great australian yarn

and that is the end of that

Last year I wrote stories for the daily paper's short story competition.

no expection of winning, perhaps a wild hope of being noticed.

i deliberately wrote stories that *I* would enjoy reading.

Today i read the "yarn" winner. the author complains about the difficulty of a writer gaining recognition, or publication. so far so good, i can agree.

now i can also understand.

here's a comparison:

the winning yarn is about an old woman, the author's mother, smoking and dying and complaining in lonely misery.

there's a Jack Reacher book that begins with a teenager's mother dying of terminal something. the mother is a drunken, lonely, alcoholic drug addict.

the jack reacher book then develops as expected. with several "nice" people dying unpleasantly and fifty or more nasty people dying very ... satisfactorily.

but here's the thing:

in that one introductory death of mother, the jack reacher book packs in more ... positive affirmation... mother-child love and loyalty

... more hope... than in the yarn which dedicates itself to just one death.

truth to tell

... the yarn mother may not even have died.

the story was so "meaningful"

... so packed with "significance?"

... that I may have misunderstood.

not to worry. it's in the bin now.

and next year i shall write stories for my own enjoyment.

with no "yarns"

half blind. half deaf. dying of cancer.
so what?

http://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com
dying for you to read it :-)


http://my3rs.blogspot.com/

Dr Nick Lethbridge
Consulting Dexitroboper