setting as character blog | setting as character blog
Dec.11.2011
Author Timothy Hallinan said “(setting) is a reflection of the characters. It acts on the characters. In a sense, it's a character in itself.” Last week, we asked Red Roomers to blog about a story in which the setting acted upon the characters in such a way.
A couple of posts stood out:
In "...
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Dec.10.2011
Click on funny NJ map to enlarge.
Jersey. No, not like the show The Jersey Shore. That bears no resemblance to the South Jersey existence I'm tethered to. Mine is the Jersey shore that's entering a long winter, where a handful of weathered locals sit at dimly lit bars,...
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Dec.09.2011
Two books popped into my head: Willa Cather’s, Death Comes for the Archbishop and Paul Bowles’s The Sheltering Sky. A third book came later: Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist.
I came to The Sheltering Sky because I was reading something—an article maybe—and the actor, Ethan Hawke, listed it as...
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Dec.09.2011
Until I came to Ottawa, I'd had a balance between number of houses I'd lived in and birthdays. Sometimes it tipped more one way than the other, but for most of my life, I could always say, "I'm new here."
Moving a lot is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, any remaining traces of anxiety felt about...
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Dec.09.2011
This week's RR blog theme so echoes the design in Dreams of Gold, that I'm encouraged to offer this extract. It was my first published novel, the only published literary one to date (although another awaits editing) and almost qualifies for the 'historical' category!
Oh, he had taken me on...
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Dec.08.2011
In the short allegory "Destination Unknown" settings (as well as other inanimate objects) are characters unto themselves, revealing the interior journey of the main character whose ride on the southbound Illusion Express leaves much to the imagination.
Destination Unknown*by Arabella...
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Dec.08.2011
In the early 1980s, I saw a picture of the passage mound at Kercado in Brittany, France and I recognized it, with no idea why. I had never even been in Brittany. It wasn’t only familiar, but I felt an odd sadness and an urge to go back there, and also to invite with me a man from Switzerland ...
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Dec.08.2011
Characteristically Timeless and True
I've decided to reflect upon my upcoming nonfiction book, "Imprinted Wisdom" in the creative blog challenge this week. Since the importance of setting doesn’t get any closer to the truth, as the painting shone here. ...
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Dec.08.2011
My character sat there
Without a chair
Without a floor
Without anything
To suggest that sitting was possible
Even gravity
So my character stood up and looked around
Although there was nothing to stand on
And nothing to see
No setting whatsoever
Nothingness stretching on
To infinity
...
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Dec.08.2011
My first exposure to San Francisco happened when I was too young to remember. My parents were coming home from Hawaii, and their port of call was San Francisco. So, much like my first experience of Hawaii itself, it did not make much of an impact.
My first real experience of the city, to my mind,...
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