#quick lit

I was determined to read his published debut story “The Young Folks,” and his characterization made me feel like a fly on the wall of this time period I’ll never truly know or be a part of.

“Go See Eddie” is basically about a brother confronting his sister for not being “a swell kid,” insinuating she sure knows how to pick ‘em. It starts and ends with the sister and again I felt like a fly on the wall.

They live on a stage.

Lights up. Posture perfect. Applause assumed.

The script is polished for the crowd, every line delivered as if it means something, every word for effect.

But backstage is bare. Props stacked. Costumes waiting. No history, no story.

And so the performance stretches on.

New acts. Louder gestures. Quiet hope that the noise will fill the silence. A desperate choreography around the absence of anything real.

Eventually, the audience notices. Not the flaws, but the hollowness beneath the lights. The silence in the eyes.

And when the curtain falls, there's no one left to applaud.

The Best Underrated Creepy Short Stories

In my many years in school, out of school, and in my literary “weird girl” phase, I’ve come across many strange stories in literature. Classic literature is one of the best sources for these types of stories. Creepy, spooky, and downright weird is the theme many classic authors choose to take, especially those dabbling in Dark Romanticism(like Nathaniel Hawthorne) and Gothic influences. Since…

Nathaniel Hawthorne: Writing Influences and How to Use Them

“Write what you know,” or so says every piece of writing advice you’ll ever see. It is a cliché for a reason. In today’s Quick-Lit Lesson, we’ll look at the life and work of Nathaniel Hawthorne, a writer who embodies the “write what you know” theme. His life was the biggest influence on his writing. So much so, that it caused a shift in his writing from the literary genre Transcendentalism…

& i'm sleep seeing (something of)  you, & this is the skin