Eva Hunter

Archive for the ‘Creative Writing’ Category


I Want You to Look At Sol

In Creative Writing, Literary genre, The Craft of Writing, Writing a Book on July 20, 2011 at 1:16 pm

I’m going to begin a new series in the next issue of PROFESSIONAL WRITING COACH, called “Writing the Perfect Sentence.” So you have some homework while you’re waiting. Find what you think is the perfect sentence. I’m not going to tell you what the elements that make up a perfect sentence are in this column. That’s what you’ll be finding out over the next several months in the new series. But here’s a hint: Often the best sentence in a piece–short or long, fiction or literary nonfiction–is the first sentence. See what you can find. Send your “perfect” sentence in through the comments section below. I’ll use them as examples.

But what’s this about Sol? Am I talking about Mexican beer, an acronym for “shit outta luck,” or–getting closer now–the Spanish word for “sun.” Sol: English Writing in Mexico is the on-line literary magazine published by Professional Writing Coach and a team of talented editors, in conjunction with the San Miguel de Allende Chapter of International PEN. We have a reading series every year, which begin this year with prolific author, Joseph Dispenza , reading from his new book (out in September in hard copy as well as Kindle) Old er Man/Younger Man: A Love Story. The proceeds from the readings, which will be twice monthly, go to scholarship funds for Mexican youth.

Our fourth issue of Sol has just been published. You can find it at   http://www.solliterarymagazine.com

And here’s an easy way to find your perfect first sentence. Choose it from either fiction or nonfiction in the current issue of the magazine!

Here’s an example from the beginning of Deborah  Ken Stein’s nonfiction piece, Saying Goodbye to Miss Spetgang.

The roof of our school was flat as a plank, and covered with a smooth, rubbery substance that gave a little bounce to my feet when I ran.

That’s a really good first sentence, and I’ll tell you why in the next issue. Meanwhile, start checking out the good writing in Sol: English Writing in Mexico and send me some sentences you think are perfect, by clicking on “Comment” below, and writing them in. Remember–not your first sentences, but something you’ve found already published. Identify the source, please.

Here’s how you get to Sol: English Writing in Mexico: www.solliterarymagazine.com


Writing Exercise: Those bad, bad adjectives!

In Becoming a Writer, Creative Writing on July 20, 2011 at 12:49 pm

Huh? What’s wrong with adjectives? Aren’t they the way we tell the reader exactly what we’re trying to tell them? Aren’t adjectives part of “show, don’t tell?”  Well–maybe yes and maybe no. It depends on the quality of the adjective. Unfortunately, most of us tend to use what I call “wimpy adjectives.”  Here are some examples adapted from a recent writing workshop:

1. She drove down the street past  sparkling, elegant  houses.

2. We could not see behind the brightly-colored walls: they ran from one house to the next down the cobbled road.

3. Her house was  beautiful, cozy, comfortable, and welcoming.

So what’s wrong with those sentences, you ask? Is Professional Writing Coach getting entirely too fussy? The adjectives involved are: elegant, sparkling, beautiful, brightly-colored, cobbled, cozy, comfortable, welcoming. Of all of those, “cobbled” is the closest to being a good, descriptive adjective.

But what about the others? We know what “splendid” means, don’t we? We know what “sparklingl”  is. Or do we? Consider that what you might be thinking of when you write “splendid,” may not be the way your reader defines splendid. I may think a restored California Craftsman style house on a shady older neighborhood street is splendid. You may prefer a Mac Mansion in a newer suburban neighborhood. The same goes for “sparkling.” What does that mean? It was after dark, and the lights were on? It was in Arizona and the sun was bright?

In reality wimpy adjectives tell us nothing. They don’t contribute toward the accomplishment of every writer’s task: to take what is in the mind of the writer, transfer it, through the medium of the page, to the mind of the reader–as directly and accurately as possible.

Now look at the other adjectives in the list. Do they paint the picture we are trying to paint? Or do they leave it to the reader to fill in the colors–perhaps not the colors you had in mind, at all.

Consider this selection from Lawrence Durrell’s Justine, the first book in his Alexandria Quartet: Read the rest of this entry »


Choosing Organization for Your Story

In Becoming a Writer, Creative Nonfiction, Creative Writing, Literary Nonfiction, The Craft of Writing, Writing nonfiction on February 26, 2011 at 3:01 pm

THE CRAFT OF WRITING

part nine–Collage, Function as Form, Spiral

(If you are new to this series please check the archives for previous selections in THE CRAFT OF WRITING)

Today we’re going to discuss the last three organizational structures on the list. We’ve covered straight chronology, revised chronology, flashback, converging narrative, and the trip. This column will cover the final three: collage, function as form, and spiral.

