Author Archives: Theodora Goss

Writing Girl Monsters

I have a novel coming out this summer. It’s called The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, and it’s about Mary Jekyll, daughter of the infamous Dr. Jekyll, who discovers that her father belonged to a secret society of alchemists … Continue reading

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Template Stories

There are certain stories that are written over and over again. I call them “template stories.” “Snow White” is a template story. So is Dracula. There are many, many versions of “Snow White”: there’s the Grimms’ fairy tale, of course, … Continue reading

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Taking it Slow

Do you remember card catalogs? Research in them was slow and clunky, but you learned how to do it in elementary or middle school, and then you knew how to do it ever after. I was thinking about card catalogs … Continue reading

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Writing in Troubled Times

The truth is that I haven’t felt much like blogging lately. I haven’t felt much like going on Facebook, or Twitter, or anything electronic. I’m forcing myself to write this post now . . . Why? I suppose because I’ve … Continue reading

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The Politics of Narrative Patterns

There are all sorts of reasons the American election went the way it did, but I think one of them, and perhaps quite an important one, was the way in which our thinking is determined by narrative patterns. What do … Continue reading

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Miss Fisher and the Female Gaze

I’ve been re-watching Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, which I like very much — it’s the perfect show to curl up with when you’re thoroughly tired of the modern world we’re living in. You get to go back to another world, … Continue reading

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Learning to Hide

Yesterday, I wrote a poem. I called it “Thumbelina.” It starts like this: Sometimes I would like to be very small so I could curl into a snail’s shell, or a seashell: abalone, nautilus, even an oyster shell. I would … Continue reading

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