Categoría: How to write fiction

Of manners, food and social standing in children literature

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As a specialized field of study, children’s literature has its own set of works and texts that address food (although these works often build upon theorists like Barthes). One of the first articles to specifically discuss food in children’s literature is Wendy R. Katz’s aptly titled “Some Uses of Food in Children’s Literature.” The article, though humble in its claim, argues that “children’s literature is filled with food-related images, notions, and values” because if one “understand[s] the relations between the child and food…[one] understand[s] the workings of the world of the young” (192). More importantly, Katz discusses the place of food in the child’s “adjustment to the social order”––their acclimation to society–– or perhaps even the adult world (193). […] As an integral part of reality, food fits seamlessly into fictional narratives, providing a multifaceted and symbolic vehicle for authors to communicate social change or lessons, whichever the case may be.
Stephens, Mary A., «Nothing More Delicious: Food as Temptation in Children’s Literature» (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 50. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/50

The amount of stuff that can be ritualized, imbued of meaning and worshiped. Human beings are never contented with reading things as they are. Oh, no. They need to complicate everything by creating symbols. Witty ideas about the meaning of images.

Oh, yes I do too. I write. If it is a conscious process or not it is irrelevant. I take the images I can recall from stories or design tools I learnt at school, in order to lie better.

That is the way writing stops being just the literal meaning to become THAT PERFECT MOMENT. The perfect instant in which the image summons the feelings needed. The cliché image as a vehicle of standard communication we need to connect.

Do you ever think what food means in your writing? Have a good time using its image. Pasto kalo.

junio 3, 2026
Again, the truth

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The very first thing I tell my new students on the first day of a workshop is that good writing is about telling the truth. We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason they write so very little. But we do. We have so much we want to say and figure out.
Bird by bird. Anne Lamott

I think the one thing not working here is “the truth”. We don’t want the truth. We want excitement; we want things that aren’t there. We want the spirit of the lion watching over us because it is scary for random things happening; in spite of all our care trying not to fall down the hole we haven’t seen. And this is our first lie: we want the truth.

Sheep lice don’t write because they don’t have to record how many sheep they have sucked to pay taxes (and maybe, omit a few nano-litters in order to not go bloodrup). Add that they concentrate on sucking, not in pretending to be nice beings taking away the over exert of blood pressure for the sheep to feel better. Or, maybe, that sheep fuss is a signal from heaven to keep on sucking instead of letting go.

I don’t know. Maybe this is only because I don’t have such a good memory to remember what I got from the Three wise kings when I was 10 or what the adults said in this or that situation.

Maybe. Enjoy figuring out what you want to write about. If inventing is easier that telling the truth. Pasto kalo.

mayo 27, 2026
Fiction and debt

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The writer of any book inevitably accrues debts, and when its theme is as interdisciplinary as this one those debts are particularly keenly felt. During the near-decade that it has taken to complete this work, I have received generous help from a wide range of people. I am conscious of the inadequacy of any acknowledgment I can now give in return.
THE NATURE OF THE BOOK. Print and Knowledge in the making. ADRIAN JOHNS. THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS.CHICAGO AND LONDON

I don’t know [to start like a Linkin Park song], but fiction writers owe a lot of what they write to the writers they read.

Sometimes reading earlier authors we hadn’t read before those that we already have [more contemporary ] is a discovery in itself. To know where certain ideas came from is a delight.

Have fun playing detective work. Pasto kalo.

mayo 20, 2026
HEROPHOBIC CULTURES

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Here and there in my travels I learned that some cultures are not entirely comfortable with the term «hero» to begin with. Australia and Germany are two cultures that seem slightly «herophobic.»
THE WRITER’S JOURNEY ~ THIRD EDITION. Christopher Vogler. Published by Michael Wiese Productions

More than societies being herophobic, I’d like to point out they have realized imagined realities can be misused. They can be manipulated for governments to push people to go war. Wars in which the only sense is the ego of the fill in the blank with the leader of turn’s title. Too much for spending time in a trench or murdering kids and terrorists by pressing a button. Or too much to blindly go following certain idealisms such as genocide in order to have a proper order of things [ I know… what’s the proper order of things that allows such ideas^[1]?].

Societies can also realize a single individual can’t be responsible for the actions of many. It was Mahatma Gandhi who came up with the idea of doing things being responsible of what he did himself and only of the things he did himself^[2]. Indeed, the author explains Aussies prefer the not so trustable, ethereal hero; since they realized the English had them fighting their battles by using the word “hero”. I think they have learned cooperation works better. Of course there’s still the need for that one single manager but they know the manager alone can’t do much.

Narrative is not just a hero and their journey. Narrative is minding the imagined reality to make humans feel purposeful and cooperative. It is about making up what’s not there to have us not killing the neighbour. It’s imaginative and varied and truly strange.

Perhaps it is time to imagine something new. Have fun trying. Pasto kalo.

^[1] Nonetheless, these ideologies happened and still happen.

^[2] Reference to Diana Uribe’s podcasts… don’t ask which.

mayo 13, 2026
The big questions

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Where do stories come from? How do they work? What do they tell us about ourselves? What do they mean? Why do we need them? How can we use them to improve the world?

Above all, how do storytellers manage to make the story mean something? Good stories make you feel you’ve been through a satisfying, complete experience. You’ve cried or laughed or both. You finish the story feeling you’ve learned something about life or about yourself. Perhaps you’ve picked up a new awareness, a new character or attitude to model your life on. How do storytellers manage to pull that off? What are the secrets of this ancient trade? What are its rules and design principles?
THE WRITER’S JOURNEY ~ THIRD EDITION. Christopher Vogler. Published by Michael Wiese Productions

I know. Not all writers wonder. Perhaps narratologists do. And not all good stories make you cry or laugh. I didn’t cry or laughed with Macbeth or Hamlet. I was enchanted with the body spread on stage (on my mind since I’ve never seen those performed). Am I weird? A little, right?

