“Very often, or perhaps more often, and even in very good collections - even in some of the best collections ever written, I would argue - it's because our "voicier" writers hew so closely to one given set of dictional tics that we as readers can't read the books all the way through in a single sitting, because if we did, the stories and their narrators would all start to bleed together.” IfsWayBookStoriesTogetherGivenWrittenReaderSittingVery GoodArguingCollectionsNarratorsTics Author:Roy Kesey
“For whatever reason, thus far it's been important to me not to write that kind of collection. Which means that I've spent months playing tic-tac-notecard, trying to get the stories in an order whereby stories that are similar in any given way (diction, narrative stance, setting, plot) are separated by others that aren't.” WayWritingTryingKindMeanImportantReasonStoriesOrderGivenMonthsSettingSettingsNarrativeCollectionsPlotStanceDictionTicsTic Tacs Author:Roy Kesey
“I start every first draft with voice rather than theme or image or even character as such, so it isn't like I'm ever rubbing my hands, cackling, "The dad is really going to take it on the chin in this one!" Not in terms of any given story, and certainly not in terms of the collection as a whole.” FirstsWholeCharacterStoriesHandsGivenVoiceTermDadThemeCollectionsChins Author:Roy Kesey