Poetry, Poetry, Poetry!

So for the new year, read some poetry!  Here are a few suggestions; all are slim volumes that are perfect for our society of the slight attention span:

The Branches, the Axe, the Missing by Charlotte Pence

Basil by Katharine Rauk

Meridian by Kathleen Jesme

Immigrant by Marcela Sulak

For This Time of Year

"Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything,
that's how the light gets in."

-- Leonard Cohen

Eloise Klein Healy, L.A.'s first poet laureate!

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa chose Eloise Klein Healy to be Los Angeles' first poet laureate!

LA's first poet laureate!

Congratulations, Notre Dame!

Theo Riddick

A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

The front cover says, "The collection that established Flannery O'Connor as a master of the short story."  The back cover says quite a bit, but among all those words are these:  Steeped in a Southern Gothic tradition that would be synonymous with her name, these stories show O'Connor's  unique, grotesque view of life...."  Ok.  I hadn't read Ms. O'Connor's stories in quite some time, so I thought I'd read this collection.  I guess I'm supposed to know what Southern Gothic tradition means, but I don't.  But let me guess.  Southern is code for racism.  Gothic?  Hmmm. In literature I think of a Gothic story as one about a woman who should be married but who isn't, and she ends up in a gloomy mansion where she meets the owner, usually a much older, ugly man and very rich, whom she ends up marrying.  Those are guesses.  So after finishing this collection-- yep, there's a whole lot of racism, blatant mid-20th Century style racism.  And as far as the Gothic stuff goes, I suppose it means plain ole dark, creepiness.  But the thing that struck me the most (besides the blatant racism) was the predictability of these stories.  O'Connor certainly had a formula, and she followed it in every story.  It got to the point where I was guessing the ending after reading the first couple pages.  It became easy to pinpoint the sentence that gave away the ending.  It became a game!  I don't want to list the sentences here because, well, that would give away the entire shtick of these stories.  However, if you want to know, lemme know, and I'll revise this post giving everything away!

Grains, Beans & Greens

Had a great lunch today made up of my favorite combo: Grains, Beans, and Greens.  FYI:  For mega serious health fanatics, this would also make a yummy breakfast. Yay! So for lunch I had a mixture of brown rice, black barley, and daikon radish seeds and on top of that I put pinto beans-- all on a bed of dandelion greens.  Here it is:

Grains, Beans, Greens -- oh my!

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

The Buddha in the Attic was published by one of the six--excuse me-- one of the five (as of yesterday) publishing conglomerates doing business in the United States, and that company is Random House.  (Penguin merged with Random House, by the way.)  I mention this because, as many of you know,  I review self-published books, and I didn't want anyone to mistake this for an indie book.  As an indie/self-published book this wouldn't have gotten much attention because it is closer to poetry than prose, doesn't have much character development, doesn't have individual characters whom we get to know well at all, and it doesn't have scenes with dialogue.  Oh yes, and it would be accurate to say that this book asks many questions and is repetitive.  But this isn't a self-published book and was a finalist for the National Book Award and won the PEN/Faulkner award for fiction.

So I asked myself a few questions when I finished reading it:

Did I want to keep reading?  Yes

Did I care about the characters?  Not in the sense that I was concerned about a particular outcome or about what happened to any individual character.

Why did I keep reading?  I enjoyed the flow of the words, the rhythm of the sentences.  I didn't keep reading because I wondered what happens next or wondered what's going to happen to that character.

Did it feel like a story?  It felt like a story the way history feels like a story.  It didn't feel like fiction. I wasn't getting caught up in a fictional world with specific characters and their very specific problems.  This was history (which is a story) told in poetry.

Was this a novel?  Ah, that's a good question.  To say something is a novel creates certain expectations, and this book definitely deviates from those expectations of what a novel is.  I didn't get emotionally involved in the characters' lives like I like to do in novels.  I didn't know any of the characters except in a collective sense, and there was a detached feeling, a distance that prevented me from getting close.

If you enjoy poetry and are interested in the time in history when Japanese women went to the United States as mail order, or picture, brides-- then you might want to give this book a try!

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

I did not read The Kite Runner.  Just want to put that out there.  I read A Thousand Splendid Suns because I'm organizing a fundraiser for the Afghan Women's Writing Project (awwproject.org), and Splendid Suns was suggested to me but not by anyone affiliated with the Afghan Women's Writing Project.  The atrocious treatment of women and the horror of war, seemingly a constant in Afghanistan, makes me very glad that this book has been read by so many people-- for awareness purposes.  Of course, as far as the storytelling goes, I did want to finish the book, and, in fact, I read it quickly.  But I was taken out of the story several times which, if you've read some of my Fiction Writing 101 posts, is not the best thing to happen while reading a story.

I was taken out of the story because I was able to guess what happens next.  I wasn't trying to guess, but it was so obvious  and predictable that I just knew-- psychically I suppose-- that this was how things would turn out.  Here are a couple examples, and if you haven't read Splendid Suns and want to without knowing any of the plot points, you can stop reading.

I knew Laila would get pregnant, and that it would be Tariq's baby, of course.  All that throwing up after she was injured by the attack that destroyed her family's house was just too much, and besides, I knew she was pregnant before all that throwing up.

Laila and Mariam were at odds with each other, to put it nicely, in the beginning, but they become great allies.  Yes, out of necessity but also predictable.

One other thing that bothered me that wasn't about the plot being predictable, exactly:  Mariam's self-sacrfice.  Ok, of course this was supposed to bother me, but there were other ways to resolve that sub-plot without killing her off.

Nonetheless, I wanted to keep reading A Thousand Splendid Suns to find out what happens.

The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons

The House Next Door is a wonderfully scary book for October.  Originally published in 1978 by Simon & Schuster, Anne Rivers Siddons does a terrific job making a house-- which people attempt to make a home in a middle class neighborhood-- terrifying and horrifying. And that's quite an accomplishment because I'm not a fan of horror. Although when I was a teenager I read The Shining and was so scared while reading it that I couldn't read it while alone in a room. And The House Next Door succeeded in making me a little scared of my own house, but that's a different story.  This is fun especially for this Halloween time of year.  Enjoy!

Pre-Roe Patchwork in States

As promised, this blog isn't only about books and fiction writing, and so this is the Daily Women's Health Policy Report for September 28, 2012, and it's scary:

Abortion Access Reverting to Pre-Roe 'Patchwork' in States, Advocates Warn

September 28, 2012 — A "rash" of state-level abortion restrictions in recent years has made accessing abortion incredibly difficult for many women, even as the procedure remains legal, women's health experts say, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. The laws have created geographical, financial and other obstacles that form a "patchwork of access" to abortion that mirrors barriers that existed before Roe v. Wade, they note.

"We are seeing the number of providers decrease and the number of restrictions increase," said Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager at the Guttmacher Institute. "Clinic regulations, waiting periods, ultrasounds -- you keep adding these things and it becomes really difficult" to obtain an abortion, she explained.

Last year, states passed 92 abortion restrictions, and they have passed an additional 39 in the first half of 2012, according to Guttmacher. The pace of abortion restrictions in state legislatures accelerated after victories by conservative candidates in the 2010 midterm elections.

