Writing: A Loooooooong Apprenticeship

In the traditional meaning: "apprenticeship" became prominent in medieval Europe with the emergence of the craft guilds. The standard apprenticeship lasted seven years, from age 14 to 21, for example. [Back then you died at 40, so there wasn't time for career burnout.]

I like to use the word apprenticeship to describe writing, because unless one is enormously freakishly talented at a disgustingly young age, [see The New Yorker's "Writers under 40" ] writing takes years of disciplined writing BIC* to get to a place where you sort of know what you're doing. A disciplined schedule, etc. etc. Sweat, howling pain.

Sort of like a blacksmith in the 1300's.

And once you know what you're doing, you know what you're doing wrong, so you have to learn to be kind to yourself, and patient, even as you squeeze your discouraged/lazy/weary self with an iron grip and shake and say get back to work. 

I don't know exactly where this is leading , except to say I thought of the loooong apprenticeship yesterday when I lead the Writing Room's Community Writing Workshop, and one of the 14 students asked how long it takes to learn to write. [They were a diverse group--from college age to retired.] A trick question. You don't want to discourage new--or returning--writers, but it's fair to say it's a long apprenticeship, darlin' so get cracking.

Which reminds me, too, of one of my favorite quotes, this one from Martin Luther King: The arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice.

Which, among many meanings, reminds one that patience is a virtue.

*BUTT IN CHAIR

February 18th Book Inn Luncheon

I love events in January and February because there are-- rarely--any temptations to go outside and bask in the sun or sweat at weed pulling.

The Garden Angel, unflappable

It's book weather, and book club discussion season.  My next opportunity is the Author's Luncheon at Book Inn  in the Columbia, SC area, so if you're in central South Carolina or want to take a drive, I'd probably* love to see you.
*"Probably" being a caveat applied to escaped prisoners or old boyfriends.

Here are the where's and when's:

Friday, February 18th
The 1425 Inn at 1425 Richland Street, Columbia SC, is hosting the Author’s Luncheons. For more information about the inn, including directions, go to The 1425 Inn.
Beginning at noon, Ms. Friddle will address the group. Lunch will be served and a book signing will follow. Books may be purchased in advance or at the event.Tickets must be reserved by Thursday, February 10, 2011. The price of a ticket is $15 and may be reserved by calling The 1425 Inn at 252-7225.

Stop Me if You've Heard This

Snow really is the great equalizer. Everybody's lawn the same, everybody's car. The snow gobbles up the differences. And it is rare here, rare enough that everything is closed, except a few gas stations.

It is also book weather...forget beach reading, snow reading is the real heavy lifting.

I'm reading ROOM by Emma Donoghue  now. At first I was curios about how the author could pull off first-person point of view from a five-year-old character, and in present tense no less [no reflection from the wise adult later] and in a tiny room.... After one chapter, I'm buying this book on my iPad. I'm hooked. Despite the fact present tense is usually my least favorite POV, and has often left me a grumpy reader.  And a five-year-old narrator has to be damn fascinating to stay with him as a reader.  But it just might work.

I'll leave with some favorite snow quotes:

it is winter here.
Look how white everything is, how quiet, how snowed-in. --Sylvia Plath

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted-- Mae West

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. --John Ruskin



What's the difference between a snow man and a snow woman?
Snow balls.

To live anywhere in the world today and be against equality because of race or color is like living in Alaska and being against snow. --William Faulkner

Six-word Stories: wee squib

Can you capture the arc of a narrative in six words?
 You'd be surprised.
Submit to Narrative Magazine if you can.  No need to toil for 80k words or even ten pages.

Forget the micro flash fiction, this is quark genre, freeze dried tales, one scribble from your nib, a wee squib.

Here are two favorite examples they list:

Famous one you've probably heard: 

For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn. —Ernest Hemingway


Funny one you probably haven't:

Longed for him. Got him. Shit. —Margaret Atwood

The six-word story is a prose cousin of Haiku. What a family reunion that would be.

Crazy aunt in attic. Hear her?

or

Tea party? Pass the tofu, Gramps.

Why My Arm is Purple

The closest I will come to gripping an Oscar...
was being presented the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction last week at the New York Yacht Club.

I'd like to thank the Academy...

Thanks to Reba Williams, founder of the award, and Dave Williams, her husband, and the judges who decided on SECRET KEEPERS as the winner, I had a heavenly week.

