Unveiling Heartbreak and Healing: Brenda Miller Reveals the Secrets Behind Her Powerful New Memoir.
BM: My students have become very used to me cutting off their last paragraphs! Because those last paragraphs wrap it all up and say, ‘then I realized’ or whatever it is.
RP: I call it the Big Red Bow.
BM: Yes! So, ending on a strong image or some imagistic words, that’s a good sign. With “Elijah,” I just felt like there was something missing. It almost felt like rhythm. Like music. A good ending is like a coda that comes back around or something. I think you need to listen, you need to read your work out loud, to hear where the strong words are falling. Are they coming at the ends of paragraphs, at the end of sentences? These are all really technical things, and a beginning writer won’t want to think about this while drafting, because that will just rip you up.
