Post #681403

#WritersCoffeeClub 20260310: How informal is your prose? Is there a limit to informality? I am not a person of great courage, though I sometimes aspire to the courage I recognize in others. None of my stories have ever been burned in a school furnace (that I know of; the regime is young). I write formally, except in dialog where I try to write with an ear to what the people around me sound like or what I imagine their character and circumstances demand. Is there a limit? For me, the answer is “yes.” I think that the self-censorship inherent in that admission is a failure on my part. I am reminded of the letter, written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. to the superintendent of a school system that burned all the copies they could find of his book “Slaughterhouse Five.” Vonnegut’s comments about “coarse language” are worth a moment to consider. I saw the letter presented as a video which I have linked below. https://youtube.com/shorts/wEc9nJRbRig?si=5KTenvU7DlagAnmf Enjoy.