Collage is what it sounds like. It is a way of writing that is organized through a series of observations or facts patched together into a (mostly) creative nonfiction piece. Although it sounds simple, it’s not. In my classes, I encourage only the most skilled of writers to try collage. The pieces of writing must be succinct and have a common thread that runs between each of  them. For a good example of a skilled use of collage, read Caroline Roberts’ piece, “A Simple Mole” in the July, 2010 issue of SOL: English Writing in Mexico. http://solliterarymagazine.com

In Function as Form, the story is organized by the subject itself. In Tracy Kidder’s literary nonfiction book,  “House,” for example, the story is about the experience of the owners, and the building crew, while a house is being constructed. It is organized by things like: pouring the foundation; putting up the walls; the landscaping. So Kidder tells us the story of what the family is doing while the cement foundation is poured–bringing out problems, decisions, misunderstandings that might have happened. Then he switches to what the building crew is doing while the foundation is being poured. Then the same thing with the framing, and so on–until the house is complete.  Obviously, as in all literary nonfiction books, Kidder had to be on-hand during the entire process. A book like “House” isn’t written from after-the-fact interviews. Read the rest of this entry »


Choosing Organization for Your Story

In Becoming a Writer, Creative Nonfiction, Creative Writing, Getting Published, Literary Nonfiction, The Craft of Writing, Uncategorized, Writing a Book, Writing a Novel, Writing Fiction, Writing nonfiction, Writing Short Stories on October 9, 2010 at 12:24 pm

THE CRAFT OF WRITING

part eight–Converging Narrative, section two

(If you are new to this series, please check  the archives for previous selections in THE CRAFT OF WRITING)

In the previous selection in this series, I introduced the idea of Converging Narrative as an organizational form–that is: two (or more) related stories run independently until they converge–or come together as one story–in what is usually the final pages of the composition. In this segment, I’m going to talk about the writing of my short literary nonfiction story, David’s Journey.

My specialty in those days (early to mid-1990s) was short literary nonfiction for magazines and newspapers, so I was always on the lookout for good stories. Just to review, literary nonfiction is defined as “real stories about real people and the dramatic events in their lives, using the techniques of fiction.” This does not mean, however, that literary nonfiction is a hybrid of fiction and nonfiction. That “hybrid” simply does not exist in the formal literary world.

Anyway. I had done a story about an organization in Portland, Oregon, that matched  veteran parents of disabled children with parents of newborn children who were born with disabilities. As part of the story, I interviewed a cranial-facial surgeon. I mentioned to him that I’d like to do an in-surgery story with him–meaning I would follow the progress of a surgery from inside the operating suite. A few weeks later he called  to let me know he would be doing a surgery on a child, now seven years old, with severe facial deformities.

The little boy’s name was David, and he was born to a first generation Mexican family who lived in Springfield, Oregon–which was about a two hour drive south of Portland. In the weeks preceding the surgery, I drove to Springfield several times to interview the family. What I found was Read the rest of this entry »


Writing Exercise: Using Description

In Creative Nonfiction, Creative Writing, Writers Resouces, Writing a Book, Writing a Novel, Writing Fiction, Writing nonfiction, Writing Short Stories on October 9, 2010 at 10:49 am

What’s wrong with this sentence?

“I walked down the street, bustling and filled with activity, early one morning in Mexico City.”

It seems like a perfectly correct sentence, right? The commas are in the right place, it uses activity, it identifies a setting. So why isn’t it a good sentence? The answer is that it really doesn’t evoke much of a picture–it doesn’t put the reader in the scene. Now consider a short passage from Sandra Cisneros’s  Carmelo:

The racket of the street bustle–street cleaners, merchants with all of their merchandise on their back, chairs, baskets, brooms, the fruit vendor, the sherbet vendor, the charcoal vendor, the butter vendor, whistles and shouts, rattle of wheels, clip-clop of horses, hum of electric trains, hoarse, sad cries of the mules hauling streetcars, slap of guaraches, click-click-click of hard boots, the unmistakable Mexico City morning smelll of hot aotmeal, orange peel, fresh-baked bollilo bread, and the ripe tang of sewer foulness.

See the difference? Description is made by using details–details that essentially “paint” the scene in the reader’s mind.  So now it’s your turn. Take this sentence, and turn it into a rich, sensual experience. Then send me what you’ve come up with!

I was two blocks away from my childhood elementary school, and it had been 20 years since I walked down this small-town street.

Go for it!