I pinched myself a lot. Hence, the purple arm.

My friends, if you have a southern author in mind who has had a book published this year or next, a book set in the South, nominate them for this award--and send in a copy of their galley or book to Reba for consideration.

I tell you, last week's reception was one of the best moments of my writing life.
 

Among those attending the reception were David, Aurora and James, editors and publicists from Picador.

 

Point of View Reading List

I just wound up my class at Hub City's "Writing in Place," where we focused on point of view. Here is my reading list for exploring point of view, one of the most fascinating and important elements of fiction writing:

SUGGESTED READING:

First Person POV                                          Second Person POV "you,"
The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald                      Bright Lights, Big City, McInerney
Housekeeping, Robinson                           "How to Become a Writer," Moore
Huckleberry Finn, Twain                            Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, Robbins
Anywhere but Here, Simpson                     If on a winter's night a traveler, Italo Calvino
Lolita, Nabokov

First Person POV, serial                          Third Person, Objective, [mostly dialogue]
One Foot in Eden, Rash                             “Hills like White Elephants,” Hemingway
The Poisonwood Bible, Kingsolver            “I-900,” Bausch
                                                                     “I-80 Nebraska,” Sayles
First Person POV, plural “we”     
"A Rose for Emily," Faulkner                    Third Person POV, Close
The Virgin Suicides, Eugenides                 Norwood, Portis
Then We Came to the End, Ferris               Rich in Love, Humphreys

Stream-of-Consciousness                      Third Person, serial
As I lay Dying, Faulkner                        Little Children, Perrotta
The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood               Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, Tyler   
                                                                  The Hours, Cunningham
Third Person, Omniscient       
Bleak House, Dickens                            Various Narrative Points of View, alternated
Empire Falls, Russo                               Two Girls, Fat and Thin, Gaitskill
Ragtime, Doctorow                                Machine Dreams, Phillips
Bel Canto, Patchett                                 I was Amelia Earhart, Mendelsohn
Anna Karenina, Tolstoy                         The White Hotel, Thomas
Pride and Prejudice, Austen                 The Plague of Doves, Erdrich
Amy and Isabelle, Strout                       The Bluest Eye, Morrison
Ironweed, Kennedy
“A Good Man is Hard to Find,” O’Connor     

Hub City This Weekend: It's About Perspective

I'm going to be at the Hub City Writing Conference this weekend in Spartanburg, SC. I'm leading a fiction workshop, and my focus is narrative point of view in fiction. [Info on the conference registration follows, but my class is full. I think all the fiction classes are full! ]

The essential question for point of view: Who is telling the story?

Narrative point of view is about perspective. Through whose perspective or “consciousness” is the story viewed?

Besides the first person, "I"--which everyone seems to start out with-- there's first person plural, "we," and second person, "you." And third person "close," where we have access to the thoughts of one character. Third person omniscient is what I'm most interested in exploring, especially because not enough writers use it. Or don't start using it early enough...it is a "mature writer's technique," as Richard Russo mentions in his fabulous essay, "in Defense of Omniscience."

In Praise of the Narrator as Storyteller...with authority. And wit. And inside knowledge.

I love that witty know-it-all narrator in omniscient POV, the storyteller who takes you by the hand with authority, and leads you into the story.[ Or perches with you in the front row to watch the drama, or settles in for court-side seats.] The narrator who judges, predicts, warns, praises, moves back and forth in time.

This kind of narrator:

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." -- Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Debra Spark's essay, "Stand Back," from Curious Attractions: Essays on Fiction Writing, University of Michigan Press is immensly helpful and a pleasure to read. I'll be quoting from Debra on this subject, too:

“. . .many contemporary narratives are written in first person or in a third person that's a virtual stand-in for the first person. [In that case,] the third-person narrator has access to a single consciousness and rarely uses his or her status as narrator to offer up much that a single consciousness wouldn't provide. Your narrator need not be your protagonist. Or you, for that matter. Distance can, in some cases-for some stories-be a good thing. And even when distance isn't advisable, it can't hurt to consider options for the narrator-character relationship.” –Debra Spark

Hub City Writers Conference and Bookshop Opening

There are still spaces available  in fiction and non-fiction at the 10th annual Hub City Writing Conference July 30-Aug. 1 at Wofford College. This year's event features a keynote address by novelist Elizabeth Berg and Sunday morning panel session with representatives of small presses and literary magazines on the topic of "how to get published."

