Scribbled
Notes from the spiralbound
I read Tom Bailey’s On Writing Short Stories, his section on basic elements of fiction: character, plot, setting & time, metaphor, and voice. Wasn’t sure which of these elements to focus on at first. Thought about starting with plot as it’s such an eternal challenge for me; then considered voice, since it’s a strong point and integral to the way I approach writing - thought it would be a cheap and easy way to regain entry to the story in progress. But I kept backing up, backing up, until I found myself square at the start of the treatise, reading about character. Which makes sense, after all, because my concerns about the story just now have everything to do with character, its revelation over time, its role as the source in the development of the narrative.
So. After that, I reread “Poaching” from Tobias Wolff’s In the Garden of the North American Martyrs. Such enviable writing; I hate Wolff a little. But I like his treatment of characters, the unfolding of character here. The language he uses here is so appropriate to the story - I can’t think of another word for it. My vocabulary needs work. I should compare this story to “Hunters in the Snow” sometime.
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Elemental
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Whose story is it, anyway?
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I have a Big Thought in my head but not enough time to get it all down coherently.
I’m not sure you can separate out those elements (plot, character, etc.), but what I’ve learned from teaching (which has been a degree in itself and taken me far beyond what I learned as a student) is how much precise language matters.
For instance, “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin: he could have told exactly the same story plot-wise using different words, but it owes its depth to its complicated foundation on at least two patterns, “water” and “dark/light” (or, maybe more appropriately, “black/white”).
Read that story with an eye on how he pulls that off, and you will fall to the floor wailing in despair…or revelation.
Yeah, in practice these elements blend into an annoying whole, but they can still be teased out for analysis. Or just conversation’s sake.
Thanks for the Baldwin suggestion. I don’t think I’ve actually read that piece.
I used to do the old exercise of writing a story or fragment in another writer’s style. Still the best way, I think, of forcing oneself to think deeply about the language choices of a writer. I rather hate exercises now, but should probably bring myself back to them.