other thoughts on writing

For whatever reason, these notes on writing have been flowing my way just now.

Italo Calvino defines good writing as including "Lightness, Quickness, Exactitude, Visibility, and Multiplicity."

The best example he gives (and the source I found his list in, in the introduction to the book) is one of Augusto Monterroso's stories in Complete Works and Other Stories. (Surely one of the great titles, right there with the New Lost City Rambler's "Second Annual Farewell Concert")

The story is called "The Dinosaur", which reads in its entirety "When he awoke, the dinosaur was still there." Or maybe "When I awoke, the dinosaur was still there."

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