Published novelists, poets, essayists, and literary critics lead a series of workshops over three days that include intense instruction, challenging exercises, and an opportunity for feedback. To register, please visit www.hubcity.org/conference.

She's my tomato...and a recipe

Just letting it all hang out.

It's 100 today. That's oppressive for everything but tomatoes. This one was begging-- pick me!

If you want tomatoes roasted, just pick them at about 4  or 5 o'clock. Their skins are warm and thin, their flesh is tender and juicy.

The world is experiencing the hottest summer on record. Ever. The world.

So, anyway. Friday's Funkytime on a day like this begins with a bourbon slush.

Here's how to make it:

Gather up this stuff: 

• 1 (6 ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1 (12 ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate
• 1 cup  sugar
• 2 cups strong brewed black tea
• 2 cups bourbon whiskey
• Some water-- 6  to 7 seven cups
• mint sprigs from the garden

Mix it up and put it in the freezer. Overnight is best unless you're desperate. Serve it slushy. Gussy it up with sprigs of mint and lemon or orange wedges. Sit on the porch and sip your adult slushy and remember what December feels like.

Shannon's Online Writing Workshops

I'm lucky to know Shannon Cain from grad school. We both earned--and I mean earned--a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing--"MFA"-- from Warren Wilson. That means we workshopped together, laughed, cried and drank and cried...and laughed.

Shannon has an incredible bio. She's an award-winning writer and an editor. And she's a creative entrepreneur-- her latest Big Important Idea is to start an online writing workshop for writers usually with an MFA or equivalent--writers serious about their craft.

The impressive Summer/Fall 2010 Online Post Graduate Workshops in Fiction schedule is HERE.

The next workshop starts August 23, with guest co-leader Robin Black. [Another brilliant woman and incredible writer.]

 How it works:

Workshops are six weeks in length and organized in a bulletin board format.  Each week, three participants post their stories for review and commentary by Shannon and the group. In the final half of the workshop, they will be joined by a guest co-leader. Each participant will have the opportunity to have one story or chapter workshopped by our guest.                           

Cost: $375. Register by emailing Shannon. Register early: groups are limited to 9 participants.

W.S. Merwin--perfect!

The Library of Cogress got it right.
They've named W.S. Merwin the new U.S. poet laureate.
Nice coverage here from the NYT.

A theme of Merwin's work--humanity's separation from nature. He has "an extraordinary interest and devotion to the natural world." He's won the Pulitzer twice.

He lives in Hawaii  where is said to have cultivated more than 700 endangered species of indigenous plants on a former pineapple plantation, "including the hyophorbe indica, a palm tree he helped save from extinction."

Although raised in the Western tradition, he said he feels more affinity with an Eastern one, “being part of the universe and everything living.” With that exhilarating connection comes responsibility, however. “You don’t just exploit it and use it and throw it away any more than you would a member of your family,” he said. “You’re not separate from the frog in the pond or the cockroach in the kitchen.”

 Merwin poem:
“For a Coming Extinction,” from “The Lice”:

Gray whale
Now that we are sending you to The End
That great god
Tell him
That we who follow you invented forgiveness
And forgive nothing

Being There

Earth laughs in flowers. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

My rain barrel is empty. We've had a dry spell.  This morning I found myself outside watering-- dousing a few of the tender things--moonflower vine, tomatoes, phlox. And this day lily.

It's like writing: You have to be patient with yourself through the dry spells. Spot water when you need to. Nurture the creativity.

It made me think of the movie Being There. [It came out in the late 70's, but I watched it again the other night. It is not to be missed.]

Chauncy Gardner, a simpleton at total ease with himsef, talks in garden metaphors, and the world thinks he's brilliant: "In the garden, growth has it seasons. First comes spring and summer, but then we have fall and winter. And then we get spring and summer again."

And then the president, who seeks economic advice, says, "I must admit that is one of the most refreshing and optimistic statements I've heard in a very, very long time."
 

Wishing You a Happy Midsummer Night's Eve

Tonight is Midsummer Night's Eve, also known as Mead Moon, also known as St. John's Eve.

It's  called St. John's Eve because--who would've thunk it-- St. John is the patron saint of beekeepers!

