The excerpts of Burrow's "Writing Fiction" on the topics of detail through concrete language, active voice, and rhythm are incredibly inciteful. I wish I would have read this before even starting to attempt fiction writing, unfortunately I did not have the chance to read this until today. I always thought that by cramming as much detail as possible into a story, you would not only easily meet length requirements but you would also have a better story. Burroway has provided several helpful and educating examples that shows this is not true! You must be selective in the detail you choose to provide. If I'd have realized this sooner, I might not have taken to fiction writing with such impatience. All this time, I've been taking the time to provide details about material appearances and pleasing sensory images when I should have been paying more attention to details that actually develop characters and places. Like Burroway pointed out, there are thousands of tall, blue-eyed, blond-haired twenty-two year olds in the world, but you must explain to the reader what makes this character significant.
If the reader is indifferent, it's probably due to the author's lack of sensory and conrete guidance also. If all you provide as an author are generalizations and abstractness, the reader will never see how or why it is that way. He was happy that she wrote him does not show anything. But His heart skipped a beat upon opening the mailbox to reveal a letter addressed from "the one that got away." is the kind of concrete detail that matters and advances the story. As Borroway pointed out, you could spend all day writing about abstract generalizations and it would take at least twice as long to gain the readers trust. So, although it may take more time and effort to think of concrete examples that show rather than tell, you will get your point across in less "story."
I also thought Burroway's section on prose rhythm was very interesting. I never really thought about rhythm within a story before and I only ever considered it in poetry and music. But it's true, if you want to, say, portay a character or scene in a fast-paced, urgent way, it makes sense to create a multitude of shorter sentences rather than long, complex ones. Or the oppososite, if you want to create a "slow" image, you should use longer, more complex sentences. Fascinating!
This information was definately helpful and I will take advantage of it!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
On To After That
To After That was very interesting in terms the ideas it contained and in between my noddings-off. I don't really know how I feel about it. I was hoping as a short story it would have more substance, more action, more of a topic that I was actually interested in. Gladman was "writing about the writing about the writing" of After That which would have been a story I'd more like to read had it ever existed (64). I had a hard time grasping some of the concepts, many of which were very complex and drawn out. Gladman acheives moving and "going nowhere" in this book (her intention, I believe). Nothing really happens, except when she recalls actual scenes from After That. The speaker (Gladman?) just writes and rewrites this book in various locations. The time spent between drafts and the locations where they were written affect the outcome/plot/writing of each draft. It's interesting how Gladman wants to be direct and to get the point across in few words to an extent as influenced by Herve Guibert, like when she refers to characters with single letters; S, M, R, etc., or even to refer to her book; AT, and later AF. She does this, this almost impatient writing, and yet she drags on the story with long, deep thoughts and considerations about words, sentences, novels, characters, places, and especially time (51).
Reading "excerpts" from the actual story of After That, a very strange, almost dreamlike world is revealed. Who comes over to borrow sugar and than lingers to cook waffles and proceed to scream at their boyfriend (?) over their cell phone in someone else's apartment? The main character has this irrational fear of cell phones, and her girlfriend, Frog, is fascinated by the contraption, runs away with it and shuts herself in the bathroom! Not only that, but the main character just randomly falls asleep, is pushed down a manhole by some guy named Fred and they both fall asleep together watching water leak from a pipe(51). Strange.
Gladman brings up some interesting points and ideas that I'd like to mention. Gladman explains how the telling of lies is much more invigorating than the telling of fiction. Does she mean the telling of lies that pertains to her own life? And isn't lying essentially that same thing as fiction? I found a few interesting quotes that I'd like to share as well. "The fury we feel at the neglect of the present works itself out in our projections. We Create Fiction." (62) That's how I've always felt about fiction, and specifically the writing of it. If I find my world to fall short of what I really want, I always have the option of creating a new reality through fiction. Gladman also focuses a lot on the idea of time. "I had written nearly one hundred pages of a day in the life of four years of me." Gladman explained that her constant disapproval and rewriting of After That was due to the fact that time had elapsed between drafts and within that time she had changed and the current writing about herself in the novel was no longer her.
