Tag: tree

Pen to Paper: An Appreciation of a Paragraph

Posted on by bryon

This short article is perfectly straightforward: Benjamin Dreyer, copy chief at Random House, explains his fondness for the first paragraph of Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House. He makes a pretty good case for it.

This is what writers who want to be better writers do. When we find something so perfect, we dissect it to see what makes it work, so we can then do similar things. This is good practice whether it’s a sentence, a paragraph, a plot, or a character. And unlike dissecting, say, a frog, knowing how the literary thing works doesn’t kill it. Indeed, it may be more alive than before.

So enjoy Dreyer’s examination of Jackson’s paragraph. But before I go, let me share something else of Shirley Jackson’s with you. It’s the entire text of her reply to someone who wrote to savage one of her stories: “If you don’t like my peaches, don’t shake my tree.” Simple, pithy, and, one presumes, effective.

Fiction: Hansel and His Visit to the Enchanted Part of the Forest

Posted on by bryon

Once upon a time, in a little town in a beautiful valley, there lived a boy named Hansel. No, not that Hansel; it was just a common name. He lived with his father, a cobbler; his mother, a life coach, or busybody as they called them then; and his older sister, Hilde (see, not that Hansel), whom Hansel was convinced was the apple of their parents’ eyes as she was never compelled to do a lick of work around the house but helped out anyway.

The valley was surrounded by a deep forest, part of which was enchanted. There were signs clearly marking where the enchanted part was, and everyone entering the forest kept well to either side of the signs just to be safe. All the adults of the town and the nearby farms warned their children, and sometimes each other for good measure, to stay out of the enchanted part of the forest.

One day, Hansel’s father sent him out to chop wood for the fire. Hansel grudgingly shouldered the heavy axe and trudged toward the door.

“Remember not to enter the enchanted part of the forest,” his father said, and Hansel said it along with him in the insolent manner of children everywhere. His father threw a boot sole at Hansel’s butt, which made Hansel yip in an undignified manner and spoiled his insubordinate mood.

Continue reading “Fiction: Hansel and His Visit to the Enchanted Part of the Forest” →