Students are to post reactions (minimum 250 words each) to the
assigned listening/reading linked below. Students are encouraged (but
not required) to additionally respond to other student reactions.
KELLY LINK Monster Librarian Interview: Kelly Link is the author of the young adult collection Pretty Monsters. She has written two other collections, Stranger Things Happen and Magic for Beginners. Her
novellas and short stories have won a variety of awards. Neil Gaiman
called her "the best short story writer out there, in any genre." She
co-founded Small Beer Press with her husband, Gavin Grant, and edits
the fantasy zine Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. Click heading to read the interview.
KELLY LINK NPR Interview: Author
Kelly Link says her short stories are inspired by what she calls "night
time logic." In fiction that strives for realism, she says, everything
has a place. Everything makes sense. It's kind of like dream logic, she
tells NPR's Audie Cornish, "except that when you wake up from a dream,
you think, well, that didn't make sense. Night time logic in stories,
you think, I don't understand why that made sense, but I feel there was
a kind of emotional truth to it." Click heading to listen to NPR interview.
THE WEIRDEST STORY IDEAS COME FROM YOUR OWN OBSESSIONS by KELLY LINK: "One
of the most useful pieces of writing advice I've ever come across was
something Kate Wilhelm said. To roughly paraphrase, she suggests that
every writer indirectly collaborates with her subconscious — she calls
this collaborator your Silent Partner — who supplies you with ideas that
you then turn into stories."Click heading to read the rest of the essay.
THE SPECIALIST'S HAT by KELLY LINK:
"When you're Dead," Samantha says, "you don't have to brush your
teeth." "When you're Dead," Claire says, "you live in a box, and it's
always dark, but you're not ever afraid." Claire and Samantha are
identical twins. Their combined age is twenty years, four months, and
six days. Claire is better at being Dead than Samantha. Click heading to read the rest of the story.
21 comments:
I liked finding all the little hints and pieces of foreshadowing in the passage, like the woman in the woods being compared with the snake and the babysitter’s gradual reveal. I’m not too clear on a lot of things, such as the importance of certain numbers or who the Specialist represents in the overall narrative. I’m not sure about Mr. Coeslak’s role towards the end either, or if he was just a carrier for the story progressing. I’m also not sold on the placements of certain paragraphs and scenes. While it’s meant to be non-linear, it feels like it’s jumping a bit too abruptly around all those different scenes and the significance of each scene feels lost because the reader is trying to reconcile why this scene is paired with the following paragraph, like when the talk about going to camp. Maybe an extra clarifying sentence would help. Not knowing things is okay sometimes though.
The attic sounds mystical and alluring, and even painted in a positive light as opposed to the 3 stories that are shadowed by the towering oak trees surrounding it. Like it’s meant for us to go up and explore it and be Dead forever – and that’s what makes it scary in my opinion.
I read the interviews and the first couple paragraphs of her short story and I found them to be pretty interesting. I always love to see the behind the scenes stuff that happens when working on a project whether it’s writing stories or something else, hearing about what other people do gives me ideas on how I can improve my own process of writing. In the beginning of the first interview, Link says that she was lonely while in school and spent a lot of her time observing people which led her to be able to channel different emotions that she observed in herself at the time and the people she was observing so she can write realistic and meaningful characters. I did this too in school and it is really cool to know I’m not the only one who does this. I feel like it adds a genuineness to her writing because she has gone through experiences that she is putting her characters in and she knows exactly how to portray that in her writing. In the second interview I found her use of “night time logic” to be awesome. Sometimes I wake up from a dream convinced that it was really realistic and 100% happened and in the morning when I’m actually awake I think of how stupid I was to think that because it made no sense and it was very obviously a dream. It's interesting how your brain can trick you into thinking that something so obviously a dream can be real. I also want to use this in my stories (at some point) and I’m looking forward to reading more of her works so I can see how she portrays that in her writing.