A couple other interesting elements inluded the excessive blank space throughout the book. There were varying font sizes. The story is set up so that it could retell itself infinately. The last paragraph of the book is the same, word for word, as the first.
Reading "excerpts" from the actual story of After That, a very strange, almost dreamlike world is revealed. Who comes over to borrow sugar and than lingers to cook waffles and proceed to scream at their boyfriend (?) over their cell phone in someone else's apartment? The main character has this irrational fear of cell phones, and her girlfriend, Frog, is fascinated by the contraption, runs away with it and shuts herself in the bathroom! Not only that, but the main character just randomly falls asleep, is pushed down a manhole by some guy named Fred and they both fall asleep together watching water leak from a pipe(51). Strange.
Gladman brings up some interesting points and ideas that I'd like to mention. Gladman explains how the telling of lies is much more invigorating than the telling of fiction. Does she mean the telling of lies that pertains to her own life? And isn't lying essentially that same thing as fiction? I found a few interesting quotes that I'd like to share as well. "The fury we feel at the neglect of the present works itself out in our projections. We Create Fiction." (62) That's how I've always felt about fiction, and specifically the writing of it. If I find my world to fall short of what I really want, I always have the option of creating a new reality through fiction. Gladman also focuses a lot on the idea of time. "I had written nearly one hundred pages of a day in the life of four years of me." Gladman explained that her constant disapproval and rewriting of After That was due to the fact that time had elapsed between drafts and within that time she had changed and the current writing about herself in the novel was no longer her.
A couple other interesting elements inluded the excessive blank space throughout the book. There were varying font sizes. The story is set up so that it could retell itself infinately. The last paragraph of the book is the same, word for word, as the first.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
On Short Story packet #1
On Walking the Baby to the Liquor Store:
The idea of taking a baby to a liquor store really surprised me. Why would you need to take a baby to a liquor store? The author seems to point out that the significance of journeying to the liquor store is the journey itself. The baby is content to observe its surroundings and the author, though he is bogged down with work is more than happy to walk the baby out of his sincere love and devotion. There is no work more important that witnessing and taking part in the life of your child. I love how the author includes the baby, for example when he says: "Sometimes...the baby and I are so happy we even do the dishes and have a drink." Babies can't do dishes. The line that really struck me, though, was "The Baby knows four words: mommy, daddy, banana, and doggy. Could anyone write a novel more interesting than that?" And that's coming from a writer who writes for a living! And that is love. How sweet.
On The Letter From Home:
I really enjoyed this story! I never imagined a story could be as simple as step-by-step phrases/events. I have no idea why it bears the title that it does, but it's very fascinating to me nonetheless. It seems the narrator goes through her regular daily routine and she is very observant to little things than many people fail to acknowledge in their fast-paced lives. "...the fly buzzed...the door banged shut, the stairs creaked, the fridge hummed...I ate food, I chewed each mouthful thirty-two times, I swallowed carefully." The narrator though doesn't seems to share any internal, inquisitive thoughts until the near end which is interesting to me, because prior to this her observations are largely sensory and more physical. Many of us seem to be selfish and we often only take notice of our own thoughts and feelings and our observations about the world around us suffer because of it. But the narrator lists observations much more than her own personal thoughts I have noticed. The narrator wonders: "Is the Heaven to be above? Is the Hell below?...Will the streams run clear? Will we kiss each other deeply later?" Maybe at the end of the poem, the narrator abandons everything she knows by leaving with the man in a shroud? Maybe that's why she would be receiving a letter form her children or whoever?
On Mystery Stories:
This was a fun take on short stories. As if the author just drew any random words out of a hat and wrote a story about them. But why are these short stories called "mystery stories." Is it because they're open-ended and anything could happen next? I can see the mystery in a few of the stories, like in The Red Coats,the mystery lies in what happened to the one red coat that was stolen, by whom and for what purpose? Or The Japanese Man. Why does the dreamer cry in the dream but not in real life? Or Strawberries where the narrator wonders whether or not he/she would me made to pay for the other dinners at his table? And who else is sitting at the table? In The Record Store I wonder who is this 'rock 'n' roller'? In Poetry I wonder will the man actually read the poetry from his admirer? Or will he just throw them away? The last two stories, though, I have a tougher time seeing the "mystery." In The Talking Cat, maybe this woman is jealous that the cat is speaking to this other person because they're in a relationship? Or maybe the cat never speaks for anyone else but the woman until this other person comes along? Maybe in Indians the mystery lies in the legitimacy of the Indians themselves. Are they really Indians, or are they just dressed as Indians?
