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This is the Place: Setting the Mood in Fiction
It rained in California on Halloween. It's only rained on Halloween 5 times since 1987. It has a “remember when” vibe. Remember the year it rained, and we had to wear our jacket over our Spider-Man costume. The web shooters left disintegrating webs all over the place.
Unusual moments feel like a freebie to a writer. It's a contrast to everything normal. That tension is built into the moment, setting the mood. It's the difference between " It was a normal day, and then

Stephanie
Nov 2


Story Flow as Trust
As someone who has been a devoted reader since a very young age, as well as a reviewer and author of fiction, story flow is something I've learned to feel intuitively without properly considering its defining nature. I'm not convinced it's simply another name for pacing. Perhaps a better way to describe it is a "momentum of attention.
Momentum of Attention
In physics, we learn that momentum is mass times velocity—you could think of it as the "staying power" behind something

Tod Newman
Sep 30


When A Birthday Concert Turned Into A Ghost Story
20 years go by with your friend, and wow, you are pretty much family at this point. That's what it feels like.
Like, those sewing classes you took at Emily Griffith Technical School, when your head ping-ponged between the sewing teachers as they vied for power and authority.
Or that time you decided to make Christmas PJ pants, calling yourself Elf Co. while listening to 93.3 to the very band, OneRepublic, you'd see in 2026 at the Hollywood Bowl.

Stephanie
Sep 18
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