Check out the podcast here (audiobook starting at 9:50): ia601001.us.archive.org/24/items/Cor...

Or you can find it on your usual podcast app by searching "Enshittification" 😊 Highly recommended! 👍

Yikes, that's a heck of a lot of waste... 😦

Paul gets out of his room, accidentally knocks over a ceramic penguin, and puts it back.

But Annie notices:

"Paul, my little ceramic penguin in the study always faces due South."

That's the penguin firing like a gun.

An example of a small detail that turns out to be important? In Stephen King's Misery, author Paul Sheldon is held hostage by his "number one fan," Annie Wilkes...

Anne Allen offers the famous Chekhov line:

"If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise, don't put it there."

Consider every item a potential gun. How will it go off later in your story?

Sometimes I read fiction full of beautiful descriptions, with prose that fleshes out objects in detail. And then those objects play no role whatsoever in the story.

HER (places a hand on her chest): My son. I didn't realize until you asked ... I'm writing this for my son.

Sometimes asking a question – and then another, and another – is a kind of alchemy.

ME: Could the reader be yourself, then? Yourself now? In the future? Or maybe in the past – you as a kid?

PAUSE. Tears spring to her eyes.

HER (visibly overwhelmed): I...
ME: Take your time.

"That's Edith. Maurice? Check the ashtray."

Det ved jeg ikke - men måske Qwants hjemmeside har et svar? 🤔 help.qwant.com/en/docs/qwan...

Jeg bruger Qwant og har ikke haft behov for at skifte til andre søgemaskiner 👍