I had a feeling that this story would be an interesting one the moment they started talking about being able to do things after death. I find it worth noting that being "Dead" is somehow different from being "dead" and that according to Samantha, a person can go from one to the other. Similarly, "grey" and "gray" are both used to mean different things, though this feels slightly less world building-y and more like a perspective thing. I also find it somewhat amusing that there is almost an entire paragraph dedicated to talking about how lousy of an individual Rash is, though with a name like his, it's hard to imagine him being described as anything else.
I noticed that a lot of the characters find it hard to remember things. Samantha can't remember the name of her babysitter and has a hard time remembering her mother, her father has a hard time remembering the difference between his daughters, and Rash couldn't remember his daughter's name. Snake imagery seems to come up a lot, too, so there's probably some symbolism there (I want to think that it has something to do with the concept of an ouroboros, a symbol associated with the cycle of life, death, and rebirth as opposed to, I don't know, a reference to the Judeo-Christian Bible. Granted, I don't have anything against the people who practice monotheism or religious imagery if it's done properly, but after seeing people link things like evil and death to an entire group of limbless reptiles because of one individual snake more times than I would like, it just feels like low-hanging fruit to me).
Something I am curious about is what exactly the Specialist is. We don't really learn much about him aside from the fact that he takes people away and has a weird hat. He also may or may not specialize in something, hence the title. I feel as though he could either be a psychopomp that turns Dead people into dead people or a fabrication created by the babysitter to possibly help the sisters avoid an alcoholic father (I personally hope for the former because my fucking god there are a concerning amount of stories with abusive dads in them,).
For the most part I enjoyed the story. I liked the little poems and entries that were placed into the story. I like how Kelly Link describes her characters. For example when she says “Claire’s eyes are grey, like a cat’s fur, he says, but Samantha’s are gray, like the ocean when it has been raining.” I really liked the picture she painted for us because even though they are both grey it's a very distinct grey which even helps the reader tell the twins apart. I think she was able to describe characters, scenes, and places in a very unique manner. I also liked the way she used capitalization to make a word mean something different. In the story it says “She wonders if her mother would have decided to be Dead, instead of dead.” The reader understands that these are two different types of “dead” one based on the game they played earlier and one meaning dead for real. However I was confused at a few different parts. The story jumped around a lot and I’m not completely sure what went on. I think it was a rich story filled with lots of detail and movement but I was just confused with the abrupt ending like there was no resolution. Which in the interview she explains how she ends her stories abruptly because it's similar to how horror movies end, I still just wish there was a little more explanation
Reading Kelly Link’s interviews and her insider writing techniques before reading The Specialist’s Hat was honestly very needed. I feel like if I read it the other way around, I would have been lost. In a way though, this makes Link’s writing all the more unique. She says in her interviews that her stories end in a “rushed” way, leaving you wondering what happens next. I really got that feeling after reading The Specialist’s Hat, but I did find myself having to read the story behind the hat’s whereabouts twice before finally understanding it. A story like this isn’t as common in the horror genre like zombies or the paranormal, so I feel like that is expected. Although she sets the story up very strongly, I wish it was explained better towards the end.
I do commend Link’s very descriptive writing; it definitely helps in the genre she writes in and makes the environment all the more enticing. Her writing choice to describe the house as Eight Chimneys rather than just naming it “the house” adds character to the haunted house— sort of as a soulful being rather than a standstill object. The intro is also a great kickoff, as so many questions already came up: Why is Dead capitalized like that? Who are Claire and Samantha talking to in the beginning? How was Claire better at being dead? Some of these were answered very shortly after they came up, but I’m still curious of the difference between being dead and being Dead, as well as Claire being better at being Dead.
In her interviews, she says she had a very lonely childhood in school, and she would use this time to observe her classmates. Link seems to be someone very in touch with her younger self, and that is when the imagination is most rampant (at least, speaking from my own experience). This does play a part in how her writing reads; it’s extremely descriptive of every object and every feeling, and she adds value to even the most mundane (for instance, naming a old, haunted, rickety house Eight Chimneys). Honestly, I feel like I would utilize some of her writing techniques in my own writing to at least get some idea out rather than nothing and get my brain running. The techniques that stood out the most to me were exploring character dynamics with only dialogue, and the Raymond Carver sentence method.
