Q: What kind of pieces are the most fun to write (action, lyrical, etc.)?
A: I’ve been studying viola for three years. It’s a very difficult instrument to play. Footwork, weight distribution, shoulder rests, chin rests, strings, bow hair tension, bow grip, elbow angle, bow direction, humidity, finger height, bow weight, finger angle, thumb position; so many things work in unison to produce a single note. To make that note sound good takes years of practice. When you see a piece performed with beauty and taste, decades of study produced that. There are no shortcuts. Brutal dedication to the craft is the only way to attain any semblance of competence.
What I’m saying is that I like animal antics and clown husbandry. I wrote a story about a clown park (like a dog park, but for clowns) and the clown bites a kid. My master’s thesis has a fish drawing in it. People have cited that paper. It’s not even about fish.
Rubella Dithers’s story “The Waves In Which We Drown”
in Metaphorosis Friday, 13 August 2021.
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