Eva Hunter

Archive for the ‘Writing Fiction’ Category


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 »

WORKSHOPS IN THE AFTERNOON!

In The Craft of Writing, Writers Resouces, Writing Fiction on September 12, 2010 at 9:46 am

With a few exceptions, I’ve switched all my writing workshops to the afternoon–from noon to four p.m. They’re now three-week workshops, rather than four. Why this change? For a couple of reasons: first, three weeks gives my ongoing students  (and me!) a little more resting time between workshops, rather than shaving classes for three months straight. And it gives me the mornings to get my own writing done. Those of you who have been following PROFESSIONAL WRITING COACH know that we’re doing an on-line magazine, sponsoring readings in San Miguel de Allende, about to put the first year of the magazine Sol: English Writing in Mexico out in hard copy as well as Kindle–your writing coach is very busy.

The next available writing class is in January, 2012. Click on “Writing Workshops” on the banner at page-top.


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 »