15 rules for writing fiction gleaned from workshops

It’s true. I’ve been neglecting this blog and taking the easy way out by posting book reviews.  I’ve been reading a lot this year, kid in a candy story lot. So it seems fair that I at least review the books someone sent me gratis, and that’s what my focus has been.  Sadly, I’ve not reviewed the books I actually bought and loved, at least not yet, and I’m promising myself that indulgence soon.  I do feel lucky to have received ARC’s of books I’d have anyway… and a little guilty for it. Ah, that protestant guilt….

While I don’t have many words on paper to show for it, I’ve been working a lot on my writing. Research, discussions, workshop and yes, reading.  I realized yesterday that I’ve become a workshop junkie, attending more than 20 in the last ten years.   I spent some time with a couple of my “notebooks” from workshop earlier this year and gleaned a few tidbits that I’d written down so I would remember them as I wrote.  Because I’m generous, and because once I post them I’ll never have to remember what I titled that document again, I decided to share the list. Some of them will sound like platitudes and they are.  None of them are credited, simply because they are just class notes and probably paraphrased, and possibly the words of someone great whom I didn’t realize was being quoted.  Feel like discussing? Comments or hit me on twitter. @rosespringvale.

1. Reader needs a map of the world.  Landing in an airport where you don’t speak the language.  The world and time frame established in the first paragraph

2.  Absence is the best form of presence. Intentional presence—absence ---shall have a presence. Not a void.

3.  Essence of all marriages:  we each occupy our own building. We pretend that we are coordinated.

4. The story knows more than you do.

5.  Don’t piss on your characters.

6.  End on a strong note.

7.  “Furniture is a bad investment.”  Fiction means “to arrange.”

8.  The best way to get the moment across is dramatic enactment. The danger of a highly dramatic scene is melodrama.

9. Try when writing description to limit to three sentences. “Rule of 3’s”

10.  Never start a short story with a character waking up.

11. You can use familiar language, cliché, but you must make it fresh.

12.  Try not to steal from other writers.

13.  Write with all five senses.

14. Aspire to create a situation where there are no right answers.

15. When writing character lives, you must know everything about the character.

Sometimes I just want the magic.

On Monday, I went to a reading by Antonya Nelson and Deborah Eisenberg and our amazing reading series here in Houston.  I'd read Antonya before, but not Deborah.  Both are highly awarded teachers at top notch MFA programs.

It was interesting, but one thing they said has been tossing around my mostly empty brain, and that was that when they write a short story, they depend a lot on the elliptical paragraphs, letting the reader's imagination fill in what happens between scenes.  As a writer, that interests me, because one mistake that I often see is the "too much detail" blocking.  No reader wants to hear every little thing that happens. (and then she drank some coffee, and then she went to the bathroom, etc)

As a reader, I feel the opposite.  Both of these "literary" writers write fascinating stories but they almost always leave me feeling like the story isn't finished.  I know it is because I'm supposed to focus on the characters and the meaning and that the story is indeed finished, but as a reader I'm not satisfied. Chalk it up to cutting my teeth on romance novels I suppose, where everyone lives happily ever after.  Or mysteries where we always discover who did it and why.  But those are questions often left unanswered.  We instead go inside the brain of the perpetrator, and learn that he has a long held secret, or something that makes the story about that, but not the plot itself.

Then I was thinking about the play I have tickets for on Friday.  Anything Goes, just a simple musical with lots of music.  I thought about asking my old writing group friend, because he is very much "into" theater... directing, writing plays, etc.  And decided against it for the same reason... I don't want to go to a play with an expert to tell me what they did well, what they screwed up. 

Sometimes, I just want to be entertained. Sometimes, I want to fall into the story, whether it be written or performed, and lose myself.  I want to suspend my disbelief and quit worrying about the technique.  I just want the magic.

Day 5 of the 13 day solitary confinement.  I thought I'd go this weekend and hang out with my kids... two of them live here in the city with their spouses.  Both were gone last weekend, and surprise, they are all out of town this weekend too.  I feel like this is trial by fire.

The dogs are loving it though.  They are getting two walks a day, extra training with cheese (I'm very bored!) and all my attention.  I groan a little at the thought.  I'm becoming one of those women. Even the cat is enjoying the "rest"... here they are "watching football" last weekend.

Watching Football

Today, I have training to be a clerk for the Nov 4 election.  All i do is check id, give instructions, etc, but the Powers That Be think that requires two hours of training before every election.  I'm interested this time because the Texas Voter ID law got struck down last week.  In fact, Texas isn't doing so well in the Supreme court... They also suspended the mandate that ordered all abortion clinics closed and are on the wrong side of the gay marriage rulings.

let's do something!

The dogs got groomed after that shaggy shot, and are now saying, okay, we are bored too. How will we spend today?