 

TEN THINGS EDITORS WON’T TELL YOU

You’ve bought all the reference books.  You’re subscribing to at least one writers’ magazine. Each month you’ve read it from cover to cover—looking for special tips and “insider” information. You’ve studied advice about query letters,  read all the updates about new magazines and what they pay, and attended a writers’ conference or two. You’ve listened to countless hours of advice about how to get an Read the rest of this entry »


Choosing Organization for Your Story

In Becoming a Writer, Creative Nonfiction, Creative Writing, Writing Fiction on September 10, 2010 at 11:27 am

THE CRAFT OF WRITING

part seven–Converging Narrative, section one

(If you are new to this series, please check  the archives for previous selections in THE CRAFT OF WRITING)

I think converging narrative is one of the most fun organizations to use. That’s because it can be combined with other organizational devices, or just used alone. Although converging narrative is probably used more now in nonfiction than in fiction, it started as a fiction device.

Converging narrative means that two or move protagonists or sets of protagonists begin their stories at different points of origin, and the story consists of their physical movement toward each other.What makes this an organization, as opposed to a plot device, is that the story ends shortly after the characters meet. In other words, the point of the story is to get the protagonists together.

Here’s an example from my parents’ story. My father was born in Las Angeles; my mother was born in the small village of Santa Clara, Utah. They met when they were both in their early 20s in Boulder City, Nevada. My mother was a waitress in a hotel cafe; my father was a young electrician working at Hoover Dam. If I tell the story by having them both in town for awhile, then someone introduces them and they get married and spend the rest of their lives together, that is NOT a converging narrative organization. That story might use one of many other organizational approaches, but its primary approach is not converging narrative.

Why? Because the STORY in converging narrative is the journey toward the other person. The story is essentially over when they meet. Why, then, would I consider writing my parents’ story in this way? Suppose I wanted to make their story be that of two great waves of immigration to the United States, which on an individual scale culminated in my parents’ marriage: my father’s, the Spanish/Mexican immigration dating Read the rest of this entry »


TRY THIS ONE FOR “WRITERS’ BLOCK.”

In Becoming a Writer, Creative Writing, Getting Published, Writing nonfiction on August 7, 2010 at 9:02 am

WRITER’S BLOCK?

Let’s talk about it!

Professional Writing Coach doesn’t  really believe in “writer’s block,” but perhaps that’s because she wrote for magazines and newspapers for so many years, and had to make those deadlines. That’s not to say that she didn’t avoid writing plenty of times–you can read about that in her guest blog for MADAME MAYO, in the archives. But, OK, she concedes that there are times when one just can’t begin the process. And the beginnings are often the issue–breaking through inertia and insecurities and fear. Read the rest of this entry »


Choosing Organization for your Story

In The Craft of Writing, Writing a Book, Writing a Novel, Writing nonfiction on August 7, 2010 at 8:38 am

THE CRAFT OF WRITING

If you are new to this series, please refer to “The Craft of Writing” archives

part six in the series: “function as form”

 

We’ve already discussed the classic writing organizations of chronological, revised chronological, flashback, and the trip; and there are more to come. The organization we’ll look at today is perhaps a little less elegant than what we’ve looked at before. But–caution–that doesn’t mean that it’s not meticulous to build.

And “build” is the right concept to begin with. Tracy Kidder, that National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner, used function as form in several of his books. Consider House, first published in 1985. In this book, the blurb says, Kidder takes us from the “first nail  to the final coat of paint.”

What Kidder did, then, was organize his book around the specific stages of building a house. And since information about how many inches of concrete were poured for the foundation would be boring material,  except perhaps  for concrete pourers, Tracy chose a house that was contracted for by a specific family, and told their story–and the story of the crew–throughout the book. The disappointments, the joys, the misunderstandings, nail by nail, floor by floor, until the house, and the story, and the book, were done. Kidder brought the emotional aspects of having a house built to the fore: What happens when the actual room doesn’t look like the owner thought it would?  What if one goes away for the weekend and returns to find the kitchen sink in the wrong place?

Kidder’s story is classified as literary nonfiction, and we know the definition of literary nonfiction, don’t we: “Real stories about real people and the dramatic events in their lives.”

That’s “function as form.” How could you use it as an organization in your stories?

Next issue: Converging narrative as an organizational form


SOL: English Writing in Mexico–Take A Look At This New Literary Magazine!