Link builds suspense in a very alluring manner. By interspersing the narrative with excerpts from "The Specialist's Hat" poem, Link fosters an atmosphere of unease, especially as the story progresses, and the identity of the babysitter is heavily alluded to. The poem snippets serves as a crescendoing score would in a movie, warning the audience of present forces of evil or impending misfortune. Furthermore, the role of Death in this short story is very compelling. The first references to the "Dead game" appear as Samantha and Claire's childish efforts to cope with the grief from the death of their mother, but once they include the babysitter, the game assumes a more sinister nature. The pair expresses occasional wishes to be alive again, but are too committed to the ease of being dead that they neglect to resume their lives. While this may initially appear as dedication to a game, the revelation that the twins are likely actually dead is haunting, especially as they seem to be unaware of the permanence of their new state. Finally, the father's role as the specialist concludes the story chillingly. The family's fate is tragic, as Samantha and Claire are deluded into thinking that their father is a frightful creature, thus dissuading the pair from exiting their "dead game." Though Mr. Coeslack's role remains relatively ambiguous, it can only be assumed that he aided in delivering the twins to the fatal babysitter, which adds a layer of tragedy to the story, especially when viewed through the perspective of the father, who would never again find his daughters.
What an interesting story. I liked how she started the story with the recurring theme of death. The characters are written so each one feel like someone you would want to get to know - especially because she doesn't reveal all the information about them. She gives details that make you continue to wonder about them even after the story is over. I wanted to know more about Samantha and Claire's dad and their lives before their mother died. I even wanted to know the babysitter's backstory and what it was like for her living at Eight Chimney's. I had some trouble picturing the chimney's and the fireplaces especially because they're supposed to be huge and I just couldn't completely picture them. I thought the description in the middle was too much but after reading the compete story it's definitely good set up to properly imagine Eight Chimney's and how it looks. I wish I could write like Kelly Link! She wrote a story within a story and I like how she included the people who lived at Eight Chimney's before Samantha and Claire. It made the story feel real and not like it just appeared on a page. Even the mysticism was believable. One last thing - this story really reminded me of Holes. Especially with the woman and the snakes, I thought that was cool.
I really enjoyed reading through “The Specialist’s Hat”! Firstly, I was absolutely enamored with the sporadic and loose structure of the narrative, resembling the similarly chaotic mind of a child, where thoughts constantly interrupt and cut each other off. This concept is further perpetuated by the limited amount of resources and answers we receive to answer questions proposed throughout the narrative (similarly to how information may be kept from a child). It really does limit us to the perspective of a child, and I think it works wonders for keeping the mystery alive throughout the story (since this leads to there never really being a “full picture” due to bits and pieces always being left out, misunderstood, misinterpreted, or “forgotten”).
In addition to this, however, it is made apparent by Link’s wording and subtleties that there is more to this story than meets the eye. A prime example of this is the use of words that seemingly mean the same thing, but with context and certain changes to spelling/capitalization/etc., take on entirely different meanings from one another. Both “gray” and “grey” are used throughout the story to portray completely different ideas. The latter is used to describe exactly what one would initially presume, that being the color. However, the former is instead used to describe the feeling of “gray”, such as “the ocean when it has been raining”. This is used effectively later when Samantha wonders whether her mother had “grey eyes” as in, well, the color. Or, if she had “gray” eyes, perhaps showcasing drabness or something similar. This same pattern is showcased with the contrast between “dead” and “Dead”. Here, the former is used to describe the deceased, whereas the latter is used to describe a title assigned to oneself which allows said individual to be devoid of fear.
