Thaisa Frank's Blog
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May.15.2013
Time in fiction
Time is the dark horse of fiction. Without a sense of unfolding, emergent time—time that is happening at the very moment of in the story--the reader remains outside the story, as one would stand on the banks of a river. Just as a character needs to convey...
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May.15.2013
Time in fiction
Time is the dark horse of fiction. Without a sense of unfolding, emergent time—time that is happening at the very moment of in the story--the reader remains outside the story, as one would stand on the banks of a river. Just as a character needs to convey the sense that...
Continue Reading »
May.06.2013
When you read a good writer the world, for that moment, can seem no other way. Crime and Punishment is imbued with Dostoyevsky’s sense of the world. Had Tolstoy written Crime and Punishment, we would have visited a different Russia world. One might argue that...
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4 comments
May.06.2013
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Apr.18.2013
There's always a point in a story where the triggering idea (what makes me want to start a story) falls flat. It's time to improvise and generate material within the story. At this point I can't think of what to do. There is a wobbly line inside my head that says this is a...
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Apr.13.2013
The publication of my last book made me tired. It was a special kind of tired because I was tired of myself--tried of hearing myself talk about a book I’d written and left behind. I was also tired of confusing the tired person who talked with authority on what she’d written with...
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4 comments
Feb.05.2013
When I was asked to talk about a work-in-progress, I hesitated. It's not my style to reveal anything I'm doing until it's done. You can see my efforts in the blog Light and Transient Causes (here or on my blog).
Edie Meidav, author of Lola, has wonderful things to say about...
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Jan.29.2013
I’m delighted that Peg Alford Pursell (http://www.pegalfordpursell.com/) invitedme to talk about what I’m working on. She is the tireless founder and curator of Why There are Words, named Best of the Bay in 2012. In an age where bookstore readings are on the decline, Why There recare...
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Jan.17.2013
The 53-word site may be interesting to writers who find it challenging and informative to work with a limited palette. A 53-word story is almost impossible, but it puts you in a show-don't-tell vise that forces you to find the bare bones of a story.
In truth, I like to read good telling when...
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3 comments
Jan.14.2013
With the encouragement of several people--and great advice from Red Room's invaluable Huntington Sharp--I've started a blog on my web site. Fuji, my relentless editor-cat, has been generous about allowing me to post his picture. And I started with a slightly-revised version of a piece...
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7 comments
Jan.04.2013
Just before Christmas, I discovered that ENCHANTMENT was on the Best Books list for the SF Chronicle. Of course I was blown away and happy. But I also was brought to my knees. I had no idea that the book would be successful and was reminded—once more—that the world is out of my control.
The...
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Dec.03.2012
I've had a lot of interviews but Yuvi Zalkow, who interviewed me for The Rumpus this week, has a special quality--as a person, a writer, and an interviewer. His own writing scrapes the heart with authenticity. (See A Briliant Novel in the works at http://tinyurl.com/bqq9nwu) As...
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2 comments
Oct.17.2012
Reading has always involved a secret meeting between the writer and the reader. It has some of the aura of an antiquated confessional booth because the writer and the reader never see each other. It's a meeting where the reader recreates the book in his or her singular imagination. ...
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12 comments
Sep.13.2012
Perhaps like most writers, I almost never re-read my work once it's published. Publication is a dissemination of the story, a wonderful kind of deconstruction. Indeed it reminds me of the final ritual in Native American sand paintings, in which the painting is destroyed and scattered to the...
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Aug.27.2012
So far I'm happy with reviews of my book so the following thoughts aren't coming from immediate personal disappointment. But in the past (and surely in the future) I'll find a blogger of fiction or a review on any number of sites that says:
...
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About Thaisa
Enchantment is Thaisa Frank’s third collection of short fiction, (her sixth book) and includes two semi-autobiographical novellas as well as thirty-three stories. Her most recent novel, Heidegger’s Glasses, takes place in the mythical haven of an underground...
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Causes Thaisa Frank Supports
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