- Turkey legs & turkey leg pie!
- I've written a Holiday/Christmas story—it's in my book Burnt House. It's pretty grim!
- I didn't want to drive a cab any more....
- People have appetites; how do they sate those appetites?
- When people dine together, they talk. Food gives them something to do. (A lot of dialogue I read seems to take place in a vacuum).
- Also, food is itself intrinsically interesting for most people. (Always be looking for ways to connect with an audience).
- Be humble.
- Big picture hope: I'd like to see America healed. It's going to take some time!
- Personal hope: I hope I live long enough to get all my books written. (Which might take a long long time and that’s fine!)
- But there will always be a demand and desire for stories.
- I miss hanging around the Teacher's Bar and bragging about my students!
- Basically, what I said upthread—cultivate Humility and Patience.
- Writing doesn't happen overnight. Many young writers find this discouraging.
- Humility will win the day.
- And I would encourage all of you to follow Lev Nikolayevich's example—be excited about your next project!
- I've learned to adapt and survive (so far).
- Horror.
- Everything is equally easy or difficult, depending on the writer's state of mind....
- But here's some advice: don't wait to tell your stories!
- So I sat on it, and waited until I was "good enough."
- And I never wrote it.
- I should have written it immediately! It would have sucked, but who would have cared? (Other than my ego).
- Moral of the story: don't wait! Write—now.
- Everyone needs to read more.
- Those of you who already read a lot need to read more.
- Those of you who don't read a whole lot need to read more.
- Every book you read helps build your Writer's Toolbox. You'll be able to see all the options you have as a writer.
- I think just about everything is important enough to write about—if the writer takes their writing seriously.
- Understanding what a story is, and making it happen....
- Go with what's in your heart. That's vague—but true.
- What poems do you feel strongest about?
- Activities: keep a journal. It doesn't have to be complicated and sound like the all-knowing voice of whatever. Just write down your observations about what you see and experience. It can be a list. Or photos!
- (Actually, if you use social media, you are in fact keeping a journal).
- The world is always changing and slipping away. Notice the changes! (It takes practice).
- Develop HUMILITY and PATIENCE.
- It takes a long time to get really good at writing fiction. A writer's ego and perfectionism can in the way.
- And also be PERSISTENT.
- Pretend to care.
- Make it a game. In the end, everything you write is just words.
- Watch how one scene flows into another. Look at how the dialogue is edited and cuts from one character to another. Look for how setting is used. Look for how it is lit and filmed. Read the movie like a writer....
- I don’t buy it.
- I’m seeing the Stranger as an idealized romanticized personification of America itself. The Cowboy! Honest, straightforward, kind, respectful. How America sees itself reflected through media/Hollywood....
- That may not be factual, but it's True enough to be a starting point for a novel or a film....
- Though I wouldn't want to hang around with him....
- The drugs are definitely making him irrational.
- There are easy-going, good-hearted stoners everywhere.
- I see him as the innocent victim of capitalism….
- Nihilism is the denial of the value of reality, so here the nihilists are the cats-paw of capitalism, which believes in nothing outside of profit/greed/gain....
- I liked it. Dark and funny.
- We've had some grim readings and viewings this semester—I thought it might be nice to close with a comedy....
- The War on Drugs has been a catastrophe for our country.
- Food.
- This job is easy when you have a lot of great students!
All the exciting answers, none of the boring questions...Thanksgiving Edition!
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All of the answers, none of the questions....
All of the answers, none of the questions....
Here are some of my answers to written questions from students this past week….
(Yes, as always--just the answers—no questions).
In a face-to-face class I get to talk to the Young Scholars about writing and what-all—but!—now that we’re all on Pandemic Zoom, basic interaction is more limited. So I have the students post written questions about writing or about the readings. Here are some of my answers from this week…. (Yes, just the answers—no questions).
I often have students post written questions about the readings or the class or about writing in general. I did that this week, and the answers are below. Just the answers—not the questions. (I didn’t ask the students for permission to use their questions!) If you like questions so much, you can make up your own questions….
Spring break. I've been mostly resting and recovering from strep, but I've also been doing a few W&E things....
