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Evan Cahalane
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On writing
Evan Cahalane · Essays on fiction
On writing.
Questions behind the work.
Can a Character Be Known Only Through Others?
A person assembled from other voices may become less certain and more fully human.
How Objects Carry Memory in Fiction
The most ordinary objects can hold the emotional weight a character cannot name.
How to Make a Novel Feel Timeless
Timelessness is not the removal of detail, but the careful choice of which details deserve to remain.
How to Write a Character Who Never Appears
An absent character can exert more pressure on a story than a visible one—if the writer builds consequences rather than clues.
The Difference Between Mystery and Absence
A mystery asks for a solution. An absence asks what continues after certainty is no longer possible.
What a Still Image Can Reveal About a Scene
A scene understood as a still image can expose gesture, distance and emotional composition.
When Different Memories of the Same Person Are All True
Contradiction between memories need not be resolved when each account contains an emotional truth.
Who Is Writing When We Write with AI?
Generative tools can produce language. The more difficult question is who remains responsible for what that language becomes.
Why Every Memory Reveals the Person Who Remembers
Memory in fiction is never a neutral record. It is an act performed in the present.
Writing a Novel in Interlocking Scenes
A fragmented structure can create accumulation rather than interruption.
Writing Grief Without Explaining It
Grief can be made visible through behaviour, rhythm and omission before it is ever named.