Lastly, I think that the story is meant to be some sort of allegory for child abuse and that the babysitter uses the “Specialist” name as a sort of pseudonym for their father (to allude to him as a threat without directly mentioning the he is the threat). This would also work in tandem with the concept of the “Dead” game, where the children are told that they can be unafraid as long as they are “Dead”. As for who the babysitter truly is, I believe she is meant to be the daughter of Rash who was initially said to have disappeared with him some time ago. Given the similarities/relationship drawn between the Specialist (the father of Claire and Samantha) and Rash, I believe they are meant to be almost replicas of one another.
I also believe it is very well possible (with this knowledge) that the babysitter was subjected to abuse in the Eight Chimneys by her father just as Claire and Samantha were. Then, upon passing away (possibly being killed (“disappeared”) as a direct result of the abuse), she is left as a ghost to haunt the halls where she passed. Once she eventually finds that Claire and Samantha are being subjected to similar treatment that possibly resulted in her own demise (by the hands of their own father as well), she attempts to shield them/aid them in escaping the fate she couldn’t avoid. This would make sense given the idea that the house is haunted, possibly referring to the ghost of the babysitter. However, this could also take on an entirely different meaning with the added context, implying that the house is haunted by the curse of suffering and death; perpetuating a cycle of abuse and misery from one family to the next.
This idea becomes even more grim with the revelation near the end of the story that Claire and Samantha may very well be already dead, though it seems that this is left up to interpretation through very cryptic and mysterious storytelling/diction.
I may be completely and utterly wrong about this whole thing, but that’s what I took away from it.
From reading Kelly Link’s interview and story, it just reminded me of a lot of cartoon shows. The word she uses to describe her stories called nighttime logic, fits in that area and I just find that interesting. A lot of TV shows or cartoon shows don't follow real world physics as they follow the physics in their set universe and overall it works because we suspend our belief. SO nighttime logic helps us suspend that belief as it makes sense in that world/ setting that the story is taking place in. Stories like regular shows, Gumball, and even something like The Boondocks. Dreams are for the most over the top and don't make a lot of sense after it's done but at the moment, there’s some logical reasons or something to end up that way. But Link using nighttime logic to describe certain stories gives readers a sense of understanding and comprehension if they don’t fully grasp the idea on the first read. Link’s storytelling is fascinating in the sense that the more you read it, it leaves you wanting more. Some of the descriptions in the story are direct but descriptive. It allows readers to be imaginative and come up with their own conclusions based on what's given. The small excerpted poems in the story also add to the atmosphere of the story and really show the kind of nighttime logic storytelling that I think Link is trying to convey. The poems although really short, I think break the story into different chapters and advance the story. I think Link’s way of storytelling is interesting and a unique way of telling a story while also letting you be imaginative.
The story takes on the term of magical realism, with the individuals involved having some supernatural occurrences happen in their lives without batting an eye, as if it was just a regular part of their lives. The inserted poetry that helps separate the passages and also gives some context to them was also a nice touch. The language and style of writing and the way the world was built around reminds me of some old fairytales and literature reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland with the whimsical setting and the way characters accept certain narratives the way they are. I also thought the non-linear storytelling was unique, and helped set up certain events, by giving context later for the beginning scene on what “Dead” really meant. I wasn’t completely sure about the significance of the snake, although my interpretation was that Rash’s wife was involved, and the quote “it looks like a snake curled with its tail in its mouth” indicates a never-ending repeating cycle similar to Ouroboros, and the state that Samantha and Claire would be in. I also liked the differentiation between what it means to be “Dead” or “dead”, as both Samantha and Claire’s childlike wonder and mindset helped create an unsettling feeling throughout the whole story and their naivety, in comparison to what the babysitter really knew this entire time.
I really enjoyed reading the interview specifically. I found it makes me contemplate on how background influences creativity. I particularly liked her explained her teenage years as a “weird girl” with bad dentition, a boa constrictor, and penchant for fantasy and science fiction. While many may perceive those politically incorrect teenage years with embarrassment, she draws on them instead to build her empathy and powers of imagination. That was powerful for me because it made me realize that even those parts of our experience that seem difficult or alienating can actually become an asset, if only we are taught how to think back on them.
