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I like how you marry different narrative strands and get them to speak thematically to each other. I’ve yet to take a real stab at this technique, though I’ve seen and liked it before, and your writing is making me want to try it.

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Ah, the braid. It’s one of my favorite techniques. Sometimes, I think I use it too often. But I can’t help it. I really adore it both in writing and reading.

I appreciate you roaming around the Rolling Desk!!

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Oct 19·edited Oct 19Liked by Holly Starley

That's right, the braid. I knew there was a name for it! My stay-on-topic mind doesn't let me experiment much in that direction. However, I like to read braided essays and stories, I guess because it's a poetry-mimicking technique and I come from the world of poetry. Here's a favorite nonfiction piece you may like, by my friend Janisse Ray (she writes on the substack Trackless Wild): https://thegeorgiareview.com/posts/the-lonely-ruralist/

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And such a thrilling memory. I’ll probably never meet an elk, but now I can imagine it.

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I’m not sure I’d want to get so close in such a precarious position again. But it was a really beautiful encounter. I felt there was some sort of understanding about our mutual safety in each other’s presence communicated—which is no small thing in this unpredictable world.

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