Monday, September 30, 2002

A few brief updates:

I saw Spirited Away again on Saturday, with a friend whom I’m slyly trying to turn into a Hayao Miyazaki afficionado. I’ll loan him Princess Mononoke tonight.

I’ve written a review of Spirited Away, but haven’t had a chance to post it yet. Maybe tonight.

I’ve also got a comparison of the Japanese and American versions of Kiki’s Delivery Service, which are surprisingly divergent. Read it here.

I’ve recently built up a desire to write short fiction. It’s been so long since I did — several Christmases have passed, at least — that I can’t remember how to begin. I don’t have any stories to tell.

Which means that I’m out of practice, more than anything else. There are innumerable stories to tell; I’ve just stopped seeing them. So I want to build up some exercises to see stories again.

Part of my trouble lies in the fact that I refuse to tell traditional man-versus-man stories. I’m so tired of villains. I want to write stories about deeper struggles. So, now that I think about it, I realize I should try coming up with stories in which people struggle against things rather than people — curses or misfortune or economic forces.

Now wouldn’t that be interesting?