Wendy Parmet, associate dean at Northeastern University School of Law, noted that court decisions after Roehave helped open the door to increased regulation in the states.

"We are moving back to the world we had before Roe," Parmet said, adding, "We are moving toward a world where some women have fairly ready access to abortion and other women have a really difficult time accessing abortion."

Regional Disparities 

Regional disparities in abortion access have emerged in the South, Midwest and Mountain West, where women face more barriers than in the Northeast or on the West Coast, Parmet said. According to data from Guttmacher, 87% of U.S. counties had abortion providers in 2008, compared with 83% in 1973. Five states now have one abortion clinic, including Mississippi, which had 14 in 1981.

"Access basically depends entirely on where you live," said Julie Rikelman, litigation director for the Center for Reproductive Rights. "Even though it is supposed to be a constitutional right available to all Americans in the [U.S.], it is really a right only available to a minority of American women," Rikelman added (Crawford,Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 9/27).

Elizabeth Street by Laurie Fabiano

The subtitle of Elizabeth Street is A Novel Based on True Events, and overall, the novel works.  A few parts seemed forced, but what the heck--  Laurie Fabiano had a great family story to tell, and I'm glad she did.  And, by the way, this was a self-published novel before being published by Amazon's very own imprint called Amazon Encore.

Elizabeth Street tells the story of Italians who emigrated to the United States in the beginning of the 20th Century and ended up in NYC. And it's not the standard story of Italians in New York.  Yeah, there are gangsters, but it's a bit different from the story of Tony Soprano.  I learned why Italian-Americans know exactly where their families were from in Italy; it has to do with the unification of Italy.  (Italians aren't from Italy but are from specific places in Italy.) And I learned that when Italians arrived at Ellis Island they were "considered to be two races. A race from the north and a race from the south.  The northerners are classified 'white' and the southerners 'in-betweeners.'  Of course, in Italy, the northerners simply call you peasants or Africans." (pg 110)

But Elizabeth Street isn't a history textbook though the history in it is very interesting.  Elizabeth Street is the story about Giovanna Costa, a very strong woman who does what she has to do in order to protect her family, including taking on the Black Hand. This is an engaging tale, and I highly recommend it.

Mark Twain & Cats

"When a man loves cats, I am his friend and comrade without further introduction."

-- Mark Twain

The Girl with Borrowed Wings by Rinsai Rossetti

I don't usually read YA fiction though I know there's a trend right now for adults to gobble it up, especially if books are part of a trilogy, and I don't quite understand this phenomenon, especially the trilogy part. (Except, of course, trilogies make more money for publishers.)  However, I did read The Book Thief last year (long after the brouhaha about it was over and when I could borrow it from the library without being placed on a hold list of a few hundred patrons) and couldn't believe The Book Thief was designated YA.  (FYI: It wasn't categorized as YA in the country of its original publication, Australia.)  Anyway, I just finished reading The Girl with Borrowed Wings by Rinsai Rossetti which was published by Dial Books, an imprint of Penguin, and the designation of YA is very appropriate-- so much so that I almost stopped reading several times for a few reasons.

But before I go into those reasons, I want to say that while I was reading The Girl with Borrowed Wings I imagined myself at twelve years old reading this, and I would have loved it.  Why? I would have loved the fantasy, the different worlds, and the flying.   Reading this as someone who is far older than twelve, well, it's different.

One difficulty I had is one I have with many novels told in first person.  I find it hard to believe that narrators think lyrically, especially young narrators though I'm not sure how old the narrator is when she's telling her story.  Nonetheless.  Even if the narrator is now fifty and telling her childhood story, it's hard to believe she's thinking so lyrically.  But as I said, this is a problem I have with many first person narrators.

Another difficulty I had was with freedom.  Oh, don't get me wrong.  I love freedom, and books written by Americans are almost always a story about gaining freedom.  But Rossetti uses freedom so blatantly-- there was no subtlety at all.  Again, thinking as a twelve year old this wouldn't have mattered because I was yearning for freedom myself at that age.

And the last major difficulty I had was with the last forty pages or so.  It was as if someone told the author, "Your main character needs to change in order for it to be a story, and she's got to change drastically, and there's got to be a satisfying resolution to the story."  Unfortunately, the writing lesson about character development that has been taught in English classes or literature classes or in writing workshops or in a zillion places in cyberspace or wherever needs to be tossed out the window.  If you want a good reason to do so, study the last 37 pages of The Girl with Borrowed Wings-- after reading the entire novel, of course.  But again, this wouldn't have bothered me if I were twelve, for I wouldn't have noticed this remarkable gain in speed in the story telling, this remarkable change in narrator Frenenqer Paje. Instead, I would have thought, "Wow, anything's possible."  Now, I just think that the author either got tired of writing or her editor commanded this spectacular and speedy change because the editor didn't want to risk Goodreads reviews that criticized the book because the protagonist didn't change in an obvious way.

Rūta by Kit Masters

Kit Masters' self-published novella, Rūta, is advertised as being an allegory about British schools whose students are poor and about a teacher who is intrigued by a female student whose name is Rūta.  (No, it’s not a Lolita thing.) The school situation is horrible, and Rūta is, well, there, but the story is about the narrator who is a physics teacher, artist, and writer, and it’s not really about his fixation with Rūta. (There’s no creepy element here.) Instead, the narrator is a complex character, and it’s his experiences as a teacher, artist, and writer that intrigue me.  The narrator has a distinctive voice, and the inclusion of art in this book adds to the novella’s uniqueness.  This book is a free ebook on Amazon for those who have Amazon Prime, and I recommend it to those who want to try something smartly different.

The author has a very short trailer for Rūta:

Molly Ringwald: Film icon... and writer?

Based on A.M. Holmes' assessment of Molly Ringwald's first novel, When It Happens To You, Molly Ringwald is a writer, and this is what Salon via Holmes declared on August 24:  One of 2012's most dazzling debut novels comes from an actress we all think we know.

Please don't clump me in your "all."  I don't know Molly Ringwald. I remember her movies from the 80s, but I don't know her.  And dazzling?  That makes me want to read her novel, and I'm planning on it, especially after what Holmes says:

"Her stories deftly capture the confusion and heartbreak of betrayal, the power of family secrets, and the struggle to find and maintain both autonomy and intimacy within a marriage."

And

"I was especially impressed with her story telling style-- the stories echo a bit of Raymond Carver, Amy Hempel and Lorrie Moore.  Ringwald also pulls off a very cool technical feat-- the stories progress in the spaces between the stories-- there is an invisible gathering of momentum and you feel things are happening even when on one is watching.  With this auspicious fiction debut you might actually forget Ringwald's also a film icon."

Though I don't know Ringwald, I might find it difficult to forget she's a film icon

Nonetheless

Holmes' review intrigues me mainly because it's a vastly different opinion from Dan Kois' opinion of When It Happens To You in the NYT the other day and the subsequent writing lesson I derived from his review-- which I blogged about here.   To be continued...

