Turns out there's more to say on that subject

Some time ago, I found an old used copy of Walter Kerr's How Not to Write a Play.  I'm not a playwright, but I read it because I suspected that whatever he said about plays would apply to any kind of story, including the short stories and novels I write.  I was right about that.

The main thing I remember is that he bemoaned the trend of arts to become too precious, too removed from the living pulse of human experience.  There's no reason to shy away from writing about the big events in our liv...