Advice from Ron Carlson

The English department at Brigham Young University does a reading series every Friday and this weekend we were lucky enough to have the one and only Ron Carlson come and read to us. If you don't know who he is, you should. In person he is hilarious, witty, intelligent, and gives wonderful writing advice. I bought a book that he signed and then went to a Q&A where he gave even more wonderful advice. He is such a great talker. I think we were all sitting there with our mouths open trying to make sure we took in everything he was saying. Basically this post is a transcription of my notes. I hope you find it useful.

-Writing is about tolerating being in the dark.
-Pay attention to your life. Don't let yourself get off track and distracted by things like the internet and cell phones.
-Once you know where your story is going, take your time. Slow down.
-Get to the point where you want to leave the room (when you've got everything set up/built up and its time for the payoff) then STAY and SLOW DOWN.
-When you're writing, remember that you're in the room alone. No one else is there. Not your editor, publisher, mother, grandmother, sister, mother-in-law, grocer, dentist, no one. While the piece is in the room don't worry about anyone else's opinion.
-Book/Author recommendations: Cheever, Anne Beady, Graham Greene, Katherine Mansfield, Faulkner, James Joyce, Richard Brodigan, Deliverance by James Dicky.
-Read to write. Airport books won't really help.
-Write from the evidence up. Put the story and the detail down, see where it takes you and then look for meaning.
-Put down at least 600 words of a scene, then you may have something to go on.
-Let your hands guide you. They are often smarter then your head.
-Good writing requires attention.
-If you get what you expect its probably not good enough.
-In the morning reduce the steps between you and the keyboard. Don't let email, facebook, other stuff like that get in the way first.
-Keep your own counsel.
-If you're afraid of doubt your not going to be able to write. Doubt makes what you're certain about more valuable.
-Whenever you're challenging your comfort something good is happening to you.
-Dialogue is a good way to slow down.
-Recognize and avoid "small clue syndrome". Subtlety is overrated.
-Trust the outer story. If the outer story isn't strong enough the inner story won't be either.
-Survive the draft. Be ok in the dark.

There you have it. Take the advice for what its worth. I personally found everything he said to be very beneficial and helpful to me.

Happy writing!
Sarah Allen

Spot-of-white-in-black Stories

Ok, so I think there a quite a few stories that follow this formula, and I kind of really like it. Here's what I'm talking about: those stories where things just keep getting worse, and nothings really going right, and then something good happens, and it probably doesn't undo all the bad stuff, but its something good to hold on too, and then the story ends. As an example: a chubby, freckled seventh grade boy whose mom is spacey and whose dad is on a business trip wants to try out for the basketball team. He goes to try-outs, doesn't do well, and gets mocked by the other boys. Cute girl in his class sees him not do well. One of them even hip-checks him into a locker afterwards. Cute girl sees this too. At lunch he sits by himself because his friend isn't there that day, and takes out his sketchbook and starts drawing dragons. After a few minutes he realizes someone is looking over his shoulder. It's cute girl, holding her lunch tray. She smiles and says, you're a really good drawer, and then goes to have lunch with her friends.

Make sense? I love these kinds of stories because I feel like they're emotionally powerful. Our lives are full of good and bad things, and some days the bad is pretty concentrated, but these stories show us how meaningful are all the little good things.

Happy writing! Hope this helps. Do you like stories like this? What other "forumulas" have you become fond of?

Sarah Allen

Crazy Writing Life

Ok, I know things have been sparse here at the blog of joy, but I promise 1)its for good reason, and 2) things are going to pick up eventually. I'm in two creative writing classes this semester, which means my writing has been pretty much commandeered, but it also means I should be doing a better job at sharing what I learn in classes with all y'all. Which I'm going to try to do.

Another bad excuse is that my computer has been having issues for the past two weeks at least, so thats been a fun adventure.

Isn't life great? There's just so much to do and see and hear and touch and smell. I've been thinking a lot lately about lived experience versus what we learn from reading, and I think both are a good thing to have, and I think us writerly people have to make a concerted effort to get out and do stuff, but I think its worth it. I had a writing professor who said that the best thing to major in if you want to be a writer is geology.