Update on January 12, 2013:  I attempted to read When It Happens to You and failed.  I could only make it through a couple chapters.  Too much telling and the conflicts weren't interesting.  And I was able to guess correctly what would happen next.  Oh well.

Fiction Writing 101: More about Characters & Story

So Molly Ringwald not only wrote a novel, but it was published recently by HarperCollins.  There was a review by Dan Kois of When It Happens to You: A Novel in Stories in yesterday's NYT, and I'm going to quote a chunk of it:

"...the stories feel less like narratives than like exposition uploads, with action happening mostly in the past or in characters' imaginations.  Ringwald's characters feel rather than do, and their feelings are often expressed schematically rather than dramatically.  'Pain, regret and guilt mingled just under the surface,' we're told of Greta's mom, 'the aggregate of all her profound sadness.'  That's really a lot of profound sadness. But it's not a story. Most M.F.A. students would hear this in the first week of class. They wouldn't have the bad fortune to have their still-unformed stories picked apart in public.  On the other hand, most M.F.A. students wouldn't have the good fortune to get their debut collection published by Harper Collins."

We can debate about what a story is and about the doing and feeling of characters, but most novice writers, whether or not they're in an M.F.A. program, have their characters observing a lot and feeling a lot instead of doing a lot, and that's just a part of the journey of becoming a fiction writer. It takes guts and skill and practice to get your characters to start taking action, to start making decisions, and this is one thing that separates the novice writers and the professionals writers.

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

State of Wonder was published by Harper over a year ago, and so many thoughts have already been hanging in the ether (if thoughts can hang in the ether) about this novel.  But here are the things that stuck with me after finishing this book recently:

I was really involved in this book and was dragging out reading it because I was enjoying it, but something happened in the last 100 pages-- or maybe it was the last 70 or 80 pages.  The story started speeding up. At first I thought it was my imagination, but no, it wasn't my very active imagination. And I didn't stop enjoying the story because of this speeding up, but for a few minutes it took me outside of the story because I imagined that Ms. Patchett became tired of writing this novel and hurried things along because she simply wanted it finished.  I was relieved at my imagined scenario because, well, it was a very human scenario to imagine.  Of course, I also imagined that some outside force was telling her to hurry and get it done-- an outside force like a publisher-- but I pushed that aside because I didn't want to imagine that.

So now if you haven't read this novel and want to, you'll want to skip this paragraph and move along to the next one.  It was predictable that Dr. Singh was going to perform a c-section and not  mess it up like she did so long ago.  Yes, I had figured out that she'll get her chance to earn praise from her former teacher, Dr. Swenson, by successfully performing this operation amidst entirely difficult circumstances -- i.e. not in a hospital.  I suppose that was an easy way to show character growth, development, and change that so many readers seem to look for, especially if some of these readers are also book bloggers (i.e. amateur book reviewers).  (See my post about characters & change.)  But it was far too tidy for me.

Reproductive Technology:  Big, big issue and dealt with in a not very big way, and that's ok because preaching in a novel is a huge no no.  However, I wanted something a little more-- in terms of commentary-- about the ethics of all of this.  This = a fertility drug for women that extends the age of child bearing years for, well, forever.  Oh, there's a sentence or two about ethics, sort of, and the delicate message is (oops, here's a bit of a giveaway so you might want to skip to the next paragraph) it's not a great idea for women in their 70s to get pregnant. Not exactly a news flash, and even those who are enthusiastic about reproductive technology (and women's agency) would (probably) agree that getting pregnant at age 74 is not a great idea. In fact, if we're honest here and can temporarily put aside the political correctness surrounding women's agency, it's a really, really stupid idea to get pregnant at age 74.  And the way the pregnancy turned out (not gonna give that away totally) isn't a surprise- -which also contributed to the last 100 pages of the novel being a little disappointing.  Too many obvious things were happening in those final pages besides the speeding up of the story telling, but maybe they had to occur because of the speeding up of the story.

Anyway, I still enjoyed the novel and wouldn't discourage anyone from reading State of Wonder simply because it shows that Ann Patchett is a human with strengths and weaknesses and vulnerabilities.  Sometimes I think we expect perfection, and that's just ridiculous.  So please read State of Wonder, and if you're in Nashville be sure to stop by Parnassus Books, Patchett's bookstore.

Fiction Writing 101: Characters & Change

In many writing workshops, you hear babble about character development, about characters growing, about characters changing.  Somehow and somewhere, someone taught millions of novice writers that a story is about a character changing. The result? We now have millions of stories in which characters develop, grow, and change in most ridiculous and unconvincing ways.  Is there an alternative to an all out metamorphosis? Janet Burroway says this about change:

"Often the notion of change is mistaken by new writers to mean change that is abrupt and contrived, from Scrooge to St. Nick-- yet this rarely happens in life or in realistic fiction.  Rather, change can be as subtle as a step in a new direction, a slight shift in belief, or a willingness to question a rigid view or recognize an unseen value in a person or situation."

In my novel Momentary Mother, which takes place over two weeks, the protagonist sees her mother in a new light on the very last page of the book.  The protagonist experiences a glimmer of hope on that last page that was nonexistent on page one.  There it is: a remarkable change.

I See France by Wendy Wallace

I See France by Wendy Wallace is going to be performed on August 18 as part of Island Theatre’s inaugural ten minute play festival. Hooray! The island is Bainbridge Island, Washington, and I See France is the winner of best play in the adult category. No, the San Fernando Valley’s adult film industry hasn’t moved to lovely Bainbridge Island. Apparently, Island Theatre solicited plays for an adult category and a teen category, so adult category in this instance doesn’t mean x-rated even though Wallace’s play is ostensibly about panties, which some of us realize immediately thanks to the clever title.  But Island Theatre might actually believe the story is about panties, for this is the one sentence summary of I See France that’s on the theater’s website: In a women’s lingerie department, panties from different eras argue about their popularity. Hmm. Based on this description, I’d conclude that I See France is simply personification run amok. Fortunately, that’s hardly the case, and there’s more to Wallace’s play than argumentative underwear.

Wallace’s play energetically illustrates the concepts that women are commodities and that female sexuality is a commodity. The three main characters are panties being sold in a department store, for goodness sake, and the fact that each panty is a different style representing women in different life stages means that no woman is exempt from being a commodity. The panties, whose names amuse and signify, are Granny, Hipster, and Lacey, and they exhibit a strongly internalized understanding of their social roles in relationship to men; they are all hyper aware of the connection between panties, sexuality, and desirability. This leads to a lot of seemingly superficial bickering but actually exemplifies the very real issue of women being pitted against each other in order to gain the attention of men. This fighting of women amongst themselves results in divisiveness; however, I See France also suggests, mostly via Hipster, that female solidarity is preferred to female infighting, and it is this potential for female unity that makes I See France transformative, for female solidarity would ultimately threaten male dominance and disrupt the consumption and circulation of women.