I also remember books that follow this hero’s journey idea that bored me up to the third or second sequel. The same structure again and again^[1]. By the third book I had figured out some female character would need help and this guy, out of an outdated noblesse towards females, would go, lose his liver, an eye, ribs or got a broken leg and; gathering strength from nature or any other pre ordained magical condition, defeat the evil being. Thank you very much, where can I read something that’s not as predictable? Very akin to what happens to some fighting webtoons. Yet, for those; I still wanna know: why does the main character own two bodies?

Dramas that intend to leave behind a moral principle that infuriated me enough to question myself if the writer belittles their audience or if the audience is really that stupid. I always conclude it’s either the writer or the government trying to censure any gray morals. What if anyone feels like robbing a bank? No, we can’t have that. Those who dare may be banned from reincarnation.

Great stories have things in common. Indeed. However, they’re not always the same pattern. Good storytelling is like quantum physics. If you think you understand quantum physics, you understand nothing.

Have fun wondering. Pasto kalo.

^[1] I’m too sophisticated for the franchise story ( except Harry Potter or A song of ice and fire…) but too vulgar for the intellectual quest of revolutionary story telling.

mayo 6, 2026
The easy way
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“One thing I’ve learned, Calvin: people will always yearn for a simple solution to their complicated problems. It’s a lot easier to have faith in something you can’t see, can’t touch, can’t explain, and can’t change, rather than to have faith in something you actually can.” She sighed. “One’s self, I mean.” She tensed her stomach.
Lessons in chemistry. Bonnie Garmus

Since humans are capable of creating things that do not exist and make of them something real inside their brains and by agreement with many others¹; is it possible to influence the universe by believing things?

Have you ever though what would happen if your story were to come alive just because it exists within the realms of the brain?

On the other side. Why can’t we just face things the way they are? Is it too scary?

Pasto kalo.
1. That is what we should call the collective unconscious. Imagined realities are there by agreement and firmly implanted into the unconscious by repetition. I still open my mouth to answer «amen» when mass ends in movies. Then I smirk. ↩︎
abril 29, 2026
Prosody

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All poets use rhythm and all readers of poetry hear rhythm, whether or not they are conscious of doing so, but prosody, the description and analysis of poetic rhythms, can be as complicated as musical notation, and different languages require different sorts of prosody.

In the classical languages prosody was quantitative, based on vowel length or quantity. In Anglo-Saxon (or Old English) prosody was qualitative, based on patterns of stress or accent (with other complex rules concerning alliteration, p. 202). In Slavic languages, like Russian, words can be very long, because such synthetic languages build a lot of meaning into one word by adding prefixes and inflecting endings, but there is also a rule which allows only one stress per word, however long––so Russian poetry is usually analysed with a basis in accent but many variants. In Romance languages, like French, rules of stress are more flexible than Russian but more rigid than English and French poetry is usually analysed in syllabic prosody, according to the number of syllables in each line.
The Poetry Handbook. A Guide to Reading Poetry for Pleasure and Practical Criticism. Second Edition. JOHN LENNARD. Oxford University Press

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New word I’m sure I’ll forget in less than a week. Have fun reading about things you have no idea about , to improve the writing. Pasto kalo.

abril 22, 2026
The ouroborus

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As you can tell from a glance at the Contents, An Introduction to Literature includes practical advice about reading and responding to literature and writing analytical papers, advice that comes directly from our experience not only as readers and writers but also as teachers. This experience derives from classrooms, from conferences with students, and from assignments we have given, read, responded to, and graded. We have learned from our experiences and have done our best to give you the tools that will help you make yourself a more perceptive reader and a more careful, cogent writer.
An Introduction to Literature. Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Second Printing. SYLVAN BARNET. Tufts University

To read in order to write. Anyone who has decided to become a writer has been fed by fiction. Including the fiction that teaches one how to read when literature analysis is no good at all for learning how to keep a plot entertaining. Nonetheless, learning how to read better is important. Noticing how your favourite writer kept you reading is a weapon to add to your arsenal slot.

Are you reading how to become a better reader? Enjoy or hate the reading. Pasto kalo.

abril 15, 2026
The magic kingdom of Storytelling

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As far as we know, only Sapiens can talk about entire kinds of entities that they have never seen, touched or smelled. Legends, myths, gods and religions appeared for the first time with the Cognitive Revolution. Many animals and human species could previously say, ‘Careful! A lion!’ Thanks to the Cognitive Revolution, Homo sapiens acquired the ability to say, ‘The lion is the guardian spirit of our tribe.’ This ability to speak about fictions is the most unique feature of Sapiens language.
Sapiens. Nuval Yoah Harari

Someone will say: But God exists!
And then, we might shut our traps to survive.
Perhaps, only because the only time I discuss fiction is when I’m discussing how fiction is written. Not if the things in fiction do exist or not. Anyone can play to believe in unicorns, right? Pasto kalo.

abril 8, 2026
Tales about tales

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Most likely, both the gossip theory and the there-is-a-lion-near-the-river theory are valid. Yet the truly unique feature of our language is not its ability to transmit information about men and lions. Rather, it’s the ability to transmit information about things that do not exist at all.
Sapiens. Nuval Yoah Harari

abril 1, 2026