I shrank back to the corner of the bed, shouting desperately, “I’m not a philistine—and I’ve got the books to prove it.”

—-Yu Hua, As the North Wind Howled

The Sweepers
Wang Shugang
Cast Iron (2012)
Crow Collection of Asian Art

I have been collecting playlists of writing related YouTube (hints and interviews) videos and watching them while I ride my spin bike. An hour a day. One video was a (long) list of things that distinguish an amateur, begining writer. I remember one was, “Don’t start your story out with your main character waking up in bed.” Well, Kafka would disagree.

So would Yu Hua – that’s how today’s bit of flash fiction begins.

Read it here:

As the North Wind Howled by Yu Hua

From the New Yorker