Oh, the mystery.
The idea of taking a baby to a liquor store really surprised me. Why would you need to take a baby to a liquor store? The author seems to point out that the significance of journeying to the liquor store is the journey itself. The baby is content to observe its surroundings and the author, though he is bogged down with work is more than happy to walk the baby out of his sincere love and devotion. There is no work more important that witnessing and taking part in the life of your child. I love how the author includes the baby, for example when he says: "Sometimes...the baby and I are so happy we even do the dishes and have a drink." Babies can't do dishes. The line that really struck me, though, was "The Baby knows four words: mommy, daddy, banana, and doggy. Could anyone write a novel more interesting than that?" And that's coming from a writer who writes for a living! And that is love. How sweet.
On The Letter From Home:
I really enjoyed this story! I never imagined a story could be as simple as step-by-step phrases/events. I have no idea why it bears the title that it does, but it's very fascinating to me nonetheless. It seems the narrator goes through her regular daily routine and she is very observant to little things than many people fail to acknowledge in their fast-paced lives. "...the fly buzzed...the door banged shut, the stairs creaked, the fridge hummed...I ate food, I chewed each mouthful thirty-two times, I swallowed carefully." The narrator though doesn't seems to share any internal, inquisitive thoughts until the near end which is interesting to me, because prior to this her observations are largely sensory and more physical. Many of us seem to be selfish and we often only take notice of our own thoughts and feelings and our observations about the world around us suffer because of it. But the narrator lists observations much more than her own personal thoughts I have noticed. The narrator wonders: "Is the Heaven to be above? Is the Hell below?...Will the streams run clear? Will we kiss each other deeply later?" Maybe at the end of the poem, the narrator abandons everything she knows by leaving with the man in a shroud? Maybe that's why she would be receiving a letter form her children or whoever?
On Mystery Stories:
This was a fun take on short stories. As if the author just drew any random words out of a hat and wrote a story about them. But why are these short stories called "mystery stories." Is it because they're open-ended and anything could happen next? I can see the mystery in a few of the stories, like in The Red Coats,the mystery lies in what happened to the one red coat that was stolen, by whom and for what purpose? Or The Japanese Man. Why does the dreamer cry in the dream but not in real life? Or Strawberries where the narrator wonders whether or not he/she would me made to pay for the other dinners at his table? And who else is sitting at the table? In The Record Store I wonder who is this 'rock 'n' roller'? In Poetry I wonder will the man actually read the poetry from his admirer? Or will he just throw them away? The last two stories, though, I have a tougher time seeing the "mystery." In The Talking Cat, maybe this woman is jealous that the cat is speaking to this other person because they're in a relationship? Or maybe the cat never speaks for anyone else but the woman until this other person comes along? Maybe in Indians the mystery lies in the legitimacy of the Indians themselves. Are they really Indians, or are they just dressed as Indians?
Oh, the mystery.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
On Blood Dazzler
I wonder when Smith will release the sequal?
Blood Dazzler was interesting and very disturbing. I already knew that hurricane Katrina was devastating, or rather the incompetence of our government was devastating. I kept reading and reading, but a few things I just couldn't get out of my head.
First, "Man on the tv say" effected me most. I haven't been able to think about anything else for days, and even while reading I kept waiting for something to trump this poem, but it never happened. This poem really speaks about the people of New Orleans. They were told to just get out, and even the ones that could afford to leave, where were they to go? And how many thousands more had no means of escape, no transportation, no money. And then this says something about race and social classes. How the people living in these hopeless situations had no means of savings themselves, living in poverty, and although it was the government's responsibility to take action, they hesitated far to long. It's just an example of one of the most horrible injustices a government can do to its people. This is the United States of America, one of the richest countries on Earth, it's not the third world. And when a goverment with this type of power just turns a blind eye to the poor and struggling (largely black) population of New Orleans (over and over again), it's a disgrace. What really captured my attention in this poem, was the speaker recognizing that even though he/she was capable of getting out and leaving everything behind, what else was there? "Go. Uh-huh. Like our bodies got wheels and gas, like at the end of that running there's an open door with dry and song inside."
