Song Exploder

Book Exploder: Carmen Maria Machado - In the Dream House

Sep 14, 2022
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INSIGHT

Genre As Structural Key

  • Framing a memoir through genre logic unlocked new structural possibilities for Machado's story.
  • Applying haunted-house logic let the book 'fall out' naturally once she found the right frame.
INSIGHT

Write Fiction To Understand Truth

  • Machado used fiction first to organize complex feelings before committing to nonfiction.
  • She felt the material deserved nonfiction's dignity once she understood it clearly.
INSIGHT

Horror Pacing In Memoir

  • Machado intentionally borrows horror pacing to create ambient dread in the memoir.
  • Small unsettling details accumulate to produce unease without explicit explanation.
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