Character is action: the oldest law of writing.
It goes back to Aristotle. Plot is just a vehicle in which you see them act.

- Dennis Lehane, in an interview with Linda Richards,
January Magazine, March, 2001

It makes perfect sense, no?  We're wired to be intrigued by people.  And what does art do but work within the wiring?  You'll notice that I did, indeed, say "art" there.  I'll…

Ostension is a folkloristic concept that is a good example of the powerful effect of folklore on societies and on people's lives.

It's usually defined as "the unwitting acting out of shared narratives by a community." But here it's easier to show than to tell*.

In 1808, a chill fell over the tiny British town of Great Paxton, county Huntingdonshire. First, in late 1807, one woman came down with convulsions and was bedridden.…

This winter's afternoon, I sit
here in my third-floor, lacquer-washed
little glass box.

The boss is away, and there is
just enough work, if I forget
the filing, to fill
half
the time until five.

(I find, somehow, that I can
always forget the filing.)

And so, I write.

When I'm done, I will take
these shaped-and-crafted,
thoughtful words,
and print them…

I've gotta be up front here, I have no reliable sources for the following information. What I've pieced together I've picked up here and there as rumor and various mad scribblings of people who used to be, or at least claim to have been, involved with Scientology. The Church of Scientology is infamously tight-lipped about these things, with much information being distributed by disgruntled former members. It took decades before anyone outside the Church had even heard…