Subject: Re: Voice versus Action
From: Cecilia Baader (ceciliabaader@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Nov 03 2001 - 00:38:17 GMT
--- Matthew Cole <matthewcole26@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hey everyone. I've noticed that in the creative writing classes at the
> university I go to (Appalichian State University in Boone, NC) both the
> professors and the students seem to be pretty hung up on the idea of
> plot.
Dear Matthew,
I think that's probably because there are two schools of writers -- those
who put plot before character and those who put character before plot. In
most writing programs these days, I'm certain that the emphasis is on plot
because it's teachable. Understanding the development of character is far
less so.
I'm glad you asked this question on writing, because it give me an
opportunity to make a plug for my new favorite book. A friend recommended
it to me. He said it is a nearly perfect book, and indeed it is. If
you've got some extra time at the end of the semester, get your hands on
Tony Earley's novel JIM THE BOY. In it, you'll find something of a plot,
though you'll have to fight to figure out what it is, but what you will
find is character. And this book needs nothing, I mean nothing else.
With all "literary" novels these days, publishers seem to be adding a
reading group discussion to the end. JIM THE BOY also includes an
interview with the author, who teaches writing at Vanderbilt University.
(He also happens to come from North Carolina, by the way.)
Here's what he had to say on writing classes and learning craft:
When you teach writing, what words of wisdom do you have for your
aspiring-writer students? What books are must-reads?
I tell my students that first they've gotta do their work. Sitting around
a coffee shop in a black turtleneck, looking tragic, never made anybody a
writer. Jittery, maybe, but not a writer. Writing's not easy and it
takes a long time to learn how to do it well. The best students figure
that out pretty quickly. As far as must-reads, I catch myself
recommending Hemingway's early short stories over and over. They're
stunning stories, and because the language is so simple, it's easier to
figure out how story machinery works before you can use it to make
something of your own.
And indeed, Earley's book features language and themes that are so simple
that you cannot believe that they are coming together into such a stunning
whole. If you want to learn how to write, study this work. Nothing much
happens, except that Jim the Boy learns how to become a man.
Regards,
Cecilia.
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