"Haim, bai, please bring maw a cup ah tea," Ma called. (pg. 62)
This particular line struck me because I've always been fascinated by how well colloquial language is written into a story. Although there are many different topics I could cover about this passage from River Crossings, I have chosen this particular line because it helps me to better visualize the world that Professor Gossai grew up in.
The question I always ask myself is: when writing in colloquial speech, am I making my subjects sound uneducated? Am I making them seem bad? Dr. Gossai seems to have gotten over that thought, and I applaud him for it. Without such authenticity in a story, then there's no way anyone could enjoy it as much without the realism of everyday speech.
At first, it was a bit hard to read, but after a while I began to fall into the pattern what he heard as he was growing up. Without such dialogue, I can't really read the story as well, nor can I believe it as much.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Reflections, September 13, 2007
When writing creative nonfiction, it is always imperative to build the characters in a story. As I've read more stories in this genre, I realize that it is important to build yourself as a character. Just because you're writing the piece, doesn't mean that the reader will automatically know it's you. This brings me to my next quote:
"The art of characterization comes down to establishing a pattern of habits and actions for the person you are writing about and introducing variations into the system." pg. 38, Writing Creative Nonfiction
As Phillip Lopate goes on to write, it is important to tell the reader a bit about yourself through the story. Describe your likes and dislikes, your particular guilty pleasures and what you do for a living. Don't be afraid to let the reader into your world the way you would let in a newfound friend.
Above all else, make yourself human. Don't forget to make sure that you tell about both the good and bad about yourself. Refrain from just making yourself seem like some sort of flat, bland individual. We all have stories to tell.
I think that it is no coincidence that we cover such a topic on the eve of our immersion projects, since we will be central players in events which we'd otherwise never be involved in. Such is the stuff that conflict, and by extension story, is made of.
"The art of characterization comes down to establishing a pattern of habits and actions for the person you are writing about and introducing variations into the system." pg. 38, Writing Creative Nonfiction
As Phillip Lopate goes on to write, it is important to tell the reader a bit about yourself through the story. Describe your likes and dislikes, your particular guilty pleasures and what you do for a living. Don't be afraid to let the reader into your world the way you would let in a newfound friend.
Above all else, make yourself human. Don't forget to make sure that you tell about both the good and bad about yourself. Refrain from just making yourself seem like some sort of flat, bland individual. We all have stories to tell.
I think that it is no coincidence that we cover such a topic on the eve of our immersion projects, since we will be central players in events which we'd otherwise never be involved in. Such is the stuff that conflict, and by extension story, is made of.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Reflections, September 6 2007
This week's quote comes from the piece in Writing Creative Nonfiction entitled "The Shadow Knows".
"He is wearing jeans and a saggy white t-shirt. He has a kind of potato face, lumpy and uneven, a droopy lower lip and a bulbous nose. His hair is grey and thinning, uncombed. He is in his sixties, but he looks a good ten years older." -pg. 258
Initially, it appears that a passage such as this one tells the reader little about creative nonfiction. What brought my attention to the passage, though, is how rich it is in detail. I can actually see this old, seemingly broken down old man, in the room with me as I read.
I will be the first to admit that I struggle with good, vivid descriptions of people. Trying my best to not use one cliche, I inevitably stumble into using another one. But what Lowry did in this story was to bring every person alive, not only through their actions, but also in the way that they are described. Such a tool, the ability to bring someone alive through words, is essential in any creative genre, but in particular in creative nonfiction. After all, the individuals in these stories are real, so great care must be taken to nail that person accurately and fairly.
Fairness. That's another key word that must be explored when talking about creative nonfiction. You have to be fair to your subject, no matter your personal biases. In a sense, that comes out in chapter four of "Creative Nonfiction", about the art of interviewing. Don't come in with a personal agenda, whether writing a story or interviewing someone; simply write the story and get the facts.
"He is wearing jeans and a saggy white t-shirt. He has a kind of potato face, lumpy and uneven, a droopy lower lip and a bulbous nose. His hair is grey and thinning, uncombed. He is in his sixties, but he looks a good ten years older." -pg. 258
Initially, it appears that a passage such as this one tells the reader little about creative nonfiction. What brought my attention to the passage, though, is how rich it is in detail. I can actually see this old, seemingly broken down old man, in the room with me as I read.
I will be the first to admit that I struggle with good, vivid descriptions of people. Trying my best to not use one cliche, I inevitably stumble into using another one. But what Lowry did in this story was to bring every person alive, not only through their actions, but also in the way that they are described. Such a tool, the ability to bring someone alive through words, is essential in any creative genre, but in particular in creative nonfiction. After all, the individuals in these stories are real, so great care must be taken to nail that person accurately and fairly.
Fairness. That's another key word that must be explored when talking about creative nonfiction. You have to be fair to your subject, no matter your personal biases. In a sense, that comes out in chapter four of "Creative Nonfiction", about the art of interviewing. Don't come in with a personal agenda, whether writing a story or interviewing someone; simply write the story and get the facts.
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