Writing on . . . Pirandellism

Just finished Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author and musing on Pirandello's quest for answers to the "what is real" question. The play is a great arena for the question and, for me, an exploration of the whole character creation deal.

The father (a pure Character) explains to the Producer (an expert at staged reality) that he should maintain a distrust of the moment's reality since it morphs into illusion once the moment has passed. He then goes on to explain the Character's reality and how it can be expanded by the audience and yet limited by the author. He says, "When a character is born he immediately assumes such an independance even of his own author that everyone can imagine him in scores of situations that his author hadn't even thought of putting him in, and he sometimes acquires a meaning that his author never dreamed of giving him."

It's perhaps trivial, but consider the heart throbs of modern day soap operas and hospital dramas. As women discuss (or consider) Grey's McSteamy or other similar characters, they no doubt place him in a host of personal situations that have never (and maybe should never) be written for him. And yet each situation can be satisfyingly real for the Imaginer.

Pirandello's father character goes on to discuss the Character's nightmare--the author who gives birth to the character in their own imagination and then refuses to give them life on the page. The Stepdaughter describes the way she "tempts" the author to move her onto the page, all without success. She tells herself, "Ah, what scenes, what scenes we suggested to him! What a life I could have had!"

As I work on The Beginning Things and get reacquainted with Tot and meet Dan Grad for the first time, each one moves from the imagination onto the paper and into my own reality. It scares me a little to think there might be a Stepdaughter somewhere outside hammering to come in.

Writing on . . . Orwell

I heard on NPR that yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the publication of Orwell's 1984. I read 1984 last year and, as ever, kicked myself for not having got to it much sooner. As a writer and a general dickerer with words, I'm fascinated by Orwell's projections re. the demise of language. His character Syme is working on a new edition of the official dictionary and is excited by his task of "destroying words--scores of them, hundreds of them, every day." He says the team is committed to "cutting language down to the bone" (page 45 of the Signet Classic version).

Orwell, the master of the snappy declarative sentence, was keen on cutting, if not to the bone then to the quick. He believed that the English language was being assaulted from all sides, with one of the main attackers being Insincerity which hid inside ornate language, phrases and cliches.

Orwell's essay sets out six rules that will save the English language. With another semester of Freshman Comp looming for the fall, I'm going to add the essay to my summer reading list.

Writing on...Women Writers, Finch, Greer, Salzman and Dowson

When I saw Annie Finch’ snip on Facebook this morning quoting Germaine Greer in the article "Women's Work: the Poetic Justice Forum" I had to click through and read on. Not only is Annie the Director of my old MFA Program at Stonecoast, Greer is my personal hero. I was interested in both their takes.

On the face of it, it seems pretty obvious that theirs is the only logical "take" women writers can have. It's the same "take" thinking women have had for the last fifty or so years - how can society condone the lack of female voice and representation when that society - on a pure numbers basis - is made up of a majority of women? But as Finch and others point out, of course, it's not a numbers game. It's a power game. Percentage wise, there may be more warm female bodies in the room, but the blokes own the microphones and chairs, and if we don't play nice, they're likely to take them home with them.

On the topic of women poets, Finch quotes Eva Salzman, editor of Women’s Work: Modern Women Poets Writing in English, who says that “the baggage attached to ‘woman poet’—poetess or not—is more like a lead weight.” Amusing, in a terribly sad way, are Salzman's spot on musings on the imaginary male poet who feels "'belittled by being included in an anthology of male poets, and visualizes “the long-awaited publication of Men Poets of the Twentieth Century'."

On the subject of "Women" anthologies in general, Greer weighs in with:

Unsurprisingly, the blokes like the girls best when they write like the blokes, and extra-specially when they write about girls the way the blokes do. It suits the male poet to believe that neither sex is specifically intended because it encourages him in his view that his specificity is actually universality. The woman poet who knowingly plays the game is not so much a ventriloquist as a ventriloquist’s dummy.

Say no more, she says (blokily).

Finch, in an effort to create an environment where such issues can be discussed, has joined with UK poet Jane Holland and launched the Poetic Justice forum and invited all interested to launch in.

The link also has a sub-link to a great link to a Guardian article and a public letter from Greer to the new UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy in which she talks about loyalties, fetish and avoiding the pitfalls of something she calls "nigger nobility."

And as an extra treat, Jill Dowson wrote a great article called "Humming an entirely different tune’?: A case study of anthologies: Women’s Poetry of the 1930s"

Enough. Back to writing.