Another aspect I liked, was her realism with respect to writing. She honestly confessed that there are times she doesn’t feel like writing and there are times she re-writes everything she has done, as she always starts all over again when she is at the computer. I liked the idea that even a published novelist suffers from lack of inspiration and demands a lot from herself. As a student, one tends to think everybody has magical gifts and can produce perfect work at once, while the reality is that what is considered good is the result of hard work and repeating things and not magical gifts.
Another thing she said that really stuck with me was her response to critics of genre. Kreider stated realistic fiction is no less formulaic than fantasy or horror and that using the techniques of one genre can force a writer to find new ways of thinking. That got me wondering about how many times I’ve heard people (and teachers) carve up stories into “real” literature and everything else (the stuff they’d be more interested in reading) and how they’re really so similar. It made me want to be more open-minded about the texts I read and write.
Lastly, I appreciated her thoughts on endings. She mentioned that a story could be ended on a cliffhanger as a deliberate decision by the author. This can be a good way of keeping the reader uncomfortable and thinking about the possibilities of what may happen next. This was something I could relate with because I often prefer my stories to have a definite ending, However, I understand that leaving a story open-ended could also have a significant impact and be more impactful as well.
All in all, this interview offers me a perception of writing as chaotic yet purposeful. It encouraged me to be mindful of my own writing practices while also highlighting the conditions under which careful and attentive observation, revision, and experimentation with genre boundaries can contribute to my development.
The NPR interview was really eye-opening because of the insight it provided into an efficient/healthy relationship with writing. Also because of Kelly Link's relatable background with reading. Writing is an art, and art is the ultimate for of expression. When you write, the only applicable rules are the ones set by the author, so nothing has to make sense unless the author does so. It's the ultimate freedom, the only thing that matters is the emotional resonance with the reader, the transfer of feelings and intent through the work.
It was surprising to me how relatable I found the experiences of Kelly Link, despite the generational and age gap. Despite being an established and experienced author/editor she still deals with burnout, she loves horror like I do, she never stopped reading YA despite being outside the target demographic, and has a writing routine similar to mine.
("AAAAAA" / Daniel)
In the interview with Kowalewski, Link mentioned that being “socially inept” and “weird” gave her a lot of time for introspection and imagination, and that she felt pressured to observe the behavior of the “popular” ones so she could better navigate social settings. It’s an interesting—if not somewhat tragic—source of insight, but it goes to show that the only way to authentically write about young people and their emotions (even if you’re not a young person yourself) is to tap into their experiences, whether it’s through direct observation or memory. Just like how it’s easier to write about an object if it’s in front of you, it’s easier to write about a time or age if the time or age itself is in front of you as well (figuratively speaking, in the mind).
The idea of “night time logic” was also pretty neat, though I’m not sure I understand it fully. Link highlights the “emotional truth” lying beneath a seemingly nonsensical or otherworldly scenario; the interviewer Cornish words it as “something painfully familiar” that arises in spite of these odd circumstances. I think this ties back to what Link mentioned in the Kowalewski interview about accessing those awkward, youthful memories and channeling them in writing. Fear and horror often occur when you see something familiar but somewhat twisted (e.g. uncanny valley, or creepy music box melodies); engagement works in much the same way where you take tried-and-true tropes, symbols, descriptions, and you add or twist something to make it novel, unique, and thus more noticeable.
Working with your own memory goes hand-in-hand with the “Silent Partner” concept Link wrote in the Gizmodo article. This take on generating ideas—separting your editor-self from the idea-making self—is interesting for me because it reminds me of how I think about self-talk in general. People are wont to self-criticize and be self-conscious about a lot of things, even minor things that literally no one else cares about. But the harsh things people tell themselves, they would never verbalize to a friend or associate (because people are often way kinder to others than to themselves). I definitely see the “Silent Partner” tactic as just another way to be kinder to yourself, because self-doubt often makes the biggest mental block when doing just about anything.
