September 2016 | In the Service of Words: Fidelis Semper

Watched Pots Never Boil

September 23, 2016October 12, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

They say a watched pot never boils. They are right. In a hurry to cook spaghetti noodles, I've watched plenty of them and they never boil until you turn away. For me, as a writer, that pot is whatever book I'm working on. If I sit in front of the…

On creating a world

September 19, 2016March 16, 2017 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

All storytellers bump up against the same challenges: What world will their characters inhabit? Will the world be large or will the story focus on a narrow segment of it? If a narrow world, will there be a broad sampling of characters? What are the rules of engagement in this…

Character Study: The Man Child

September 16, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

He was born to parents that would never, could never, understand him. For all intents and purposes, he was an alien. His parents were normal enough and that was the problem, for something about the boy invited abnormal adults to feel comfortable in his presence. To explain: Normal enough means…

Gordon Unplugged: “The mind is not a slave to anyone.”

September 15, 2016August 29, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

Thus spake the greatest romantic poet and writer of the nineteenth century. Victor Hugo; author of Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame; works of such political and emotional depth and certitude of man’s unchanging genetic condition, that for the better part of two centuries the sale of his…

I’ve made it: I’m a Waffle House Regular

September 14, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

I like to take books to my local Waffle House and read while I enjoy a leisurely breakfast. I must do it more often than I thought because when I showed up this morning, coffee was delivered before my butt was still cold from the seat as heat transfer had not…

Character Study: Privé, Southern Style

September 12, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

The girl was born and raised in The South, yet knew nothing much of it as her attention was always focused on something else. The girl had heard of a great war that had once been fought over some issue...what was it? Oh, yes. Slavery. During a field trip in 5th…

Gordon Unplugged: Post-Radical Feminist Stress Disorder, and the Return to Civility

September 12, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

The seed of every struggle is planted when a body gets its feelings hurt. Think Hitler and Mein Kampf, or his Great Struggle. The dude might have had some valid points, but his methodologies to effect change for the better did not work. His nose got out of joint producing…

Character Study: The Painter

September 11, 2016September 11, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

Trashed out. In need of repair. Dingy paint, chipped. Floors, scratches showing clean wood through years of grime or squares of linoleum tiles searching for their place among empty patches of dried glue. Ceilings, smoke stained; bathtubs, ringed with mineral deposits clinging to God only knew whose old skin. Chicken…

Plots and Characters

September 9, 2016September 5, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

I've been asked how it is I plot my novels. The short answer is: I don't, not really, kinda sorta somewhat not. The correct answer is: I have a general idea of story, but when my characters surprise me, my stories always benefit. In other words, I write like John…

Rainbow in a Lemon Fizz Can

September 9, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

I first met Charles Olaf Johnson, or Chuck as friends call him, at my writing critique group run by Jedwin Smith. Chuck was in his mid-seventies, but that didn't stop him from flirting. I remember thinking, "Dang, Chuck, if you were younger...holy cow, I would be in trouble." And he knew I was…

Gordon Unplugged: Dear Radical Feminist (#3)

September 9, 2016August 29, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

Dear RadFem, I would love to know why you are focused only on male violence and totally silent about the thousands of years of female abuse of men and children? Why do I hear nothing but crickets when I ask you about the well-documented subject of female-on-female violence, an open…

Gordon Unplugged: Dear Radical Feminist (#2)

September 8, 2016August 29, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

Dear RadFem, For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore, if women are reacting in their daily life because of the fear of what will happen to them at the hands of men, and it causes them distress, you would call that systematic oppression when it happens…

To Plot or Not to Plot

September 7, 2016September 5, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

To plot, or not to plot — that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the book to allow The characters to surprise the writer Or to make detailed plot assignments And, by controlling, end the surprise. To plan the plot — who knows — and by plan to say…

Gordon Unplugged: Dear Radical Feminist (#1)

September 7, 2016August 29, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

Dear RadFem, Yes, the oppressed can oppress others. I make no distinction here between race, gender, nationality, or economic segments. I also believe an oppressed class can systemically oppress another class. I also know for a fact not all men or women are evil, but that some can be. Therefore,…

Gordon Unplugged: A “Practical” Joke

September 6, 2016August 29, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

There’s an old joke that goes like this. A man and his wife are in a restaurant. A beautiful woman walks up to the man, says hello, bends over, cleavage front and center, and gives him a sensual kiss, which the man returns. The beautiful woman walks away. His wife…

Character Study: The Girl

September 5, 2016September 5, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

Long and tall she was born. Skin and bones, too, because her mother, determined to walk out of the hospital in her skinny pants, had eaten only goat’s milk and cornbread during her pregnancy thereby almost starving her firstborn. But the girl's survival instinct was strong. So, using God’s very…

Gordon Unplugged: Math and Love

September 5, 2016August 29, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

Marston Morse was a mathematician who, if memory serves – and most simply at that — somehow defined the basis for string theory. In describing his journey to that discovery, he also happened upon a definition of male/female relationships, namely — The roads by which we arrive at our insights…

Gordon Unplugged: Just because you want to

September 4, 2016August 29, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

Sitting on a barstool, an old man once summed up his lifetime with women in this way. He said to me, “Boy, let me tell you. I’ve got it all figured out. See, I’ve been around. I’ve seen it all – or close enough. And I’ve been in some nicely…

Gordon Unplugged: The Best Therapy

September 2, 2016August 29, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

There is nothing like riding down the road with the radio turned up to traffic-annoying levels while singing along to a song and beating in time on the steering wheel. I discovered this when I was driving away from Lucinda’s house after she turned down my offer of marriage. Actually,…

The new passive-aggressive: Grateful and humbled

September 1, 2016August 29, 2016 by Angela K. Durden

Angela K. Durden

I once knew a dynamic speaker who, just before he'd exit the stage, would insist that nobody clap for him. Instead, he'd say, spend the next two minutes in silence thinking about what I've said. After all, he'd continue, this vital and crucial information isn't meant to bring honor and…