But I can hear it now: Men can be commodities too.  Sure they can, and Joe Boxer Shorts makes a quick appearance in which he brags that he is universally adored.  And that’s the difference: He’s universally adored, and his bragging implies that he isn’t a commodity in quite the same way as the ladies-- oops-- the panties are.  And this is further exemplified a few minutes later when the “next best thing” in the panty industry comes along, literally, in the lingerie department and causes Granny, Hipster, and Lacey to be put on sale. In other words, in pedestrian commodity speak, these darn things are not only no longer adored, they’re no longer useful, so we’ve gotta get rid of them and fast. Yep, nothing can subjugate, depress, and dishearten panties more effectively than being blatantly and unapologetically devalued. Now that’s something that can cause your undies to get into a twist.

Fiction Writing 101: Expose the Unexposed

From Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (page 198 in my edition):

"We write to expose the unexposed. If there is one door in the castle you have been told not to go through, you must. Otherwise, you'll just be rearranging furniture in rooms you've already been in. Most human beings are dedicated to keeping that one door shut.  But the writer's job is to see what's behind it, to see the bleak, unspeakable stuff, and turn the unspeakable into words--  not just into any words but if we can, into rhythm and blues."

The Mermaids Singing by Lisa Carey

As you can tell from this blog, I don't read many books that are recently published. The Mermaids Singing was published by Avon Books in 1998.  Most of the time-- 99% of the time-- I get my books from the library, and books that are very popular have a long waiting list; therefore, I wait for years to read them since there are so many books to read that don't have a waiting list.  This issue, I admit, has nothing to do with The Mermaids Singing, but for whatever reason I felt like saying this. A boring and insignificant detail for those who have read my Fiction Writing 101 posts.  Anyway...


The Mermaids Singing is filled with mother/daughter angst.  I gravitate to mother/daughter angst books even if I'm not intending to read one.  All that unconscious stuff going on,  I suppose-- like pulling a certain tarot card out of a deck over and over.  And while I was reading it I remembered a quote by T.S. Eliot that goes something like this:  "Human kind cannot bear very much reality." And while this novel deals very much with the reality of mother/daughter angst, it also presents the world of mermaids as imagined in the minds of the Irish.  The mermaid mythology is wonderful, and it helps deal with this reality that human kind has a difficult time bearing which explains why romance novels are so, so, so popular and which has nothing whatsoever to do with The Mermaids Singing.  (If you must know, I'm intrigued by the incredible popularity of romance novels.)

As I read about the generations of mothers and daughters who just don't get along, I not only thought of T.S. Eliot but of Dr. Christiane Northrup who says in her book Mother-Daughter Wisdom: Creating a Legacy of Physical and Emotional Health that "If you have a daughter, the work you do to make peace with your own mother and your nurturing history will be the best legacy for your health and healing you can pass on to her."  Northrup says a whole lot more (700 pages more) about this intense relationship, but that's the line I remembered.  Of course, if fictional mothers were this healthy, there wouldn't be many novels about mother/daughter angst, but The Singing Mermaids traces the history of the mother/daughter dysfunction through three generations, and it shows very well what Dr. Northrup argues in her mother/daughter book about the result of not healing things with mom before having your children. But by the end of The Mermaids Singing there's a hint that the next generation will be a bit healthier than the previous two which is a lovely way to conclude the novel.  It's not certain that this will be the case, of course, but there's room for the reader to imagine this.

Shakespeare's iPad

So what do you think about a Tempest app for iPad?  Yeah, The Tempest by William Shakespeare.  I think it's cool.  Here's a link to an interview with Elliot Visconsi, the creator of the app:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1843216/shakespeare-was-a-media-theorist?goback=%2Egde_2176465_member_136645346

The Duke Don't Dance by Richard Sharp

It's been established in a small world way (based on about a dozen reviews I've read) that The Duke Don't Dance by Richard Sharp and indie published (bravo) is enjoyable and engaging. I agree! This smart story is narrated slowly and carefully; it's not written in scenes, and there isn't much dialogue; the characters are human and wonderfully flawed. What's it about?

A small group of people belonging to the Silent Generation (those born between 1925 - 1945) are at a funeral of a friend in 2011, and the novel is about this group and how they're connected. It's that simple though it's not simple. The story is intricate and intimate, begins in 1960, and is a story about recent history as much as it's about the depth of the characters' lives.

Librarians: Please consider purchasing this book for your collection.

Beach readers: This isn't a fluffy beach read, but I read it (on my Kindle) while on the edge of the Pacific.  Go for it.

Little Free Libraries!

I first heard about these little free libraries months ago or maybe even a year ago, but yesterday there was an article in the LA Times about these tiny libraries outside homes.  It's a totally cool idea, and here's the website where you can find lots of information about starting your own little free library:
http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/index.html

Carelessly Uttered: Who Said That?

Recently I've received questions about the quote that's below the title of this blog.  Readers from Arkansas, Colorado, and Rhode Island have wondered about it. Who wrote it?  Aphra Behn (English, 1640 - 1689). It's believed that she's the first woman in history to support herself by writing.  She was also a spy and was called The Incomparable because she was so darn good at it. She also went to debtor's prison, and it was after she got out that she started earning her living as a writer. Virginia Woolf said, "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn... for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds."  The quote below the title of this blog is from her poem "Love's Witness."

Mississippi: Many Writers and One Abortion Clinic

Though I had fun singing M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i as a kid, I've never been there. Maybe someday I'll have the courage to visit. Yes, it's got quite a place in the literary world-- William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Eudora Welty, Richard Wright, Barry Hannah, Beth Henley, and, of course, legal thriller superstar John Grisham-- and so many more writers. But Mississippi only has one abortion clinic, and it may be closed down in July.

Major News Announcement: Mississippi isn't a healthy place for women! And when state legislator Bubba Carpenter told a bunch of Republicans in May that "with the new law the Legislature had literally stopped abortion in the state of Mississippi" he sounds naive.  Or delusional.  Listen up, Bubba! Just because there isn't an abortion clinic in Mississippi doesn't mean women won't have abortions in Mississippi.  FYI: the do-it-yourself movement didn't start with HGTV.  Just in case you missed your women's history classes in high school: women have been taking care of unwanted pregnancies ever since, well, the beginning of time. And they will continue to do so. The clinic's doctor, Willie Parker, understands what Bubba apparently does not, and Dr.Parker "shudder[s] to think of the consequences" of closing the only clinic. And this is why abortion must be available in Mississippi and in every state.

Gardener of Stars by Carla Harryman

Here's a novel that's more like poetry than prose.  I found myself getting into the words, the sentences, the language, and that's why I kept reading.  Reading it was like jumping into an abstract or surreal painting. Wow.  Gardener of Stars  by Carla Harryman was published by Atelos.  Here are some excerpts:

"As the raft floated off to sea, out of the mouth of the estuary, semis rattled the hills above, beaming through the fog, delivering products to our delicious nowhere."

"Bladed clouds swell into hurling ribbons.
Jubilantly she takes the martini offered her from a tray and makes her way to the indoor spa where all are assembled around a kidney-shaped pool.  Her opponent is on the opposite side supervising the discharge of medicinal salts into the red liquid. As the attendant works her way around it, meaning collapses into the pool of blood, and the players are once again faced with the question of what to do with each other."