Another disturbing image was of Luther B. I can't even begin to express my horror and disgust that this dog (fictional or not) was just left to ride out a hurricane while tied to a tree. Of course he's going to die. He probably would've faired much better being let lose.
I found a quote to be particularly enraging in "Thankful." Barbara Bush: "What I'm hearing is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality...And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivelaged anyway, so this-this is working very well for them." I'm sure that's what you want Barb, a bunch of black vagabonds bringing down the property values in your beloved state. Did she miss the overcrowding, the screaming children, the emotional disturbance of every displaced victim? And they're all just thrilled to be in Texas, happy as can be? They were already underprivaleged, so they're used to this type of situation? I'm sure they wouldn't mind just living in the Houston arena forever! They can just be your pets, and you can stop by to feed them every once in while., show them your great Texan hospitality. Maybe even a few chainsaws.
One thing I kept noticing in Blood Dazzler was the frequent use of the word "silver." I'm not sure what the significance is though. I the repetition of silver supposed to represent the water? Or the color of the sky during the storm? The color of the lifeless bodies discovered in the aftermath that were sitting for days and weeks? "Spine of silver...", "conjure of mirrored silver...", "silver holes in my body...", "she's one of the silver's citizens...", and etcetera. I guess this could be said for many other colors and visual sensations, like glitter or mirrors which I noticed a few times as well.
Blood Dazzler was interesting and very disturbing. I already knew that hurricane Katrina was devastating, or rather the incompetence of our government was devastating. I kept reading and reading, but a few things I just couldn't get out of my head.
First, "Man on the tv say" effected me most. I haven't been able to think about anything else for days, and even while reading I kept waiting for something to trump this poem, but it never happened. This poem really speaks about the people of New Orleans. They were told to just get out, and even the ones that could afford to leave, where were they to go? And how many thousands more had no means of escape, no transportation, no money. And then this says something about race and social classes. How the people living in these hopeless situations had no means of savings themselves, living in poverty, and although it was the government's responsibility to take action, they hesitated far to long. It's just an example of one of the most horrible injustices a government can do to its people. This is the United States of America, one of the richest countries on Earth, it's not the third world. And when a goverment with this type of power just turns a blind eye to the poor and struggling (largely black) population of New Orleans (over and over again), it's a disgrace. What really captured my attention in this poem, was the speaker recognizing that even though he/she was capable of getting out and leaving everything behind, what else was there? "Go. Uh-huh. Like our bodies got wheels and gas, like at the end of that running there's an open door with dry and song inside."
Another disturbing image was of Luther B. I can't even begin to express my horror and disgust that this dog (fictional or not) was just left to ride out a hurricane while tied to a tree. Of course he's going to die. He probably would've faired much better being let lose.
I found a quote to be particularly enraging in "Thankful." Barbara Bush: "What I'm hearing is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality...And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivelaged anyway, so this-this is working very well for them." I'm sure that's what you want Barb, a bunch of black vagabonds bringing down the property values in your beloved state. Did she miss the overcrowding, the screaming children, the emotional disturbance of every displaced victim? And they're all just thrilled to be in Texas, happy as can be? They were already underprivaleged, so they're used to this type of situation? I'm sure they wouldn't mind just living in the Houston arena forever! They can just be your pets, and you can stop by to feed them every once in while., show them your great Texan hospitality. Maybe even a few chainsaws.
One thing I kept noticing in Blood Dazzler was the frequent use of the word "silver." I'm not sure what the significance is though. I the repetition of silver supposed to represent the water? Or the color of the sky during the storm? The color of the lifeless bodies discovered in the aftermath that were sitting for days and weeks? "Spine of silver...", "conjure of mirrored silver...", "silver holes in my body...", "she's one of the silver's citizens...", and etcetera. I guess this could be said for many other colors and visual sensations, like glitter or mirrors which I noticed a few times as well.
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