character first, character foremost

"Character is the very life of fiction. Setting exists so that the character has someplace to stand, something that can help define him, something he can pick up and throw, if necessary, or eat, or give his girlfriend. Plot exists so the character can discover for himself (and in the process reveal to the reader) what he, the character, is really like: plot forces the character to choice and action, tranforms him from a static construct to a life like human being making choices and paying for them or reaping the rewards. And theme exists only to make the character stand up and be somebody: theme is elevated critical language for what the character's main problem is." John Gardner, On Becoming a Novelist

I think we are sucked in by writing workshops and the publishing industry to focus on plot first, the interesting premise, the unusual situation. Not that character is ignored, but that we hear a lot of talk like "consider what if ...", meaning what if this happened to someone (read plot) or "hook your reader with an exciting initiating event", meaning again soemthing unusual or exciting happened to someone (again plot). Much of what passes for good movies and books, to me, these days is based on gimmicky premises, "twist" endings, and plot-driven, souless escapades. In fact, the last two movies I've seen that come to mind where character is treated with the importance it deserves are Revolutionary Road and Brothers.

I don't know if this lack of concern for character is a result of having to fill the market commercially, a misdirection on the part of writers workshops, teachers, and editors, or an indication of the public's general bad taste. What we remember, when the movie is over or the last page read, especially months and years later, is that character we couldn't shake, those people we felt we knew, that we loved or hated or both. Where are the great character-driven stories these days?

Walking on Alligators

On Jacksonville's westside is a wonderful used bookstore, Chamblin Book Mine, a maze of room after room crammed full of every genre of writing one can imagine. I could spend days browsing its stacks. Today I found a book of meditations for writers, Walking on Alligators by Susan Shaughnessy.

Shaughnessy takes passages about writing from various writers and expands on them, providing for each passage an affirmation statement designed to motivate and inspire. She begins with this quote from Erica Jong:

"Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the dark places it leads."

Shaughnessy follows the Jong quote with a short essay that invites us to take the journey of writing, wherever it may lead, even if we find ourselves "walking on alligators." She ends her remarks on Jong with this affirmation:

"Today, I will have the courage to go wherever my writing wants to lead me. I will not judge as I write. I will write, and write as honestly as I can."

Shaughnessy's meditations seem a wonderful way to start each writing session. I highly recommend it to those who write or want to start writing.

To edit is to edit is to edit is to .... Thanks, Gertrude

Today's task? Editing
Today's thought? "I try to leave out the parts that people skip." Elmore Leonard

"Clutter" Accepted for Publication

I received word today that "Clutter," a "slice of life" story I wrote for the Florida Writers Association's second collection of short stories, was accepted for publication. The collection contains sixty stories by FWA members and will be released at FWA's 2010 conference in Lake Mary, Florida October 22-24. I'm not sure what the FWA has planned for larger distribution, but hearing my piece was selected was a bit of welcomed news.

"Clutter" is a personal piece about my mother's hoarding behaviors and my worry for her and frustration with not being able to help her. It's intensely personal and makes me sad when I read it. It was one of those stories that grabs hold and won't let go until you commit it to paper.

Seeing the piece published will be both sweet and bitter. Anyone who knows a hoarder knows they can become deeply ashamed and baffled by their own behaviors. My mother is 81 and knowing I wrote about her obsession could cause her pain. I would never intentionally hurt her. I think as writers we often struggle with which, if any, parts or people of our personal life to share in our work. "Clutter" is the first work I've sent out for publication since making a serious effort at a writing career. I'm glad it was accepted. I'm sad, however, I can't share it with my mother. She would be very proud.

Children's Books: An Angelic Autumn

Children's Books: An Angelic Autumn
Karen Springen, Publisher's Weekly

Are angels the new vampires? Does the new bad-boy hottie come with a pair of wings? According to Karen Springen, they are and, yes, he does.

Apparently, angels are in and vamps are on their way out. Of course, last month I heard that mermaids were the new thing in the YA market.

For me, naming any trend the newest, bestest plot/character gimmick means a wave of quickly-written, poorly-edited books flooding the market. Not that the urge to chase the elusive market is not tempting. I don't think, however, the publishing industry can accurately predict where the market will go or what will take off and be the next blockbuster hit. Markets are led by early "alpha readers" who latch onto a book, talk it up, and spread the word, and knowing what they will like is anyone's guess.

You can know this simple truth: They'll love a good story. For my part, I'll aim to write a good story. The market can work itself out.

Steinbeck had it right when he said, "The profession of book-writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business."

Thought for the Day

"Complacency is a deadweight on the spirit. It smothers imagination."
Paula Fox

Paula Fox on writing ... and a little Pavese for good measure

"Hard and unremitting labor is what writing is. It is in that labor that I feel the weight and force of my own life. That is its great and nettlesome reward.

It is not easy to convince people who take writing courses just how much labor is required of a writer.

After all, their mouths are full of words. They need only transfer those words to paper. Writing can't be really difficult, like learning to play the oboe, for example, or studying astrophysics.

Pavese, in his diary, also writes:
'They say that to create while actually writing is to reach out beyond whatever plan we have made, searching, listening to the deep truth within. But often the profoundest truth we have is the plan we have created by slow, ruthless, weary effort and surrender.'

Most students of writing need little convincing about the deep truth they have within them, but they are not always partial to 'slow, ruthless, weary effort.' Few of us are. Yet there comes a time when you know that ruthless effort is what you must exert. There is no other way. And on that way you will discover such limitations in yourself as to make you gasp. But you work on. If you have done that for a long time, something will happen. You will succeed in becoming dogged. You will become resolute about one thing: to go to your desk day after day and try. You will give up the hope that you can come to a conclusion about yourself as a writer. You will give up conclusions."
Paula Fox, "Imagining What You Don't Know"

The Guardian has published a wonderful article online about Fox and her works. Click on the link above. It gave me hope to read she didn't publish her first novel until age 43. I turn 43 this December. Perhaps it is not too late for a successful writing career.