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Wittgenstein. He had very interesting ideas on ethics and religion – that we don’t have a language model that is adequate to discuss them and when we try it leads to nonsense. This really resonates with me right now given the lack of actual discourse between groups who have fundamentally different, or even opposing views of the world. He also thought that “mystical truths” were important and could best understood through language. And I am drawn to Symbolic Logic. There’s a great book , “Tractatus” by Wittgenstein. And, he discusses the “aesthetic experience” which I think is very important for us, as humans, to understand and experience. Particularly now, we so much of what we are exposed to is so short-lived. I’m thinking of social media. There’s no time to feel that sense of “wow” or “aha” that comes with deeply taking in any kind of art.
Ummmm. Getting published is hard. Particularly if you tend to write things that are outside of the current vernacular, which I do. I have no advice on that front. But, in terms of writing, Peter Elbow’s “Writing without Teachers” has very insightful ideas on things like how to get out of writer’s block and how to provide helpful criticism. I send a copy to anyone who talks to me about wanting to write. And, of course, write. All the time. Every day. Write.
Good question! Sometimes a first sentence will start a story for me. I have a lot of ideas…. But then there’s the actual work to turn that idea into a story. I enjoy finding “the voice” for a story. Who’s the narrator? Can you trust them? What does their world look like? I also like discovering where the camera “eye” is – the visual perspective that the story is told from – just behind the narrator? Slightly overhead?
Yes. Ethics. How to make moral decisions. We seem to have lost that ability. Social media throws so much smoke and mirrors into our lives, it’s hard to sort out how to act and what can be considered appropriate. Fiction that looks carefully at how we choose to act and the potential outcome of those actions feels very important.
Someone who wants to challenge their thinking? I recently used AI to research how the instruction set of the Ten Commandments compares with the instruction set from the pantheon of the Greek Gods. While AI isn’t a book, it is certainly a tool that can be used to ferret out details about pretty esoteric topics. It can certainly challenge my thoughts on particular topics. But, various translations of “The Odyssey” are a great way to understand how changes in language and choices by the translators move the same piece in a different direction. Lots of room for pondering.
Lynn K. Thorsen’s fiction has been nominated for a 2025 Pushcart Prize. She is 2025 Fractured Lit anthology winner. Her fiction has appeared in After Dinner Conversations, Halfway Down the Stairs, Quarterly West, Calliope, Kansas Quarterly other publications. Collection of short fiction: “The Friends of Miss Emily Martine” won the Utah Literature Prize and Publishing prize.
She lives in the West with her mathematician/author husband, has a degree in Philosophy, and travels often.
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