the first reader
On into the wet, mild vacation. Kimmie was off to day 2 of a seminar in Richmond on corporate purchasing and contract management, right smack in the middle of her vacation. I drove her through the dark and meager rain to the SeaBus so she could take transit to the hotel.
Morning notes: back to A History of Technology--smelting and casting of copper and bronze, and the tools made with them.
I was delighted to receive an e-mail from Warren in Chicago after some weeks' silence. He'd read chapter 17 and had some comments and questions. He's enthusiastic, as am I, about exploring the meaning of fiction, of a story. Meaning is the highest level of story creation, and the level at which most writers fail (even assuming they haven't failed at other levels). Some stories which are otherwise excellent fail at the level of meaning, or theme, and thereby disappoint even more than other, lesser works that fail on more levels.
An example of this, for me, was the same Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson that I pointed to in a previous post as an example of excellence in the author's knowledge of his world (as well as strong first sentence). The novel began as a murder mystery--an exceptionally well-told one--but did not end as one. The hero's climactic dilemma, about whether to come forward with evidence that will clear an innocent man of a murder charge and save him from execution, or to sit on it so he can get together with the accused's about-to-be widow, is not one that I could even remotely identify with. What are the issues involved? It's not even about justice, the usual thematic value for a murder mystery; it's about the conflict between saving someone's life and satisfying one's mating urge. The hero does the right thing, but it was sort of the minimum expectation I had of him. How often will any of us be presented with the dilemma of saving someone's life, and happy mating?
The hero's choice could be the beginning of a story: a man lets a friend die in order to make it with the widow. If he's a human being, guilt will set in, and now an interesting story begins. The theme here--the level of meaning in the story--will have to do with guilt and atonement. That is a very relevant theme for all of us: a universal meaning. How will the hero resolve his conflict? How will the writer? That's what we read for.
Every story is about something: every story has some assertion to make about life, reality, the human condition. The writer must be in command of this, not at the outset of a work, but by the end of writing. The writer may be as surprised as anyone by what he's really saying, what he truly believes. He may be shocked--indeed, it's probably best if he is.
I'm not there yet with my own work. I do not know what its final assertion will be. I don't expect to know until I actually draft the climax, and that is some time away. I know what the outline says about the climax, what's going to happen. But I'm learning a lot about my characters, my world, as I go, so it's too soon to say. I'm the first reader of my own story, wondering how the characters--and the writer--will resolve the conflicts.
Morning notes: back to A History of Technology--smelting and casting of copper and bronze, and the tools made with them.
I was delighted to receive an e-mail from Warren in Chicago after some weeks' silence. He'd read chapter 17 and had some comments and questions. He's enthusiastic, as am I, about exploring the meaning of fiction, of a story. Meaning is the highest level of story creation, and the level at which most writers fail (even assuming they haven't failed at other levels). Some stories which are otherwise excellent fail at the level of meaning, or theme, and thereby disappoint even more than other, lesser works that fail on more levels.
An example of this, for me, was the same Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson that I pointed to in a previous post as an example of excellence in the author's knowledge of his world (as well as strong first sentence). The novel began as a murder mystery--an exceptionally well-told one--but did not end as one. The hero's climactic dilemma, about whether to come forward with evidence that will clear an innocent man of a murder charge and save him from execution, or to sit on it so he can get together with the accused's about-to-be widow, is not one that I could even remotely identify with. What are the issues involved? It's not even about justice, the usual thematic value for a murder mystery; it's about the conflict between saving someone's life and satisfying one's mating urge. The hero does the right thing, but it was sort of the minimum expectation I had of him. How often will any of us be presented with the dilemma of saving someone's life, and happy mating?
The hero's choice could be the beginning of a story: a man lets a friend die in order to make it with the widow. If he's a human being, guilt will set in, and now an interesting story begins. The theme here--the level of meaning in the story--will have to do with guilt and atonement. That is a very relevant theme for all of us: a universal meaning. How will the hero resolve his conflict? How will the writer? That's what we read for.
Every story is about something: every story has some assertion to make about life, reality, the human condition. The writer must be in command of this, not at the outset of a work, but by the end of writing. The writer may be as surprised as anyone by what he's really saying, what he truly believes. He may be shocked--indeed, it's probably best if he is.
I'm not there yet with my own work. I do not know what its final assertion will be. I don't expect to know until I actually draft the climax, and that is some time away. I know what the outline says about the climax, what's going to happen. But I'm learning a lot about my characters, my world, as I go, so it's too soon to say. I'm the first reader of my own story, wondering how the characters--and the writer--will resolve the conflicts.
Labels: books by others, controlling idea, criticism, everyday life, literary theory, novel openings
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