Category: Writing

  • Oversharer’s Delight: A “Brave and Beautiful Story”

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    John Poplett
    in

    Got a call from Maureen Muldoon one day in January. I pitched her a story for the Voice Box storytelling series she runs with Cathy Richardson. There came a pause in the conversation. I had mentioned something about a recent, embarrassing little dust-up, why I don’t know. Naturally, that’s when Maureen asked me to backup…

  • On Revision and Jack Kerouac

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    John Poplett
    in

    On George Saunders’s Story Club, a fellow clubber remarked on “the illusion of natural genius”. It reminded me, by way of contrast, of Edison’s “1% inspiration, 99% perspiration” axiom. Some authors may be good at their craft but they’re also often good or even better at creating the “illusion”. Jack Kerouac comes to mind. It’s…

  • An Oversharer’s Cautionary Tale

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    John Poplett
    in

    In 2019 I decided I was ready to pitch my first novel, Schopenhauer in Love, to literary agents for the first time. I taught myself how to write a query letter, researched agents for those most likely to have an interest in a work of historical fiction about a 19th century German philosopher[1], read the…

  • Metaphor and the Quality of Experience

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    John Poplett
    in ,

    The greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor. This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances. Aristotle from the Poetics Abstract During a rare reunion, an old girlfriend tells me I have chronic foot pain because…

  • Would you please please please please please please please stop worshipping this jackass?

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    by

    John Poplett
    in

    Notes on the Ken Burns / Lynn Novick 6-hour documentary on Hemingway The documentary aired over three days from April 6 – April 8, 2021 on PBS. Moral of the story: don’t drink alcohol (straight or in any of its diluted forms), a tendency for ideation and alcohol don’t mix. It is—at the very least—a…