And now, as I can pretty much vouch from the activity in my front yard, the bees--and butterflies--are busy and the hives are full of honey. [Honey used to be fermented to make mead.  Hence, the term "honeymoon,"--a time for lovers.]

So tonight is the best night to gather herbs. Magical herbs, which I assume are illegal, except for in California.

Drink the dew-- Midsummer Night Eve's dew has healing powers. 

Sleep with a flower underneath your pillow tonight: You'll dream about your future lover. [Okay, that's for you youngin's.] But remember:

"The course of true love never did run smooth."
-- Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Eve

Tonight is Midsummer Night's Eve, also called St. John's Eve. St. John is the patron saint of beekeepers. It's a time when the hives are full of honey. The full moon that occurs this month was called the Mead Moon, because honey was fermented to make mead. That's where the word "honeymoon" comes from, because it's also a time for lovers. An old Swedish proverb says, "Midsummer Night is not long but it sets many cradles rocking." Midsummer dew was said to have special healing powers.

 

In Mexico, people decorate wells and fountains with flowers, candles, and paper garlands. They go out at midnight and bathe in the lakes and streams. Midsummer Eve is also known as Herb Evening. Legend says that this is the best night for gathering magical herbs. Supposedly, a special plant flowers only on this night, and the person who picks it can understand the language of the trees. Flowers were placed under a pillow with the hope of important dreams about future lovers.

 

Shakespeare (books by this author) set his play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" on this night. It tells the story of two young couples who wander into a magical forest outside Athens. In the play, Shakespeare wrote, "The course of true love never did run smooth."

Bohemian Rhapsody: Tonight's Reading Room

If you're around and feelin' bohemian tonight, you don't want to miss the local reading series: The Emrys Reading Room, 7 pm, at the Bohemian Cafe in downtown Greenville, W. Stone Ave.

The Reading Room is a place to hear authors read from their work, eat and drink, be merry, and generally act bohemian. [Black berets and cigarette holders optional.]

Tonight's readers are:

Jillian Weise ---->

poet, essayist, short story writer, novelist

 and

Elise Blackwell 

author of four novels. The latest: the award-winning An Unfinished Score.

 

The Reading Room is brought to you by Emrys.

Unless you live hundreds of miles away and can't make the drive, it would be great to see you there tonight.

Masterful First Lines

There are first lines, and there are masterful first lines.

The best opening lines of  a novel or short story do many things at once: a first line may intrigue you, create tension or hint at a conflict, say something about a character. A first line is beautiful or lyrical or witty--always memorable.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
-- One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
 [It's famous for a reason. I'm always amazed how that barbed hint about the firing squad adds suspense, hooks me, until I find out what happens.]

Riding up the winding road of St. Agnes Cemetery in the back of the rattling old truck, Francis Phelan became aware that the dead, even more than the living, settled down in neighborhoods.
--Ironweed, William Kennedy
[Francis is, as he refers to himself, a "bum"--a homeless alcoholic, once a star baseball player, who now digs graves to earn money for his next drink.The Catholic graveyard has large marble headstones for the wealthy families, and unmarked for the poor.]

Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were.
--Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
[I remember being shocked when I read that first line at 14-- Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful? Huh?]

In the town, there were two mutes and they were always together. - Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
[Love that line-- that confident narrator. Those characters.  Love that novel.]

The Grandmother didn't want to go to Florida.-- Flannery O'Connor, "A Good Man is Hard to Find."
[The best short story written in English. I'm not partial-- just because O'Connor was a southern writer. That simple line is sharp as a blade and will bring about the doom of the family, put them at the mercy of a serial killer, a nihilist, [the Misfit shows no mercy] who, as he coolly threatens  the grandmother, will espouse his theory-- ("Jesus was the only One that ever raised the dead," The Misfit continued, "and He shouldn't have done it. He thrown everything off balance.")-- and bring about the grandmother's moment of grace....but you knew that, right?]

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. - George Orwell, 1984
[Love that matter of fact craziness-- the world is off it's rocker, and has been for some time. We get that right away.]

They shoot the white girl first. - Toni Morrison, Paradise
['nough said.]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
[Panoramic wide-screen line, filled with big ideas and a narrator who takes you by the hand.]

Through the fence, between the curling flower spaces, I could see them hitting. - William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
[Faulkner is such a visual writer, when I read him I feel I'm in a vivid dream--and this line plunges one in the story.]