Ella Kanefsky
I found it interesting that the twins decided that you could choose to not be scared by anything when you were "Dead" and then the Babysitter backs that up by saying that once you die and become a ghost you don't have to do anything you don't want to. You don't have to have a name just like she and The Specialist choose not to.
Kelly Link's comments about dream logic are very appropriate because you know the Babysitter is dead before she reveals that her father was the famous poet who used to live in the house, because of her uncanny knowledge about the key in the fireplace. The dread sets in first and knowing that you are reading a horror story affects your perception of what is going to happen, just like in a dream you can sometimes get a sense of what's coming before it does. Her comments about ending a story where it feels right to her, rather than 'completing' it the way a person might expect also resonate with the standard experience of a dream - ending before the good bit, or before you die, or not really knowing what happened. And as what you imagine in the dark is always more terrifying than anything anyone can make you see, her ending things in this way and asking the reader to fill in what happens next also serves to make the story scarier because she forces the reader's own imagination and fears to betray them and give them the kind of story that will work for them the most.
Haris (8 arm thief saint)
Based on what I understood I guess tell you ink was an important person to writing she was interviewed and she explained some of the things that happened to her in the past or family such as her father going back to school to study psychology I think and he was working on a farm with Kelly's mother-in-law he works there but also training to be a psychologist she talks about some of the things she's done in the past some of the stories she's written and some of her interest she was a big fan of horror movies but she's not a big fan of gore that's one of her problems that she has she talks about some of the stories she's been wanting to write about and she explained some of the specific things that she prefers when working she really goes into detail about the kind of stuff she wants I find it surprising how much detail she can express in the interview I find it hard just to write a few words for this reply She goes on to talk about how she prefers that they're are certain sounds that are surrounding her she talks about like General things such as sharing a beer with a colleague She even goes into some deeper detail saying things such as she's a feminist he likes dark chocolate better than milk chocolate her favorite thing is roller coasters and German board games and throughout the interview I noticed that she doesn't have much problem with sharing anything about herself
Arav Kodali
Kelly Link’s ‘night time logic’ sounds very similar to suspension of disbelief. She talks about going through a dream and then at the end of it when you wake up, realizing that none of it really made sense, but you fully believed every part of it while you were in the dream, because well, of course it made sense, why wouldn’t it? The way she describes it is far more poetic and closer to a real emotion that I can visualize and feel. I suppose it’s a little different than suspension of disbelief as that term is used moreso when things are incredibly nonsensical if you look too closely at it and the story does not function and might even border on unenjoyable if you don’t turn off your brain and just take it at face value for what it is. While a little suspension of disbelief is fine at times, too much is just silly. A story that relies on heavy suspension of disbelief basically asks you not to engage with the story on a critical level. I don’t like that. ‘Night time logic’ as Kelly Link describes it feels different. It’s not just suspension of disbelief to her, but also that the things that happen make sense in context, as they would in a dream. Just last night I had a dream and in one part of it my friend appeared in my room and handed me back my USB-C cable to put back in my bag because I was using it for USB tethering with my laptop to get better connection to watch a movie. Now, I needed to put that cable back in my bag so that I could charge my phone while on campus if necessary, but he was not present for the USB tethering bit so he wouldn’t know I did that and also he wouldn’t be handing it to me because it was on my desk, he didn’t have possession of it, but it did make sense and you could finagle the logic of the situation to make it work somewhat. I think that’s what ‘night time logic’ is, or perhaps I’m reading too much into it and made up something completely irrelevant to what she’s talking about.
Kelly Link’s writing blends horror, fantasy, and “nighttime logic,” which ultimately amalgamates into strange, interesting plots that still end up carrying emotional truth. In her writing, she tends to use different distinctions in certain words or different spellings of the same words in order to layer meaning into her writing. For example, she uses the words “gray” and “grey” which creates an uncertain atmosphere in the book. She also uses lots of imagery to discuss deeper topics such as trauma. Her writing is also very “non-linear” which I hope is on purpose. My guess is that it is simply to mimic the confusing and curious feelings that the characters go through within her novels. Link also goes into how her own childhood experiences were able to shape her books and characters, stating that her loneliness as a child was the key to portraying real, raw emotions in her stories. This is especially so in her younger characters. In a way, her younger characters are an extension of herself, which is very apparent from reading her interview. All in all, her storytelling is confusing, yet captivating, and leaves readers with many powerful lessons and messages.