Something I've heard from a couple different writerly/professorial type people lately is that if you write 1000 words every day for ten years you will be famous. Guaranteed. I don't know about you, but I think thats a pretty awesome guarantee and I want to try it. Maybe I won't be able to reach 1000 words a day while I'm in school, but everyone has excuses and its the people who keep their butt in the chair and don't listen to those excuses that get the 1000 words, the fame and glory.

So lets all keep living and keep writing, ok?

Sarah Allen

Writing Prompts/Assignments

In one of my creative writing classes this semester, we've been given specific creative writing assignments. Regardless of what you turn out, I think its a useful exercise for stretching yourself and your writing, so I thought I'd post some of the assignments here, full credit given to Dr. Lance Larsen.

-How To: Write a piece in a second person following these guidelines. First, give specific instruction or advice on a recognizable subject, such as how to see a ghost at night, change a car tire, get over a breakup, etc. Second, be sure that your piece violates its own purpose or otherwise wanders far afield. A piece on shooting free throws might end up rhapsodizing about interior weather patterns or complaining about love. The piece should be paradoxical and enticing and arrive at wisdom. Example: "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid.

My piece was called How to Eat Cold Cereal, and ended up being about how cold cereal will always be there even when you have no one and nothing else to turn to. Still heavily in need of revision, but once thats done I'll send it out or maybe post it here.

-Ekphrastic: Write a piece (probably a poem) that describes a black-and-white photograph, detail by detail, and in the process discovers a conflict not apparent at first glance. This might include proposing a narrative of your own devising. Your poem should be clear enough that it doesn't require the original photograph to make sense. Almost any kind of picture will do: documentary, family snapshot, postcard, artistic masterpiece. Why does a given photograph disturb, intrigue, or entertain you? A good ekphrastic poem will set up a problem or spring a trap.

My piece was on Fox Terrier on the Pont D'art by Robert Doisneau. His photographs provide wonderful inspiration for ekphrastic pieces, actually.



-Dialogue: Write a piece that relies predominantly on dialogue. The language must be concrete and lyrical. You might construct some kind if Q & A. The key here is that you strategically use the gaps between voices.

My piece was called Cross-Eyed and was about two sisters on a drive to the airport arguing over what to do with their senile father.

Hope that helps! I'd love to hear about how you've used these assignments and what you've come up with.

Sarah Allen

Personal Editing List

Ever writer has their own unique method, style, and voice, and with this comes unique issues. There are certain quirks, turns of phrase, and specific cliches that they tend towards in there writing. Recognizing these is the first step in avoiding them. It can be hard to figure out what they are, but having others read your writing is one way. Don't get so emotionally involved that you can't change up a few things, and make your writing fresh and intriguing.

My suggestion is to make a list of your own personal writing cliches, make a "personal editing list", and keep it up by your writing area. If you know that you have certain bad habits, you can consciously keep from falling into them.

Here are some things from my own personal editing list. Some of them are specific, sentence level things, and some have to do with the overall, general idea.

-Struggle vs. slump: I have the bad habit of setting my characters in emotionally hard situations that they can't really do much about except passively accept it and try to be happy despite the problem. This can turn into simple "portrait of a saint" stories, which may show kind, generous characters, but they are passive and not interesting as characters. Every story needs active, immediate and relatable conflict, and this is something I have to consciously remember as I come up with my story ideas.

-Words that don't do enough: I have a list of words that I have a habit of overusing, which don't do as much as I want them too. Some of those words are smiled, laughed, sighed, cried and looked. Words like this are so generic that they don't really show whats going on.

-A story isn't poignant/meaningful/significant just because its about infidelity/abandonment/abuse. These things are poignant and important, of course, but they are often such huge topics that they overwhelm the piece. An incredibly meaningful, successful piece can be about things as simple as sister jealousy, unmet expectations, or just the small things that make meaning in our every day life. I have a habit of picking topics like infidelity just because I assume that if its about something significant like that, the piece itself will be significant. That is not necessarily the case, and remembering that helps me steer away from sentimentalism.

Anyway, I hope this helps! What are your bad writing habits, and what are some good ways for getting over them?

Sarah Allen