We started dying before the snow, and like the snow, we continued to fall. - Louise Erdrich, Tracks
[Oh, that gentle play on words, that brutal meaning:  'to fall' like the snow, like death.]

I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974. - Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex
[You have to read this, after that opening.]

It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York. - Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar
[Both gorgeous and foreboding as only Plath can do.]

They say when trouble comes close ranks, and so the white people did. - Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea  
[The suffering caused by colonialism is in that first line.]

Refuge in the Garden, but Dwelling on the Gulf Coast

I changed out the  window box-- from kale, mustard and Johnny Jump Ups to Geraniums, petunias, Lantana, and heather.


The Larkspur is in bee-covered glory, as the Bard can attest.

Everything is clumped and ready to unfurl, petaled and perfumed.

It's a sanctuary. The garden is an asylum in the old--and precise-- use of the word. It's the place where I try to keep my sanity on this crazy, peopled planet.


It's a refuge from the news--and the coverage of the unconscionable oil spill disaster.
 It's selfish-- I can't stand to think about it: To look at the pictures of oil-drenched dolphins, sea turtles, birds and whales who pay the price of this horrible greedy monstrous tragedy.

Tragedy-- in the ancient Greek definition: heartbreak and ruin brought on by a tragic flaw.

The tragic flaw is our dependence on oil. 

What can you do? Well, besides not driving gas guzzlers--trying not to drive at all-- you can donate to wildlife organizations. I did-- [modestly, unfortunately] to the National Wildlife Federation, which has a targeted response to the oil spill, and to Upstate Forever, a local environmental group-- because I felt the Earth needed some good thoughts and some ka-ching coming her way.

Here's a better way. A powerful way. Are you an author?

A group of authors formed today: LEAGUE OF AUTHORS FOR ACTION IN THE GULF COAST.
The group, spearheaded by author Nicole Seitz, will discuss ways to capture the stories of the animals, wildlife, the people who are suffering-- and share it with the world. Never again. You can join or find out more information on the group's page on Facebook,  or Tweet or DM @NicoleSeitz, or email her at nicole@nicoleseitz.com.














LEAGUE OF AUTHORS FOR ACTION IN THE GULF COAST.

The Writing Room: January Classes

The Writing Room is a program we started here in Upstate SC offering classes to writers of all levels. It's sponsored by the nonprofit Emrys Foundation. January's offerings include a seminar on dialogue by yours truly and a 9-week advanced class, taught by novelist Ashley Warlick, for folks who have a manuscript. Here's a link for more information.

SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS, WINTER 2009

Writing Dialogue
with Mindy Friddle

When dialogue in fiction and creative nonfiction is working, it helps to create rich, believable characters and drives the story forward. So how do you write believable dialogue? When should we hear a character speak? And how might dialogue be used to complicate a character or story? In this seminar, we'll examine dialogue in several fiction and nonfiction pieces. We'll discuss how to create conversations between characters that sound spontaneous and lifelike--not monotonous. Participants will be invited to do in-class writing exercises designed to help write sharper, richer dialogue that rings true, reveals character, creates tension, and adds depth through subtext. This is designed to be a fun, informal seminar for writers at all levels who are looking for fresh approaches to writing dialogue.

Level: All levels, Beginner to Advanced
Saturday, January 17
2:00- 4:00 pm
Location: Innovate Building Conference Room, 148 River Street, Greenville, SC
Fee: $25; $20 Emrys member

Works in Progress: Focusing on Your Book Length Manuscript
with Ashley Warlick

This popular class is for experienced writers with a book-length manuscript of either fiction or nonfiction in progress. Each student will submit 40 to 50 pages of their work to be closely read and carefully considered by both the instructor and the group, providing the center of one full class period's workshop. Through constructive, frank critique, both given and received, students will learn to identify and address what works in a manuscript and what does not. Expect to come away from the class with specific reading assignments and concrete recommendations on how to improve your novel, memoir, or collection.

Level: Advanced
This workshop may be taken more then once.
9-week class, 3 hours each class,
Starts January 20
Tuesdays,6:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Location:Furman University, Modern Languages Department
Fee: $360; $340 Emrys member
Class size limited to 8 people.
Registration [and the waiting list] for this class closes January 16.


Seminars and Workshops, Spring 2009
[To be announced soon]