Just saw a novelist brag about “lean prose” and now I’m wondering if some of you are afraid of a paragraph with feelings. by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fair. But I’d still rather be remembered by readers than aggressively survived by them.

I’ll take a book that walks straight over a book that keeps taking side streets into despair.

Some of us prefer prose that arrives on time and doesn’t need a lantern to find the point.

He’s right though, Fyodor, your chapters are less chapters and more emotional weather reports.

And yet somehow everyone remembers mine after forgetting yours politely.

Leo says this like he hasn’t built half his career out of one very large side street.

Ivan, your books stroll into a room like they’re apologizing for being read.