Thoughts about writing, and the universe.
In my English literature class this term, we have been working on writing theme statements. When we read the two novellas in Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen, we wrote something like this: "Yoshimoto expresses the idea that we can move towards healing from grief by forming human relationships and seeking acceptance." The theme statement helps us wrap... Continue Reading →
Many times I have heard writers talk about a character seeming to lift up off the page, feel real enough that they start telling their own story. Writers say, "The story writes itself. The character told me what they'd do." If I'm honest, most times when I hear these things I roll my eyes. I... Continue Reading →
In 1966, the Dominican writer Jean Rhys published her most celebrated work, the novella Wide Sargasso Sea. It marked her return to the literary scene after a near twenty-year's gap, and it inspired a large body of scholarship and study. Wide Sargasso Sea took as its focus the character of Bertha Mason in Charlotte Brontë's... Continue Reading →
"Happily ever after" is an age-old trope, and we know that reality is subtler than that. The ending of a story does not mean the rest of life will run smoothly. But a happily-ever-after ending makes sense in fiction: because the story at some point has to end, and an ending that reads, "And life... Continue Reading →
On Friday, I received this package in the mail. Somehow, brilliantly, two beautiful contributor copies of Hunger Mountain, published by the Vermont College of Fine Arts had made their way across the ocean. I slid them from their paper wrapping. They were heavy. They were large. I cradled a copy in my hands, opened it,... Continue Reading →
I notice a fixation when I write on, let's call it, "textbook plausibility." It's always fiction, but I take great pains to make things possible. This could really happen, I hope the reader feels. Although we both know it never did. I'm currently working on a new story that I'm envisioning in a very specific... Continue Reading →
When we write, if we tape our feelings down to the page, if we do it with any thoroughness and honesty, they become rapidly an artifact. Later, we return to them like reading history. Those were the things in my mind that day. We can see the way seas of our thoughts change, and yet... Continue Reading →
In the story I have been drafting these last weeks, I've hit up against real edges in my knowledge. I have dived on into research, poring over academic articles, newspapers, and of course Wikipedia. I have taken awful volumes down of notes. I have learned much, and I've asked questions. I am generally not a... Continue Reading →
An update Three days after my last post, it was announced the school would close. We are sending students home. Last week's heartbreak is compounded. On Wednesday, we celebrated an early Graduation for the second-years. Each day since then, our numbers have been whittling. There are some students who cannot go home. Borders open up... Continue Reading →
A paradox of fiction writing (and perhaps too of reading) is the power of the storytelling to make us more aware of our real worlds. As the painter studies a subject and seeks to understand each detail of light, color, and shape, so we, when we write, are looking into things' hearts and seeking the... Continue Reading →
Words like trees 