"The trumpet plays on the other side of the door from where I stand next to the john.  A pair of divinities, or giant parents, who are also twins, suffer the little children to come before them as they guard a constellation of keyholes to doorways all of which I want to enter.  Most parents are dumb and these are no exception: they are standing right in front of the place they want me to notice least."

Fiction Writing 101: Are Writers Made or Born?

I'm being lazy today, so I'm going to let Jack Kerouac answer the question posed above.  According to Kerouac: "Writers are made, for anybody who isn't illiterate can write; but geniuses of the writing art like Melville, Whitman or Thoreau are born. Let's examine the word 'genius.' It doesn't mean screwiness or eccentricity or excessive 'talent.' It is derived from the Latin word gignere (to beget) and a genius is simply a person who originates something never known before. Nobody but a Melville could have written Moby Dick, not even Whitman or Shakespeare. Nobody but Whitman could have conceived, originated and written Leaves of Grass; Whitman was born to write Leaves of Grass and Melville was born to write a Moby Dick."

Kerouac continues, of course: "When the question is therefore asked, 'Are writers made or born?' one should first ask, 'Do you mean writers with talent or writers with originality?' Because anyone can write, but not everybody invents new forms of writing. Gertrude Stein invented a new form of writing and her imitators are just 'talents.'  Hemingway later invented his own form also. The criterion for judging talent or genius is ephemeral, speaking rationally in this world of graphs, but one gets the feeling definitely when a writer of genius amazes him by strokes of force never seen before and yet hauntingly familiar... the main thing to remember is that talent imitates genius because there's nothing else to imitate.  Since talent can't originate it has to imitate or interpret... Genius gives birth, talent delivers."

(From The Portable Jack Kerouac edited by Ann Charters.)

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

So as I said in my previous post (yep, the one right below), it had been decades since I'd read Death of a Salesman. An op-ed in the NY Times on May 3 ("Death of a Salesman's Dreams" by Lee Siegel) prompted me to read it again.  Everyone (yeah, everyone, right?) knows that the title gives away the ending, so the point of the play isn't that--gasp-- the salesman,Willy Loman, dies. And of course he dies emotionally, spiritually, and psychically before he dies physically, right? So what's the point?

I'm sure there are many points that high school teachers and college professors make when they're teaching Death of a Salesman, but as Lee Siegel writes, "while Death of a Salesman has consolidated its prestige as an exposure of middle-class delusions, the American middle class--as a social reality and a set of admirable values-- has nearly ceased to exist."  Yeah, the middle class has nearly ceased to exist in 2012.  So how are we to think about this play right now in 2012?  A play which is based upon mythology about the American dream, about middle class life, about the notion that by being a hard working, middle class employee you will be a success and you will be able to have what you want. What did Willy Loman want? Happiness and dignity but as Lee Siegel writes, "...today's capitalists no longer share Willy's belief that he could attain dignity through his work." Yeah, it's tough to swallow in 2012 that Willy ever believed such a thing.

It's very, very hard to believe people en masse can derive dignity from being an employee in 2012.  How can there be dignity when at any time we can be laid off, let go, down-sized, fired? (The lucky ones are demoted.) When our salaries are frozen or reduced? When our benefits, whatever they are, are taken away? How can there be dignity when it's understood so well in 2012 that employees are expendable? Of course employees were always expendable, but it wasn't quite so "in your face" back in the day.  As Siegel writes, "... it is unlikely that anyone [in our time] associates happiness and dignity with working hard for a comfortable existence purchased with a modest income" and that "in our current context, Willy's dreams of love, dignity and community through modest work make him a deluded loser."  Death of a Salesman is very intense and not only because the angst is unrelenting but because Willy Loman does indeed look painfully foolish in a world that doesn't exist.

But after I finished reading Death of a Salesman for the first time in decades, I read it again because the American dream is such a powerful mythology and because of what Arthur Miller wrote in his autobiography: "that he hoped the play would expose 'this pseudo life that thought to touch the clouds by standing on top of a refrigerator, waving a paid-up mortgage at the moon, victorious at last."

Fiction Writing 101: Dialogue & Time

I hadn't read Death of a Salesman in decades-- when I was much too young to understand it-- but after reading an op-ed in the NY Times about it (that'll be for another post), I decided it was time to read it again.  I'll write about the content in a future post (the same one I referenced above) because there are two things about the writing that struck me when I recently read Arthur Miller's most famous play. The first is dialogue.

The dialogue doesn't sound like the way people talk. It isn't an illusion of real conversation as I've talked about it my post about dialogue (here). The key is that Arthur Miller made a conscious decision to write this way. According to Christopher Bigsby, Miller wanted "to avoid naturalistic dialogue." He wanted to "create a lyrical language which would draw attention to itself. He wished... not to write in a Jewish idiom, or even a naturalistic prose, but to lift the experience into emergency speech of an unashamedly open kind rather than to proceed by the crabbed dramatic hints and pretexts of the 'natural.'" The dialogue in Death of a Salesman (at least when I read it to myself instead of listening to it while actually watching the play) never does sound like a real conversation, and parts of it sound quite odd-- so much so that I re-read lines because the cadence was so unusual and awkward and because, as I stated in my dialogue post, I love dialogue.  The lesson: do what you want with dialogue, experiment with it, but make sure you eventually know what you're doing.

The second element that struck me in Death of a Salesman: Time.  I don't know what to say to readers who are uncomfortable with "nearly instantaneous time shifts" because I love the fluidity of time in stories.  Death of a Salesman takes place in one day, but time moves all over the place, literally on the stage and in what Miller called "social time" and "psychic time."  Bigsby explains it like this: "By social time he seems to mean the unfolding truth of the public world which provides the context for Willy's life, while psychic time is evident in memories which crash into his present, creating ironies, sounding echoes, taunting him with a past which can offer him nothing by reproach. All these different notions of time blend and interact, that interaction being a key to the play's effect."  The shifting of time is amazing in Death of a Salesman, amazing to realize that the story takes place within a twenty-four hour period.  It feels like years.  And as with the lesson in dialogue, feel free to experiment with time, but make sure you eventually know what you're doing.

The Color Midnight Made by Andrew Winer

I was sucked into Conrad Clay's world, and for those who read my Fiction 101 posts, you know that getting sucked into a fictional world is a very good thing.  It means the writing is successful. Conrad Clay is the ten year old protagonist in The Color Midnight Made by Andrew Winer and published by Washington Square Press. When I first started reading this novel, I wondered about the color metaphors/symbolism, and I wondered about the language, Conrad's speech and vocabulary, wondering if these would continue consistently throughout the book.  I stopped wondering because these elements worked very well, and as I said a few sentences ago, I simply got sucked in.  The story is sensitive and painful, painful in a good way.  There are happy and funny moments too, but Winer doesn't shy away from the difficult life stuff, and that's what makes fiction really good fiction. Conrad Clay is a white kid growing up in a mostly black community in the Bay Area.  His parents have a terrible marriage, but Conrad finds ways to connect meaningfully with people.  I highly recommend this novel.

