posted
When I first joined this forum, it was the summer, and I had somewhat of a guarantee that I would have free time every day to work on my novel. So, I jumped into the novel support group and had a blast. When college started up again, I knew I wouldn't have such free time, so I had a plan to force myself to write: I would take a fiction writing class! Now I've been in the class for about three few weeks and I've had to write six short stories. We have two "longer" short story assignments due before the semester ends, and frankly, I feel like I'm getting burnt out. I am not used to writing short stories: I'm used to writing a novel, and it's taken years to build the world, develop the story, and get to know the characters, and the process sure isn't over yet. These short stories are fun, but I feel like I've been pulling ideas and characters out of nowhere, and it lacks resonance.
So, I guess my question is for all of you who have written more short stories than I: is there a way to find resonance in a story without spending ages letting it grow? Or is it just a skill that you have to develop through painful practice? Or are you supposed to be growing multiple stories at a time, so when a professor says, "write six short stories in three weeks," you have crops ready to harvest, so to speak?
By the way, my fiction writing professor has said very little in class that I haven't already learned from you guys and from OSC's online writing lessons. So, thanks!
posted
In one of my writing workshops, the professor asked me a week before the first day of class to present a story that day. I'd anticipated the request and had a twenty-pager in twenty copies to pass out that day. Much to my dismay, I was then required to have another story ready the second week of class. Luck of the draw.
Resonance is an easily overlooked duck in the writing craft. However, that happens to be the focal area of my current writing study. Topically, Donald Maass' Writing the Breakout Novel and Noah Lukeman's The First Five Pages specifically concern themselves with establishing and maintaining reader resonance. More specifically, casting the spell that entices and holds readers in the reading trance.
Lukeman and Maass expressly prohibit unauthorized excerpt reproduction in digital formats so I won't quote them. Here's a general paraphrase though, what matters to readers? Highest plausible magnitude Milieu, Idea, Character, Event that readers can empathize with. The general premise, larger than life characters emerge from suffering insuperable struggles in dramatic contexts while addressing life-defining complications.
Take a premise of the Potter phenomena: A boy orphaned by violence comes of age in a secret magical milieu while confronting the evil that killed his parents. Some adults and other youths provide some guidance, but ultimately, he must find the means to come of age on his own.
Resonance is established immediately through the empathy/sympathy quotient of tension. Specifically, pity for the orphaned boy and fear for his ongoing danger, the most basic and common factors in fiction for enticing readers' empathy/sympathy for a character in a dramatic context. The fantastical genres in the early Twentieth Century also added a layer of awe and wonder to the empathy/sympathy quotient. Note that the quotient is in emotional clusters.
The one primary factor for establishing and maintaining resonance is reader empathy for a character, event, milieu, and/or idea.
[This message has been edited by extrinsic (edited September 20, 2009).]
posted
Thanks, that makes sense (I think). I guess what I am really wondering is not so much creating resonance with a reader, but how you as a writer develop passion for your own story. Maybe it's something that most people don't have trouble with, but when I have to come up with so many stories so quickly, I have a hard time feeling any connection to them. Is there a way to get inspired about your own stories when you aren't able to let them develop in your mind for a long time?
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posted
Passion for my own writing ought ideally to translate to reader passion. What drives my passion is message. I've got something to say; I want to say it. I want the audience to hear it and approve.
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posted
I have stories in various staes of growth. Some are older than others. Every few months I spend a week or two not trying to develop stories but instead generate new germ ideas.
posted
It sounds to me that you do not like what you're writing. If this is so, then ask yourself, "Why?"
Is it the Milieu, your Idea, the Character, or the Event? Find one of these things you can care about. Also consider if it is your story's structure that you are unhappy with - are you unsatisfied with your beginning, climax, or ending? Figure out a purpose for the story - what are you trying to say or do with it? Find an issue you believe strongly in, and weave that into the text.
quote:What I am really wondering is not so much creating resonance with a reader, but how you as a writer develop passion for your own story.
Creating resonance with readers and nurturing your own passion for the story should go hand in hand.
Now, you're in a tough row with having to develop so many stories in such a short amount of time - so don't think of them as crops. Instead think of one of your stories as something like cooking scrambled eggs. You'll mix the yolk and the egg white (characters, world and plot), toss em on a heated and oiled up pan (noggin/word processor), form em how you want to, and then you'll put them on a plate. And voila, there they'll sit, quickly made and readily edible for the people you are serving. However, you hold back, because you feel they'll end up thin, plain and flavorless. As a budding chef trying to make a good impression, what are you to do?
Now, scrambling resonate eggs is one thing. Presenting them in a resonate voice is another - and that my friend is where you bust out the spices and extra ingredients. You'll want to add some extra flourish to the moments, characters and themes that make up the bulk of your story, so be confident in doing so. Have a sad moment? Add some honey to an earlier scene to make the upcoming tears, aided by the diced onions you'll add, that much more meaningful. Have a cheesy scene? Throw on more cheese. Plain characters - Wield some pepper and spice them up, or maybe some salt to embolden their defining features. Stale dialogue - Freshen it up with some creatively cut green peppers.
And so on . . . the point being this: you have to approach this not just with the want to make the readers feel, but with the need to.
posted
I think the best thing to do is brute force them out regardless of how you feel about them. That is a skill (or perhaps a discipline) that is essential.
I have yet to hear of a way to reliably conjur that jolt of enthusiasm. For myself, sometimes just the task of getting words down lulls me into a rhythm that helps get things flowing. But it's not a reliable prescription.
I have read testimony from both fiction writers and poets that insist there is no correlation between the quality of their work and how enthusiastic/energized/connected they felt during the time it was actually set to paper. Apparently the subconscious has a role in the creative writing process even when the conscious mind is engaged in it. "Waiting" for that inspired feeling is often a trap for falling into writers block.
It works for me, but it might not work for you. I used this process to flesh out s story idea I had. I spent a few hours using this process, then wrote the story. I spent the next few days revising, and then sent it off. A magazine purchased it. In total, from developing to editing, I spent a week on it.
posted
Thanks, everyone, this is very helpful. You're right, it has been good for me to just get things down on paper. Once I begin writing, it does seem like things come easier. Hopefully, once this class is over, I can keep forcing myself to write a lot. It's definitely good for me!
Also, I am super happy to hear that writers don't find a correlation between the quality of their work and how they felt when they were writing it. That makes me feel a lot better.
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