Call Me a Dreamer

I'm most likely to listen to NPR when I'm in my car, driving from place to place. As a result, I don't call in to put my two-cents worth into the current discussion on Talk of the Nation, and I often hear stories I want to share, but don't, because by the time I get home I've forgotten, or there are other things I need to do, etc.

Today, driving around running several errands, I heard several stories, across a wide spectrum of topics. The one that's stuck, though, is the one about apocalyptic fiction. One reason for this may be the challenge they threw out to writers (or that I thought they threw out--listening to the program again from home, I have not heard that challenge), to write about the end of the world and make it beautiful. Which led me, in between the story-writing I did in my head in response, to wonder at the word beautiful, and to consider that when we are talking about writing, writing that we consider beautiful does not necessarily mean that the words used must be pretty words, nor must the images be pretty. Rather, the words must so fit the subject matter that they sweep the reader into the story, as exemplified by the passages read during the program.

One of the books discussed and read from is The Brief History of the Dead. Some time ago, probably via a link on my flist, although I can't be sure any more, I visited this book's website, which lets you explore the city in which the story is set and meet a number of the characters.

BTW - I can't resist taking a moment to plug janni's post-apocolyptic YA novel, Bones of Faerie, simply because it fits so neatly into the subject of the NPR program. Well, and because I think it's a great book. I wish they'd had the sense to invite her to share a few passages on the show.