In Becoming a Writer, Creative Writing, Getting Published, Testimonials on July 10, 2010 at 11:15 am

It’s published and subscriptions don’t cost a thing–we want you to be part of  it. The first issue of SOL: English Writing in Mexico is ready for you to read, just by clicking on the link below. You’ll find writing by Tony Cohan, C.M. Mayo, Halvard Johnson, Wim Coleman, Pat Perrin and more. And submissions are now being accepted for the November issue. To find out about that, take a look at the “Sol Writer Guidelines” available on the banner at the top of the page. But for now, dig into some super reading in SOL! http://solliterarymagazine.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE CRAFT OF WRITING

Writing the Perfect Sentence

Some years ago,  in Portland, Oregon, when I was writing literary nonfiction stories, as well as some feature stories for magazines and newspapers, I covered a week-long writing workshop for The Oregonian. This wasn’t a usual assignment from the publication, but the workshop was being taught by legendary fiction editor Gordon Lish.

The workshop sounded as if it would be easy–all one had to do, the literature said, was come up with one perfect sentence. Now Lish is a demanding editor and he put the ten workshop participants through a lot of stress that week. I’ll admit I satisfied the master with a couple of sentences, but as I was a professional writer, I had a huge advantage over the other participants. Here are my sentences that Lish liked. And, by the way, the assignment was to create first sentences.

“He bought the shotgun shells.”

and

“First there is the land, and the way it acts upon those who live on it.”

I knew what I was doing, and Lish knew I knew what I was doing. So why are these good sentences?

Let’s look again at the first one: “He bought the shotgun shells.” One of the principles of writing at an advanced level is to make one’s sentences sing. We borrow from poetry to do this. Notice, then, that “bought,” and “shot,” have the same “o” sound. Read the sentence aloud and notice how it flows off the tongue. This, along, with the alliteration of s in the sentence: shotgun, shells. (three times) created a rhythm of depth, of interest. And, of course, the sentence is provocative, which all first sentences should be. Who bought the shotgun shells, the reader thinks. And continues reading to find out. Read the rest of this entry »

Try This One on For Size

In Creative Writing on April 16, 2010 at 5:12 pm

 

THE PERFECT SENTENCE

Coming this weekend: Writing the Perfect Sentence. Our next exercise will give you a list of words,  which you can put together in any way you want to make the “perfect” sentence. But first I’ll give you some examples of what makes sentences perfect–a couple of them coming out of the writing workshop of famed fiction editor, Gordon Lish.

THE STORY ELEMENT FINALIST

Last week’s exercise in “Story Elements” brought several good responses, and you can read them in comments at the end of this column. I chose to highlight this anecdote by Pat Hirschl. Not only does it nicely incorporate the elements of the exercise, but also it uses other elements of craft nicely, such as dialogue and beats. The concept of beats may be new to some of you, but they’re the bits of action inserted between lines of dialogue to slow the action down or characterize. In this selection, the line beginning with “George peered through the screen door…” is a beat. Notice that Hirschl’s anecdote has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

The value of an exercise like this is to remind us that fiction is the art of what might be. (Nonfiction is the art of what was.) So the fiction writer takes a series of events or details, and weaves them together in a story: what might be. Here’s Pat Hirschl‘s anecdote, and below it is the writing exercise she used to produce it.

Bang bang bang bang bang.
“Coming. Coming. Don’t knock the door down.”
George peered through the screen door and saw a pencil thin woman in an orange and purple dashiki, a bright red pony tail pulled over one shoulder, and Tina Baby clutched to the other.
“This is your animal,” she stormed, holding out a chastened Tina.
“No. Well, yes. She, uh, belongs to my wife.”
“Whatever. She does not belong in my herb bed, depositing her disgusting malodorous germ-infested…”
“Sorry, sorry, she’s … I can’t keep her in since…”
“You are responsible to keep her in, or at least at some distance from my very special medicinal…”
“My wife’s left me, and Tina…”
“Tina, Schmeena, neither you, your wife nor this creature are any of my concern. The next time, I will call animal control, or possibly drown this miserable…”
George opened the screen door, grabbed the cat, and slammed the door.
He had never been so rude. –Pat Hirschl

 


Let’s Practice Story Elements!

Sometimes you want a break from your writing project. You know–having to worry about making everything  in your piece work. This  occasional column is meant to give you something fun to do, while at the same time honing your skills as a writer.

Each new column will approach different elements of craft, and will coincide (but not chronologically) with things you’ll learn in the Becoming A Writer: The Craft of Writing column.

Story means that something happens to a set of characters. Some of the characters are main characters–the protagonists; some of the characters are minor characters, and they are there to help develop the protagonists’ desires, accomplishments, disappointments, achievements.

The very basic element of story is something that will be discussed in detail in a week or two in the Becoming A Writer: The Craft of  Writing column: that is, story is built around the protagonist wanting something. Read the rest of this entry »