Jim Nelson's Blog, page 3

Character-driven fiction, plot-driven fiction

Charles Baxter

Last year I wrote about dysfunctional narratives, a type of story that Charles Baxter first identified in the 1990s and which now seems overly prevalent today. He quoted a description of them by poet Marilynne Robinson, who also identified this type of narrative. She called it a “mean little myth”:

One is born and in passage through childhood suffers some grave harm. Subsequent good fortune is meaningless because of the injury, while subsequent misfortune is highly signif...

Ten years of blogging: Flaubertian three-dimensionalism

Flannery O’Connor

Previously: Writer’s block

The year that was 2020 will most likely go down as one of the most significant years of my life: The COVID-19 pandemic, lock-downs and masking, the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing riots, all leading up to the most contentious presidential election in memory that some still deny was properly tabulated.

In contrast, 2019 had been for me a rather productive year creatively, and I wound up publishing two novels in 2020 back-to-back: Strang...

“Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allan Poe” reviewed at The Final Arc

My Interactive Fiction Competition entry Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allan Poe was reviewed by Justin Kim at The Final Arc. Highlights:

On one hand, it’s a game about dealing with the duality of superficial popularity vs meaningful respect as a career writer. On another hand, it’s a mystery about the last days of famed author and poet Edgar Allan Poe. On yet another hand, it’s dealing with the fallout of making a Faustian deal.

And:

You begin in the modern day as a writer, wakin...

IF Comp 2024: Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allan Poe

Today is the start of the Interactive Fiction (IF) Competition 2024, which includes my latest IF title, Under the Cognomen of Edgar Allan Poe. Over 67 titles are entered in the competition this year.

The great thing about IF Comp is that anyone can play and be a judge. If you’re interested, you’ll need to play at least five of the entries to submit a ballot. I recommend reading over the judging rules before looking over the full slate of titles. Note that many of these games can be pl...

Ten years of blogging: Writer’s block

John Turturro in Barton Fink

Previously: An all-too-familiar utopia

From a novel-writing perspective, 2018 and 2019 was a creative interregnum. After publishing Hagar’s Mother in late 2017, I found myself juggling energy between two books. One was the third installment of the Bridge Daughter series, the other a futuristic detective novel where society has essentially become a giant social media simulation. While working on the former, 2018 fizzled away with a fearful lack of progress. As 2...

Summer sale: Four books available for 99¢

With the dog days of summer upon us, four of my novels are now available on Amazon for the low price of 99¢.

Follow the links below to view sample chapters or purchase:

A Man Named Baskerville – Sherlock Holmes classic retold In My Memory Locked – Near-future cyberpunk private eye Man in the Middle – COVID-19 novel of suspense Bridge Daughter – Young adult alternate world

All are available in the Kindle Unlimited program, meaning KU members may read them for free.

And,...

Exploring the Best Games: According to Cain

On the Interactive Fiction Community Forum, author Brian Rushton has been at work completing his series reviewing every game to win the XYZZY and IF Comp awards. He recently posted his review of According to Cain, the most recent game to win the XYZZY:

Your game, the player’s, while fraught with occasional physical danger, is slow-paced and thoughtful. The remembered past, though, is filled with arguments, violence, deception, starvation, betrayal, and jealousy. Just like the previous y...

Ten years of blogging: An all-too-familiar utopia

Rod Serling, 1959. Serling penned the early drafts of the script for the Planet of the Apes film.

Previously: A literary eulogy

Earlier when I’ve paged through my past blog posts to locate my favorite for a particular year, one usually jumped out at me. For 2018, I find myself torn between two favorites. The tiebreaker in a case like this is: Do I have anything more to say on the subject?

On one hand is my write-up of Cat’s Cradle, a book I’ve adored and been fascinated with since I w...

Rethinking realism

Not rethinking realism, as in rethinking philosophy’s single, objective reality, hard as rocks and nails. No, I mean rethinking realism in the sense of questioning the elevation of literary realism over the many other forms of fiction.

Realism has long been the go-to form in literature for telling a story a certain way. An entire literary style—Naturalism—sprung from the sense that Romanticism had gone too far and produced a literature divorced from the world as commonly experienced. T...

Q&A on According to Cain

Forgot to mention it here—a couple weeks back, I was interviewed by otistdog (“Mad Scientist”) at the Interactive Fiction Community Forum about According to Cain. Sample from the Q&A:

Q: What was it about the Cain and Abel story that attracted you as a subject?
JN: Two brothers fighting over the affection of their parents and their place in the world, a family banished to the wilderness, the murder, the punishment—it’s so mythic and yet familiar and relevant. Incredibly, the source mater...