Suspend Your Disbelief

Posts Tagged ‘Celeste Ng’

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I, He… We?

by Celeste Ng

We writers gravitate towards a few particular points of view: we love the first person singular, the ultra-personal “I”; we adore the third-person limited and its inside-outside-blurring stance; we even use the omniscient and look down on our characters as if we were gods.  Now and then, we’ll try the second person to switch it up—we’ve all read Lorrie Moore’s Self-Help and thought about it, haven’t we? But what about the first person plural?  Why haven’t we, as writers, embraced this viewpoint and its potential?  A few of us—Jeffrey Eugenides, Steven Millhauser—have tackled it, but most of us just shrug […]


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"You can’t take an adult seriously when he’s debating you over why Twilight vampires are O.K. with sunlight."

by Celeste Ng

What to make of Joel Stein? He’s a humor writer who (sometimes) makes serious points, and as a result, his readers sometimes miss the argument beneath the humor, or miss the humor on top of the argument. His latest essay, “Adults Should Read Adult Books,” in the New York Times, is causing quite a kerfuffle: I have no idea what “The Hunger Games” is like. Maybe there are complicated shades of good and evil in each character. Maybe there are Pynchonesque turns of phrase. Maybe it delves into issues of identity, self-justification and anomie that would make David Foster Wallace […]


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"I can't stop acquiring books…"

by Celeste Ng

You think you have a problem with hoarding books? The above short film, by Sergey Stefanovich, walks you through the library of writer and critic Duncan Fallowell, which “has spilled over into every available space and become an art installation in its own right.” (Via.) Fallowell narrates, with lots of meditative insights on reading and writing: “I’m so glad I haven’t read everything–I have such a wonderful future awaiting me.” However, if you really need to clear out some space, perhaps this post by Jodi Chromey, “How I Learned to Stop Hoarding and Give Away Books,” provides the solution. Further […]


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I would not, could not, write a story…

by Celeste Ng

…using only the words from The Cat in the Hat.  Or could I? That’s the challenge posed by one of the prompts at the Tumblr site Writing Prompts. (Don’t worry, they’re helpfully listed for your reference. Did you know The Cat in the Hat contains the word “shame”?) The site has a huge variety of prompts, including lots based on photos (for you visual thinkers). They’re totally different from other prompts I’ve seen–you’re sure to find something to get you started, unstuck, or turned in a new direction. I’m bookmarking this site for the next time I feel like I […]


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24 Magazine

by Celeste Ng

Running a journal—selecting content, editing, finding just the right images—takes a lot of time. (Trust us: we know!) So when I heard about Twenty-Four Magazine, I was flabbergasted. You see, Twenty-Four Magazine just put out its first issue last month, and they did it all—the concept, the writing, the publishing, the design—in just twenty-four hours. Why? Here’s what the group said on their site: Because it means that the magazine’s production will become an event that anyone can follow, and the process becomes a part of the product. Because a time-based model makes continuing the magazine more sustainable: it’s a […]


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Mommy, where do blurbs come from?

by Celeste Ng

The always-fascinating TYWKIWDBI points us to the origin of the blurb. According to Wikipedia, The word blurb originated in 1907. American humorist Gelett Burgess’s short 1906 book Are You a Bromide? was presented in a limited edition to an annual trade association dinner. The custom at such events was to have a dust jacket promoting the work and with, as Burgess’ publisher B. W. Huebsch described it, “the picture of a damsel — languishing, heroic, or coquettish — anyhow, a damsel on the jacket of every novel” In this case the jacket proclaimed “YES, this is a ‘BLURB’!” and the […]


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Love it, or hate it?

by Celeste Ng

Is it better to be the only one who loves an unpopular book, or the only one who hates a popular book? Thanks to the Tumblr site I Love Charts, you can now weigh the pros and cons: . Further Reading: Why liking a book—or its popularity—shouldn’t be part of a good review Rick Moody is a popular author writers love to hate. What’s the deal with that?




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