Gangland

Last night my Gang of Three met at our usual restaurant. They helped me with my short story, Killing Words.

Besides talking about writing, we talked about everything. We probably have disagreements over current events, since I am of the mindset that government should try to do only 5% of the things that it now does and (I think) another member thinks the government does not do nearly enough. Somehow we mostly get by without disagreeing.

I probably come off as being obnoxious around people with temperaments different than economists. We throw our opinions out there and are ready for someone to tell us we are wrong, and why, then we tell them why they're wrong, and so it goes. But other folks are into being supportive, not inquisitive and argumentative. In general, the supportive people could be referred to as "people," while economists and our ilk might be referred to as "nerds."

There is a special place in my heart for Killing Words. My favorite thing about the story is that it is "self-similar," though not in the strict mathematical sense.* The overall story contains a story within the story that is representative of the overall story. And the story within drives the main story as well as reflecting it. In fact, the story within the story contains a story within it, that is identical to the story that is resides within. BUT, even with all that complexity, Killing Words is easy to follow.

Or maybe my favorite thing about Killing Words is the protagonist's journey from being in a community that she hates to taking ownership of the community and loving it.

It is bad form for me to talk about all the great stuff in my story, but I already mentioned that I am a nerd. That does not excuse my bad manners, but maybe it explains them.


*A truly self-similar story would be infinite. I am considering writing one, but it would have to be a novel, not a short story.