Melanie's Mostly Writing

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Melanie Lewicka

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One of my students went to Saipan, an island in the Western Pacific, last week for a vacation. I gave him $10 and told him to practice his English. He proudly told me he did use his English, when he was there, and then produced a small box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts for me. I could see he didn’t really want to hand them over though and he asked if he could taste one! So cute. At 7 years old, he could be forgiven. I gave him one and will enjoy the rest with my fiancé when we watch TV tonight.

We have been watching Squid Game season 3 this weekend. It’s brutal, harrowing, but captivating. I get quite upset at some scenes, yet I have to see what happens to the characters. I don’t want to give spoilers, so I will just say that some things that happen in the show, I would not have written. It made me think about limits, about what is acceptable in fiction. I struggled to write a torture scene, in a novel I started a few years ago. I did not enjoy writing it.  I might just be squeamish. It is, of course, just fiction.

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