’ve found myself wondering if–hoping, really–the someone was reading a particular story from that book: “Good Old Neon.”
