Forum / The Oiling of My Mind

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    Henning Koch
    Apr 08, 09:19pm

    At Christmas I sat down and wrote a novella entitled "The Bones" - a sort of oil-based scenario of future social decay.
    I find the novella form a very lubricating format. Do you agree? It doesn't give you a headache, as a novel does in the writing. You can easily avoid "the dental records" (Michael Chabon) peril - i.e. rampant micro-management of & promiscuity with background information.
    A novella is long enough to set up developed characters & show them in action for a while, and short enough to get to the point. A novella hangs on the cusp of "novel-hood" but sits comfortably in a narrative bracket, without ever having to resort to the telescopic intensification often used in a short story. A lovely thing to write, highly recommended for those who have not yet tried it.
    I got lucky, I found "The Quivering Pen", an excellent blogspot run by strongly emerging novelist and friend of fiction, David Abrams,("Fobbit" Grove/Atlantic, 2012, http://www.amazon.com/Fobbit-David-Abrams/dp/0802120326) who offered to serialize it. Currently we are on episode 4 of 9, with new installments on Tuesdays and Thursdays:

    davidabramsbooks.blogspot.it/2012/04/bones-by-henning-koch-pt-3.html

    Would be great to have your feed-back on this project of mine. I wrote it for myself and I am giving it to anyone who wants to read it.

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    Henning Koch
    Apr 08, 09:25pm

    In fact I should say the full link to The Quivering Pen spot is:

    http://davidabramsbooks.blogspot.it/2012/04/bones-by-henning-koch-pt-3.html

    Obviously you can also find the earlier serialized episodes there.

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    Marcus Speh
    Apr 10, 01:06pm

    Henning, I agree the novella lubricates just the right amount: and even though you write about oil, and you write well (and I know some things about oil, more than about any other lubricant I suppose...but now I'm getting all muddled), so even though you write about oil you stay firm and I'm enjoying following your novella enormously. Great venue!

    I particularly applaud this idea of "I wrote this for myself" which in the age of relentless self-marketing 24/7 can easily get lost. I'm with you on this.

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