Fiction Writing 101: Listening

So today I have laryngitis. And wow-- I said that (wrote it) like I planned on having laryngitis-- which of course I didn't. But it's been a good thing. I've closed my eyes for most of the day and listened. Listening's important for writers.  And when I see (not today, of course) people walking around with their heads down looking at tiny screens, I wonder how much they hear. Or do they tune everything out except whatever noisy indicator signals to them that they have to read or watch something on that tiny screen? They're missing a lot. But then again, most of them aren't writers though they text a thousand times a day, tweet hundreds of 140 characters a day, post crucial info on Facebook fifty times per day, and possibly blog several times a week. But that stuff isn't writing.  It's texting, tweeting, posting, and blogging. And most of it ignores listening. What did I hear today?  Everything.

Update:  So Jennifer Egan (A Visit from the Goon Squad) is telling a story on Twitter (@NYerfiction) starting today for ten days.  So maybe tweeting is writing.  The New Yorker calls it-- amazingly-- Twitter fiction.  So I'm wrong once again. Anything is considered writing, and I mean fiction writing.

Fiction Writing 101: What are You Writing About?

I usually have no idea what I'm writing about when I start writing, but I usually know what it isn't: a poem, a play, a screenplay, memoir, an essay, and a few other genres. So when I start writing, it's fiction. But that's all I know. (I know some call what I'm doing right now writing, but when I say I'm writing I mean fiction writing.) I don't write outlines. I do write words and sentences on bits of paper, and they collect on my desk.  If I have no idea what they mean when I look at them a week later, I recycle those pieces of paper.  If the words meant something to me, they'll come back because I don't forget anything that's important.  What words meant may get stuck in the recesses of my brain for a year, but I'll think of them-- and their meaning-- again at some point.

So how do I figure out what I'm writing about?  For one thing, I take a long time to get to the actual writing phase. I think and ponder and wonder for a long time. (As you may have guessed, I'm not a prolific writer. What do you expect when my Mercury is in Taurus?) Then when I feel ready, I write. Then I look at what I'm writing and figure out what it is I'm saying because what I've written is probably not the actual story. So I try to find the story, and that means letting go of a lot of words.  Yeah--delete delete delete. It feels great to let go. Sound scary? Watching reality shows about hoarders will cure you of being afraid to let go.

How do I find a story? If a sentence resonates with me, if a sentence makes me uncomfortable, if a sentence evokes an "oh my god" reaction, I'm probably getting close.  If I'm simply entertaining myself, tripping merrily along as I write, that's not the story. Put another way: what I write has to bother me. If I'm not bothered then nothing's there.

Mudwoman by Joyce Carol Oates

I hadn't read a Joyce Carol Oates novel in about ten years, but when I read about Mudwoman (published by Harper Collins), somewhere, I wanted to read it.  Maybe it was because of the academia in it and because I had a hunch Oates would be critical of some aspects of the world of the university from the point of view of a professor.  And maybe it was more than a hunch because I know that Oates is not afraid of exploring the dark side of anything. And Mudwoman is dark. And creepy. Haunting. And I was drawn into the story and really, really enjoyed it. The "present"part of Mudwoman takes place just a couple of years after 9/11, and the world in Mudwoman is dealing with issues that concern us right now, and the story telling itself is a mixture of present, past, and the imaginary-- nightmares, actually. And her prose is poetry.  If you want the anti-beach book, this is it.

Bang Ditto by Amber Tamblyn

I was browsing in an indie bookstore in Long Beach and came across Bang Ditto, a book of poetry published by Manic D Press. I remembered Amber Tamblyn from the tv show "Joan of Arcadia" and was curious about her writing, curious about her point of view of the world. And so I satisfied my curiosity. Her poetry is energetic and accessible; it's obvious Tamblyn enjoys playing with words, and I like that.  It's also far, far more interesting than the tabloids at the supermarkets.

Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris

Finding Nouf was published way back in 2008 by Houghton Mifflin. So no, this is not a self-published/indie literary novel I'm reviewing though I'm extremely open to reviewing self-published/indie literary novels! However, Finding Nouf is literary and a mystery. Yes, it's a literary mystery. Well written too! (Literary, mystery, and well written don't go together all that often.) (And I've used the word literary in this paragraph six times.)


Finding Nouf takes place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and the mystery is about a dead sixteen year old girl and her very much alive and wealthy family. The  big question: Was her death an accident or murder? The unlikely duo of Ms. Katya Hijazi, a lab technician in the coroner's office, and Mr. Nayir ash-Sharqi, a desert guide, solve the mystery.  This pair is unusual because they aren't married or related in any way but do solve this mystery together, and this is one of the most interesting elements of the novel given Saudi Arabia's strict rules about gender. I highly recommend Finding Nouf.

Put Them All Together by Anne Commire

Recently I read about playwright Anne Commire in the obituaries section of the LA Times.  (The LA Times writes interesting obits.) Because of this article I wanted to read her controversial play "Put Them All Together" which is about a mother who kills her hyperactive son.  Way back in 1982 when it premiered in LA, a critic labeled the play "anti-child and anti-mother."  Commire said the play's message was "just the opposite, a cry for help."  Commire is also quoted as saying that she writes about "the breaking points of women." So of course I had to read this play.  What do I think?  It's intense and disturbing, and it goes where few writers dare to go.  I loved it!

The Ruins of Us by Keija Parssinen

I wanted to read this novel by Keija Parsssinen (and published by Harper Perennial) because it's a story about an American who marries a Saudi, and they live in Saudi Arabia.  (Not something I read about on a daily basis.) I also wanted to read The Ruins of Us because the author is an American who was born in Saudi Arabia and born into the world of Aramco.  (Actually, it's Saudi Aramco.)  I wanted to read about her Saudi characters, getting into the minds of the Saudi characters.  I also wanted to read about Saudi Arabia-- the place, the culture, the customs.  And I wanted to read an American's imaginings of Saudi Arabia.

So I read The Ruins of Us and read it quickly, and I highly recommend it.

Now what about issues like Othering and Orientalism and political correctness?  Oh, go on and think about those things, but Parssinen had her own issues to work out, and she did that in a healthy way by writing fiction.

Fiction Writing 101: Point of View

Welcome to some thoughts about point of view.  I saved this for last because point of view can be complicated, and I don't want this post to be confusing.  [Update: Due to overwhelming demand, this is not my last post about fiction writing.  A big thank you to my fans in Europe!] The first point to make about point of view is a general one.  Once the writer creates the rules about the point of view of her story, the writer must stick with them.  Okay, the writer doesn't have to stick to her own rules, but her story won't be as strong as it could be if she did stick to her own rules.  Actually, it might not be very readable if she doesn't stick to them.  However, rule breakers have invented all sorts of cool things, so please feel free to experiment once you have the hang of point of view.

One (to repeat because it's worth repeating): It's a good idea for the writer to stick to the rules she created about point of view.

Two: The writer must decide whether her story will be told in the first, second, or third person.

I can hear this question now:  Can a novel have a combination of first, second, or third person?  Perhaps.  But only if you're an experienced writer, and your rules are very clear in your head.

But I'm keeping this simple.

Decide whether the writer is speaking (in third or second person) or whether a character is speaking (first person).

If a character is speaking-- in other words, if the story is being told using "I"-- then what the character can tell us is only what the character knows or believes or feels.

