We take notes during a workshop in order to remember but also in order to appear grateful and interested. Sometimes these notes mean nothing.

Up is good, down is bad

Black is good, white is nothing

“The oldest story of all is replacement. Life goes on without us” –Buzz

Story>fable>guilt trip

“Youthful what-nots that you like so much” –Rus

You want your story to be about Chicago but you’ve never been

Make her a tourist.

Can’t be married to the reality

Must make fiction out of reality

Might have to cut out all the reality

Western literature is about redemption

“Guardedly dispassionate” –Joel

Try to sound interesting, produce cliché.

Interiority leads to conflict (irony).

-N. Stagg