A prompt you developed into story with all your usual perceptions of human nature Barrie!
I especially love that we are not certain of the next chapter, the possibility of imagining our own ending...
And, "The girl had that way young people have of making the words we think we know feel like a new language." So true... I am often lost when dealing with the adolescents I teach! I any language... 😂
I can’t remember where I read it, but there was a defence of open endings that really appealed to me. We loitered in Smith & Son a a couple of days ago and I came away with a book of short stories. I’m increasingly drawn to the idea of an anthology of my short tales, maybe try a novella … I’d be tempted to self-publish (I’m saying that out loud to try and unlock the courage!!). Readers need to finish the stories so unspecified endings are fine; it can be too easy to ‘round things out’. Actually, I’ve just remembered … it was Colm Tóibín speaking at Hay because people want to know what happens after ‘Long Island’ ends. I loved it as it was (beautiful storytelling). Thank you for the kind words of encouragement, Susie. Talking of young folk, we thought of you yesterday … a school party of 7-9 year olds were returning from a day trip to La Rochelle. Oh, the chatter. We were sat with a cheeky young fellow called Arno, perched next to his head teacher, a lovely man called Stephane. What a challenge for our scratchy French!
A prompt you developed into story with all your usual perceptions of human nature Barrie!
I especially love that we are not certain of the next chapter, the possibility of imagining our own ending...
And, "The girl had that way young people have of making the words we think we know feel like a new language." So true... I am often lost when dealing with the adolescents I teach! I any language... 😂
I can’t remember where I read it, but there was a defence of open endings that really appealed to me. We loitered in Smith & Son a a couple of days ago and I came away with a book of short stories. I’m increasingly drawn to the idea of an anthology of my short tales, maybe try a novella … I’d be tempted to self-publish (I’m saying that out loud to try and unlock the courage!!). Readers need to finish the stories so unspecified endings are fine; it can be too easy to ‘round things out’. Actually, I’ve just remembered … it was Colm Tóibín speaking at Hay because people want to know what happens after ‘Long Island’ ends. I loved it as it was (beautiful storytelling). Thank you for the kind words of encouragement, Susie. Talking of young folk, we thought of you yesterday … a school party of 7-9 year olds were returning from a day trip to La Rochelle. Oh, the chatter. We were sat with a cheeky young fellow called Arno, perched next to his head teacher, a lovely man called Stephane. What a challenge for our scratchy French!