If the writer is telling the story in third person-- in other words, if the story is told using he, she, and they-- then the writer must make another decision.  How much does the writer know?  Does the writer know everything or just some things?  For example, the writer can make the decision that she can report objectively about what is happening and only has access into the mind of one character.

How about choosing the second person?  In my opinion, this is an annoying point of view, and I'd avoid it.  As a reader, I hate being "you'd" to death.

Three: Decide to whom you are telling the story.  Usually, writers tell their stories to the reader, but sometimes stories are told to other characters so that the reader is, in effect, eavesdropping.  And some stories are told to the self; the reader is reading a character's diary, or the story takes place totally in the mind of the character, stream of consciousness.  Be aware that stream of consciousness is hard to pull off.

So those are three basic thoughts about point of view.  It's only a start.  Please feel free to email me if you have a specific question about point of view, and I'll attempt to provide you with a satisfying answer.  The most important thing to take away from this post is that once point of view rules are made, please keep them.

I conclude with a quote that has nothing to do with point of view:

"Fiction writers are, by their very natures, middle children. They are searchers, doubters, malcontents. They believe themselves somehow abandoned, uncoddled, unloved. They deserve more, understand more, desire more. They are voyeurs, con artists, liars. They are fallen angels, gold-hearted whores."

--- John Gregory Brown, "Other Bodies, Ourselves: The Masks of Fiction"

Fiction Writing 101: Dialogue

I love writing dialogue, but that's irrelevant. There are a couple of things to keep in mind when you write dialogue.  First, dialogue is an illusion of real conversation.  So leave out the "uhs" and "wells" and other unnecessary, clunky words.  Also, use contractions and put names at the end of the sentence. Here's a before and after example:

Before:
"Well, Sue, it looks like you are in trouble now."
"Jack, I don't, well, I don't think you know what you are talking about."

After:
"Looks like you're in trouble now, Sue."
"You don't know what you're talking about, Jack."

After, if Sue and Jack are from New Jersey:
"You're in fuckin' trouble, Susie-Q."
"You're an asshole, Jacko."

The best way to test dialogue is to read it out loud and trust your ear or ears if you have two.

The second point about dialogue is that it must have a purpose.  Dialogue is not filler.  It's not there to make your fiction longer.  Dialogue needs to convey information which contributes to moving the plot along and/or to develop the character.  Dialogue is not exposition.  If you need to give background info via dialogue, do it carefully and don't have the character go on and on and on.

The third point is that each character must sound unique. Each character must have a different voice.  I don't mean that one character speaks with a gravelly voice, and another one has a squeaky voice.  I mean that the way characters put words together, the way characters express themselves are all different.  Listen to a small group of people talking and you'll hear that everyone speaks differently.  If you can't hear that, then please reconsider your fiction writing aspirations.

The last point is:  Beware of writing in dialect.  Unless you write dialect extremely well, avoid it.  I'm sure I'll get lots of grief about the two lines of dialogue I used above which I think are actually more slang than dialect.  But I was born and raised in New Jersey, so I can take some liberties.  Are ya gonna argue with me about that or what?

Blood Sisters by Valerie Miner

This isn't a self-published novel that I'm going to say a few words about, and so it's not exactly a review.  (See the post about my desire to review self-published/indie authors.) I will save my in-depth reviewing for those indie novels that are pouring in from all over the world!  So here are my thoughts about Blood Sisters by Valerie Miner and published in 1982 by St. Martin's Press:

I can't imagine that this novel would be published by St. Martin's Press today. Consider Amanda Hocking, writer of paranormal romance for young adults (and former self-published/indie author and wildly successful) who is currently published by St. Martin's. I'm probably unfairly juxtaposing Ms. Hocking's work and Ms. Miner's work. You see, Blood Sisters is political, and it's rare that I come across recently written novels that are unapologetically political. Oh, I'm sure they're out there, and I'm just not spending enough time searching for them. But Blood Sisters is refreshing because one of the protagonists is a feminist and another is a member of the Provisional IRA. The protagonists, Liz and Beth, are passionately involved in causes that are much larger than themselves.

What's interesting is that the New York Times reviewer of Blood Sisters in 1982 wasn't that impressed by the politics. This is what Annie Gottlieb said: "The problem with Valerie Miner's novel is, oddly, that its modern politics, so important to the characters, never come to life."  I say a lot has changed since 1982 (understatement of the century), and Blood Sisters has more politics in it than most of the books reviewed recently (no, I don't know how long recently is) in the New York Times. The politics come to life for me because I'm comparing it to the absolute non-existence of politics in most fiction published today, either by the Big Six or by successful (meaning those who make significant money) self-published authors.

For those who want to know what else Blood Sisters is about, it's about mothers and daughters which, of course, is a politics all of its own.

Fiction Writing 101: Even A Kid Can Do It?

So today's New York Times has a front page article about parents getting their children's fiction published, well, self-published: Young Writers Dazzle Publisher (Mom and Dad). I'm not going to debate this because Tom Robbins articulates so nicely how I feel.

"'What's next? asked the novelist Tom Robbins. 'Kiddie architecture, juvenile dentists, 11-year old rocket scientists? Any parent who thinks that the crafting of engrossing, meaningful fiction requires less talent and experience than designing a house, extracting a wisdom tooth, or supervising a lunar probe is, frankly, delusional. There are no prodigies in literature... literature requires experience, in a way that mathematics and music do not.'"

Thank you, Tom Robbins, thank you.

By the way, most adults can't craft engrossing and meaningful fiction.

Politics and Preachers and Barry Goldwater

Fiction Writing 101: Plot, Part Deux

A gracious reader in Stockholm politely informed me that Kate Braverman's suggestion about plot was interesting but not too helpful to the novice fiction writer. Okay. Let's try some advice about plot from Anne Lamott. She offers lots of wonderful ideas about writing in Bird by Bird. Here's some of what she says in her chapter about plot:

"Plot grows out of character."

"Characters should not... serve as pawns for some plot you've dreamed up... I say don't worry about plot.  Worry about your characters. Let what they say or do reveal who they are and be involved in their lives, and keep asking yourself, Now what happens?"

"Find out what each character cares most about in the world because then you will have discovered what's at stake.  Find a way to express this discovery in action, and then let your people set about finding or holding onto or defending whatever it is."

"But something must be at stake or you will have no tension, and your readers will not turn the pages."

"If someone isn't changed, then what is the point of your story?  For the climax, there must be a killing or a healing or a domination.  It can be a real killing, a murder, or it can be a killing of the spirit, or of something terrible inside one's soul, or it can be a killing of a deadness within, after which the person becomes alive again.  The healing may be about union, reclamation, the rescue of a fragile prize.  But whatever happens, we need to feel that it was inevitable."

It's inevitable that that's enough about plot for now.

Fiction Writing 101: Plot and Structure

What an amazing response to my request yesterday!  People from all over the world urged me to continue posting tidbits about writing fiction. Yes, I heard from folks in Slovakia, Tonga, and Uzbekistan.  Botswana, Cyprus, and Maldives. They all want me to keep posting these ultra important tips about story telling. Of course, they mostly wanted to know how to write romance novels which, sadly, I know nothing about. But today I will impart the few things I know about plot. Actually, there's only one thing I know about plot, and Kate Braverman explains it best when she's talking about her short stories, but I'm sure you can apply this to an 800 page novel as well.