Writing on...summer writing

Well, it took about 10 days to get back into writing this summer. But I'm there now. The routine is in place and seems to be working.

And the routine only goes to show me what an insanely lucky woman I am. Now that the weather is hot and muggy, I sleep out on my screen porch in a tiny narrow bed. So I go to sleep to frogs singing and various unknown animals criss-crossin my yard. And I wake up to a Will-Poor-Will. Yes, one of those. He turned up a few days ago and I hope he's here to stay. I love the sound he makes. Now if I could only entice an owl...

I make coffee, allow myself one pass at the emails and then spend fifteen minutes re-reading the last few pages from the previous day. That seems to refocus my brain. I then write until noon. I'm lucky enough to be working through the fourteen chapters I drafted last summer. I think I'll be adding another six or eight to get my characters through the woods and back on the bus.

It's good to be feeling like a writer again.

Writing on . . . Recession and world-wide publishing

It's hitting everywhere. My own publisher, Permanent Press, came out with a $88 deal which provides all subscribers with a copy of every 2009 title. A good deal. Brand new books for around $10 each.

And today I see that Salt Publishing in the UK is in trouble. Another great independant publisher who relies on grants and patronage for survival. Hard enough in the best of times, but in the worst of times? Nigh on impossible. They're using the Facebook community to ask their friends to go online and buy a book. If enough people do this, they'll scrape through. I took the opportunity to sign up for their fifty quid USA offer - five books in the mail. Works out about $18 each including postage. Not bad for brand new fiction.

It's important we keep reading. It's even more important that we keep reading quality fiction and nonfiction. For writers, it's also important that we support the independant publishers. They're the ones who give new writers a chance.

Writing on . . . Marilyn French

“Nothing is ever simple. What do you do when you discover you like parts of the role you're trying to escape?” : Marilyn French

My first husband's sister, who was never my biggest fan, handed me a copy of Marilyn French's book The Women's Room back in 1978. It was a dog-eared paperback - a "pass on" rather than a shiny gift. I wasn't a reader back then. Or rather, I was a new reader. Jim had been schooling me with Thomas Hardy, handing me novels and then quizzing me in The Swan on Friday nights.

I read French. I couldn't put her down. Each page seemed to put into words the issues I was grappling with as a girl/woman growing up in the seventies. I got it. I finally got it. The path that had been marked out for me--marriage, pin-money, part-time job, kids--suddenly split. There were other options--politically, socially, sexually.

But I took the book too late. I was engaged and the wedding invitations had been sent out. Marilyn French had shown me my choices and like a true working-class girl of the seventies, I put on my white dress and took the cinderpath.

French dogged me through the next thirty years. I read and re-read the book. I did as Penny did and handed the book on to my sisters and friends. I watch Lee Remick in the TV movie and fell in love with her. I divorced and read "Beyond Power." At 39, I went to college. I grew into those choices that French showed me.

French, 79, died this week of heart failure.

Writing on . . . Reflecting on Habits

I'm working on a list of questions for my Intro Creative students to help them with their final project - a creative nonfiction piece that explores their development as a writer during the past 16 weeks. As I came up with questions, I realised that my own answers shone a light over my writing life. I haven't taken stock since graduating from Stonecoast in 2007. I think it's something I might try and do on a regular basis. Here are some of the questions.

1. What did you want to learn about creative writing on day one? What do you think you have learned—about writing and about yourself?

2. You’re probably still nervous about writing. That’s a good thing. Are you still nervous about the same things you cited on day one?

3. You chose three words to describe your writing self and style on day one. Have those words changed? Why? Why not?

4. If you could meet any of the writers from the "Readings" sections of Sellers' book and buy them dinner/lunch/coffee/a beer, who would you choose? Where would you take them? Why? What questions would you ask them?

5. Let’s assume you’re going to carry on with this writing thing. Ask yourself some questions about your current habits and how they might need to change:

a. Do you write every day? If you do, is this a good idea? If you don’t, is this a good idea?
b. Do you talk too much about writing without writing enough?
c. Does fear stop you writing? What are you scared about? Specifically?
d. Do you give yourself enough time and space and materials to write? If not, why not? How might you make changes to do this?
e. Do your friends control your work schedule or do you?
f. What do you need to do to revise your writing life?
g. Is there something you would like to write but feel it is too prickly/scary/dangerous/revealing? How could you get closer to writing this?

I liked Heather Sellers' book The Practice of Creative Writing as lot more as I worked through it. I'd definitely use it again.

School's out from Friday 1st May. Then I have 24 portfolios to grade. I'm really looking forward to reading them!