Chris Slitas
Reading the interview Drift Away Into The Not-Quite-Dreamy Logic Of 'Get In Trouble', I resonated with Kelly Link's knowledge with how characters can sometimes serve as stand-ins for us, the reader, and more easily settle into the world that may seem normal to everyone else in the story, but not to ourselves. It's almost like our character who serves as our gateway to the world we're unfamiliar with and we learn more about it as does the stand-in. Another point of the interview I liked was the mention of being open minded with genres. While it seems silly to go into a genre you hardly touch like romance, it can still open your mind with new ideas of how a story can be structured, sometimes even offering you an idea you would have never considered up to that point.
I reviewed Kristen Kowalewski's interview with Kelly Link. I was pleasantly surprised by Kelly Link's vivacious honesty, I found her insights refreshing. In terms of press and modern social media, many authors must build up a digital fan base in order to prove to editors that they will be successful and are guaranteed to have an immediate readership upon publication. This is directly seen with "BookTok" where writers attempt to get the attention of publishers through making videos that mimic the aesthetic of their story and the more popular "tropes" it fits, the better. This marketability of literature can, at times, dim the alleged authenticity of new works. However, hearing the sources of Link's inspiration and her writing process greatly illuminated just how authentic of a writer she is. Kowalewski touched on the idea that Link has a knack for tapping into the voice of YA characters. When she explained that she still maintains all of the feelings of wanting to be understood by those who were more popular than her when she was at that age, she voiced all of the feelings that many readers and writers are afraid to admit. There is a rising culture that if you are not reading hundreds of pages a day and cranking through a TBR then you are not a "real" reader (similarly for writers if you are not constantly writing or churning out bestsellers, then you are not a "real" writer). This toxic mentality acts to exclude prospective readers and writers from the literary community. However, Kelly Link is all the more impressive of a writer because she does not need to prove her credibility. Link honestly expresses the truth that while she has a passion for writing, sometimes it is daunting being "the last thing she wants to do at times".
- Just Brian/Miles (actually Natalie)
Reading the article where Kristen Kowalewski had interviewed Kelly Link, I guess I'm kind of left thinking about Kelly's life, how vivid in detail she was about it. But admittedly, it felt like asking for advice on how I should approach the life of a writer if that's the future I want. Deep down, now I've got some regrets about not taking part in the workshops that Kelly had taken part in, or submitting my writings in general. But it also leaves me with some level of realistic confidence to know that this is doable and we're all able to pull from creative ideas of experience to put together a story we can resonate with. I felt I related with her statement of imagining all kinds of scenarios of "What if I were friends with that popular person? How do they even do it?"
- Orpheus
Haris (8 arm thief saint)
Link uses text from the poem in the story to express an increased form of suspense in the narrative the way she expresses death as some being so simple that the two girls treated as if it was something that can be taken back but without their knowledge to that what they are doing is something that can never be taken back it's strange bet the background of the babysitter babysitter is never specifically explained as The Story Goes On I started to suspect that that babysitter might have actually been one of them from the future though this was a small thought I had in the way she explains the Hat as an actual creature rather than just a prop to wear makes it seem as if she's actually more aware of what's Happening than she lets on Also the way they describe certain things how they appear is rather unique such as how they express the number eight when it's turned sideways as what I think they said was a snake eating its own tail. and the way the father acts towards his daughters is rather crude treating them as if they are nothing important or special to them ignoring they're very actions which may very lead to their deaths and when the story ends in such a vague way it seems to me that the two girls might have in the end with the monster that they believed was their father Which may be true since it may be at their father is the one who inevitably cause their death
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