Kate Braverman calls some of her short stories "exploded moments" and goes on to say that "they're just a point in time and space, and that's all they are. They don't necessarily resolve, and they don't necessarily have a structure. Who's to say that plot is necessary for literature? Just men who have been involved in plots and boundary disputes. Does that really have anything to do with me?"

So the question of the day is: Does that have anything to do with you?

Fiction Writing 101: What's Left?

What's left to say about the basics of fiction writing?  Oh, plot and structure.  Perhaps something about dialogue.  Maybe a few sentences about point of view.  That's about it.  But the big question is:  Does anyone really care about those things?  If you would like to hear about any of these topics, please let me know at carelesslyuttered (at) gmail (dot) com.

In the meantime, here's a great list:Janet Fitch's 10 Rules for Writers

Self-Published/Independent Writers of Literary Fiction

Do you write fiction that doesn't fall into a specific category?  Do you write fiction that doesn't fit neatly into a genre such as romance, mystery, thriller, science fiction and so forth?  Do you write fiction that some call literary?  Good!  I would like to review that kind of fiction and post my thoughts about it-- no stars, no points, no letter grades-- on this blog. So here's the deal:

Send me an email telling me about your self-published aka independently published book of non-genre specific fiction aka literary fiction aka general fiction, and I'll respond promptly:

carelesslyuttered (at) gmail (dot) com

I look forward to hearing from you!

Secret Daughter by Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Here's another book I recently finished reading and which was published by William Morrow. If you enjoy fiction about motherhood and identity, you'll enjoy Secret Daughter.  India and California are the settings for this novel that explores the meaning of family.  I highly recommend it!

The Flower Bowl Spell by Olivia Boler

Just read a fun, self-published book!  Yep, called The Flower Bowl Spell-- same as the title of this post.  If you like magic and spunky writing, please give it a try.  It's available as an ebook, and I believe it will be available as a paperback in the near future.  But don't wait for paper-- and save a tree-- read ebooks!  Here's the description from Amazon:


Journalist Memphis Zhang isn’t ashamed of her Wiccan upbringing—in fact, she’s proud to be one of a few Chinese American witches in San Francisco, and maybe the world. Unlike the well-meaning but basically powerless Wiccans in her disbanded coven, Memphis can see fairies, read auras, and cast spells that actually work—even though she concocts them with ingredients like Nutella and antiperspirant. Yet after a friend she tries to protect is brutally killed, Memphis, full of guilt, abandons magick to lead a “normal” life. The appearance, however, of her dead friend’s sexy rock star brother—as well as a fairy in a subway tunnel—suggest that magick is not done with her. Reluctantly, Memphis finds herself dragged back into the world of urban magick, trying to stop a power-hungry witch from using the dangerous Flower Bowl Spell and killing the people Memphis loves—and maybe even Memphis herself.

Fiction Writing 101: Consequences

Dear Gentle Readers,

The lesson for today occurs at the end of this post, so please be patient because I need to say something about the the politics of reproduction in the United States because something needs to be said. Of course, a lot is being said lately because some United Statesians still want to control women's bodies.

Many people, including many women, believe that women in the United States have equality. The sad truth is that women in the United States are second class citizens, and I don't hear that said too often which is why I'm saying it here. Since I have a readership of about a zillion, this message will reach all corners of earth, maybe even deep into our solar system, so I repeat: Women in the United States are second class citizens. The politics of reproduction is a manifestation of that status.

What is the politics of reproduction?  I will let Rickie Solinger explain:

"Reproductive politics is a late twentieth-century term.  Women's rights advocates known as Second Wave feminists devised the term originally to describe late twentieth-century struggles over contraception and abortion, race and sterilization, class and adoption, women and sexuality, and other related topics. The term has been useful because it captures the way that questions about power are at the heart of these debates." (page 2, Pregnancy and Power by Rickie Solinger)

Yep, power is at the heart of these debates, and there are some who just don't like the idea that women are in control of their very own bodies.  Solinger goes on to say, "I understand the term reproductive politics to refer most basically to the question, Who has power over matters of pregnancy and its consequences?"

Ah, consequences.  Maybe we're getting closer to the discomfort. What are the consequences of women having control of their bodies? There are many consequences-- some can be construed as negative and some as positive and many fall somewhere across the continuum-- but that doesn't mean the government should take away choices and options. Everyone must deal with consequences in her or his own way. And this so nicely leads me to tell you about my fiction and the lesson of this post.

Much of my fiction deals with the politics of reproduction and consequences. The consequences aren't always terrific, but we must have choices! Characters make difficult decisions in my stories, and the characters aren't always that content with some of the consequences of their decisions. Remember: If characters make decisions that don't cause conflict there wouldn't be a story. So please take a look at Momentary  Mother, To the Left of the Microwave, and My Valley is Icky Too.

Fiction Writing 101: Thoreau

“How vain it is to sit down and write when you have not stood up to live.”

-- Henry David Thoreau

(Born on July 12, 1817 in Concord, MA and died May 6, 1862 in Concord, MA)

Fiction Writing 101: Characters

You've got to care about your characters.  If you don't, your readers won't.  In fact, you've got to love your characters.  Even the ones who do bad things. And it's the details--significant and particular details-- that make characters feel real.  The details add to the credibility of the character. How characters behave also adds to credibility.  For example, a nun usually acts differently than a stockbroker.  But it's the writer's job to let the reader know what behavior is appropriate for a character.  Maybe there is a nun who behaves like a stockbroker, and maybe there is a stockbroker who behaves like a nun.  I doubt the latter especially, but the writer would have to reveal the appropriateness of the character's behavior through appearance, tone, action, or details in order to convince me that a stockbroker behaves like a nun. Of course, this information isn't imparted like a list to be checked off (this is discussed in my post about telling v. showing).  It's best for this information to be implied through appearance, tone, action, or detail.

Details and the appropriateness of behavior add to a character's credibility.  The character also needs a purpose.  The reader wants to identify with the character, and what the character wants will determine how much the reader identifies and sympathizes with the character.  We can relate to characters who are criminals because we can identify with their desires:  revenge, money, love, hate, greed and so on.  Yes, characters are complex, and that's necessary because characters need to show contradictions.  They must possess a range of possibilities. They can and must conflict with other characters and situations, but convincing characters must also conflict with themselves.  And they need to be capable of change.

When a character is given a chance to do something or is faced with a choice, this moment triggers a movement, and the character acts. This act is revealing a change that's occurring in the character.  Hooray!  Yes, this isn't like real life. In real life when many people are confronted by chances or choices, they are simply paralyzed by fear. But, my dear readers, you aren't writing real life. You're writing fiction.

To end this post, here's something Anne Lamott said about characters: You are probably going to have to let bad things happen to some of the characters you love or you won't have much of a story.  Bad things happen to good characters because our actions have consequences, and we do not all behave perfectly all the time.