…is just a collection of PowerPoint slides. Years ago I was teaching a section of the American lit survey, Colonial through Civil War, and I found myself facing a really common problem: that when at the end of class I said, “Okay, for next time—” and before I could say “we’ll be reading Emerson" or whatever, the room would be filled with the sudden thunder of Young Scholars getting ready to flee—closing their books and laptops, sticking things into their backpacks, moving their desks, talking…and no one—not even me!—could hear the detail of my reminder of the next reading assignment. It really is common—I remember this happening back in my long-ago undergrad days, too. It was very annoying. But what to do? I began talking about the assignments at the beginning of class. “Okay, today we’re reading Emerson. On Wednesday you’ll be happy to know that we’re not reading Emerson—we’re reading Whitman.” (I had a lot of sad Emerson-haters in that class). The oral announcement at the beginning of class worked better at the beginning of class than at the end. But then I had my brilliant innovative idea—put the schedule on slides! So I did, and it works great. I’ve been doing this now for about six years or so. But no one ever really acknowledged the greatness until this week, when a Young Scholar said, “I really like your slides.” Damn. That’s just about the nicest thing anyone has ever said to/about me. So now I’m sharing my brilliant innovation with the world. Below are the slides for my current ENGL 345 class, “Writers’ Studies: Prose.” I post the previous week, the current week, and the coming weeks, along with anything else the scholars need to know…. (I just noticed a typo on the slide for the 26th--but that just adds to the authenticity of my presentation, no?)
Tropes Themes Things StuffI continue to keep a record of what the young writers in my creative writing classes write about. I started this about two years ago and I've found it to be enlightening and fun and sometimes moving. Of course there are some things I'd like to see less of (depression stories and waking-up-at-the-beginning stories) and some I'd like to see more of (real places and jobs). The list is of course highly subjective--someone else reading these stories might come up with different categories. What I've learned since starting this project is that any trope/theme/thing can make for a good story--that the overall quality of a story derives from how it's told. In the end I love them all--good, bad, indifferent. Based on @670 stories (Listed as (ranking) (thing) (number of examples)) 1 real place 118 2 student 79 3 love/misc 73 4 violence/misc 61 5 drugs/drinking 60 6 job 58 7 meet cute 52 8 cell phone 46 9 depression 39 10 driving 37 11 kids 36 12 kid focal 35 13 eating 33 14 memory 32 15 non-pet critters 31 16 sex/lust 31 17 texting 29 18 car wreck 28 19 weather 28 20 breakup 27 21 waking up 26 22 waking up/beginning 26 23 pet 24 24 cancer/illness/injury 23 25 grief 23 26 nature/outdoors 21 27 knocked on head/Pippen 20 28 friendship 19 29 death/self 17 30 religion 17 31 sports 17 32 death/parent 16 33 death/spouse-fiancé 16 34 light out for territories 16 35 murder 16 36 theft/robbery 15 37 dream 14 38 music 14 39 social media 14 40 death/misc 13 41 gltb 13 42 mental illness 13 43 sexual assault 13 44 aging 12 45 start with dialogue 12 46 abusive parent 11 47 death/child 11 48 death/sibling 11 49 divorce 11 50 ghost 11 51 war/military 11 52 infidelity 10 53 magic realism 10 54 death/friend 9 55 death/suicide 9 56 kidnapping 9 57 stalker 9 58 travel 9 59 vomit/feces/menses 9 60 farming/ranching 8 61 psycho 8 62 fantasy 7 63 computer 6 64 death/grandparent 6 65 games 6 66 generations 6 67 getting engaged 6 67 dystopia 5 69 jail 5 70 motherhood 5 71 politics 5 72 reading 5 73 secret family 5 74 tv 5 75 amnesia 4 76 bad date 4 77 immigrant 4 78 pregnancy 4 79 race/ethnicity 4 80 torture 4 81 western 4 82 abuse/misc 3 83 crime/misc 3 84 drowning 3 85 funeral 3 86 shopping 3 87 writing 3 88 abortion 2 89 art 2 90 birth 2 91 cadaver 2 92 fairy tale 2 93 homelessness 2 94 letters/correspondence 2 95 reincarnation 2 96 trains 2 97 coma 1 98 comedy/misc 1 99 critter POV 1 100 explorer 1 101 false identity 1 102 hospital 1 103 life change 1 104 parenting 1 105 psychic 1 106 revenge 1 107 science fiction 1 108 wedding 1 Look at all this—stuff. I came across it at the tire repair place—a collection of objects the repairers had pulled from sad injured tires.
“Nails are everywhere,” the lead repair guy said. But I’m not worried about the nails—it’s the deer antlers that alarm me. And the axe head. |
Lowell Mick White
Author of the novels Normal School and Burnt House and Professed and That Demon Life and the story collections Long Time Ago Good and The Messes We Make of Our Lives. Categories
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