Conference with Andy Duncan

June 29, 2004

I still felt pretty lousy after having an equally lousy story critiqued, so I was initially a little apprehensive about my conference with Andy. He started out by telling me that he liked my stories, especially "Uncle Snuffy on Doomsday." He said they were for the most part clear, clean stories about people we care about. "You clearly have the ability," he said. I think I exhaled right then and there for the first time all day. He also said that today's story was my most ambitious one.

One thing he liked about "Uncle Snuffy" was the Southern humor, citing the works of Manly Wade Wellman, Howard Waldrop and Christopher Rowe. (Wellman's works cite actual arcane Southern books, while most other writers just make them up.) "Southern stuff is not so common, but write it. Most editiors will happily look at it."

Even "flat" characters are important. You need a well-populated neighborhood. He gave me some other things to consider in making "Uncle Snuffy" and a couple of other stories stronger.

Again, I felt more encouraged after this conference. Sitting down with Andy was sort of like sitting on the back porch in some small Southern town, sipping lemonade and watching an occasional passing car stir up dust on a dirt road. Very relaxing and very encouraging. I feel better now.

Turn It In/Action/Random Quotes/My Story Critiqued

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Apparently, we've reached the point in Clarion that people are either reluctant to turn in stories or they have no stories to turn in. We only had three stories today. Andy says to turn them in, even if they're half-assed.

Andy talked about action in stories. Don't make action irrelevant. Are story conflicts resolved through violence? Ass-whippings conclude nothing. Two people going at it solves nothing. Andy's not opposed to violent stories, but you have to deal with the social issues of the people involved. Violence has to serve some purpose other than head-busting.

Also look at how much exposition is going on. Is there a lot of dense text? There shouldn't be. Read James Ellroy. He writes brutal novels, but you see very few blocks of exposition. Most of the story is told in action and dialogue.

Experiment with forms. Tackle things you may not be able to handle. Try things a little beyond you.

Random Quotes:

Beautiful prose can convey muddy information.

Don't conceal or delay something from the reader that the POV character obviously knows.

Dashes are distracting. Use them sparringly.

***********************************************

My story "Community Service" was critiqued. I think I can safely say this was my weakest offering of the workshop. And while several people thought the writing was good, several pointed out (and rightfully so) that the story is heavy-handed, preachy, cliched, and avoids the hard questions. Andy cautioned that afterlife stories invaribly invite harsh comments. "Use the theology you want and disregard the rest." He recommended stories by James Van Pelt to see this done well.

I didn't really have much to say at the end of the critiques, other than "I take fully responsibility for subjecting you to such a lousy story." When I think about it now, I realize that the critiques could have been much more harsh. It really is a lousy story. Okay, so I've given myself permission to write crap, and there it is. I can either dwell on the fact that I've written a crappy story, or I can get to work on another one. That's one of the great things about Clarion - If you write a real turd, you don't really have time to dwell on it for very long. Right now I have to dwell on the fact that I have my conference with Andy this afternoon.

Various Pieces of Advice from Andy Duncan

June 28, 2004

First day of critiques with Andy Duncan. A few bits and pieces:

Sensory detail! Don't forget it. It's easy to get involved in plot and character, but think about sensory detail through your characters.

Read more poetry. It can help your fiction.

(Several people were mentioning movies in their critiques, trying to make various points.) Cite fiction! Read stories and read them closely. There's something wrong about citing movies and TV in a fiction writing workshop.

Week Four - Andy Duncan

Monday, June 28, 2004

Our assignment for Friday: Go to a public place and eavesdrop on one or more conversations that strangers are having. One-sided cell phone conversations are okay. Make notes - make a transcript as best you can. Use a minimum of stage directions. You may use a one-sentence introduction/description/setting. Get maybe three pages typed. On Friday we will perform our eavesdropping conversations. You can cast them among your classmates. "The seething raw facts of life in East Lansing, Michigan!"

Nancy Kress - Saturday Discussions Continued

This & That

If you're stuck in a story, try going back to the last scene you're comfortable with. Try to determine exactly where it went wrong.

Keep a "Bible" for characters. You'll save yourself a lot of grief.

Print out your first draft and edit scene by scene. Make your changes on the hardcopy and type them in again.

Look at stories closely. How much dialogue is used? How much description? How many scenes? What does each scene do? Analyze stories, tear them apart. This is how you learn. Do it with stories you really like. Don't be afraid to imitate other writers to see how their stories are structured.

In the long run, what counts is what you learn from your failed stories. The ones you publish early don't matter. It's the progress you make. It's what you learn from your stories, even your failures. You're in it for the long haul.

Stories should make you think and feel. A really successful story does both.

Stories have to have a different worldview that broadens the reader's view. That's a successful story. You don't have to like the characters, but you do have to care about them.

Nancy Kress - Saturday Discussions

Saturday, June 26, 2004

Process

This morning Nancy spent time talking about the process of writing. Here's some of what she said:

The bottom line for each writer is this: Do what works for you.

Michael Swanwick starts the beginnings of his stories about 20 times, revising for words and new ideas. He carefully revises two pages, then adds a new paragraph.

Toni Morrison writes without knowing how the story/novel is going to end.

Nancy herself writes a fast first draft without doing any editing, basically a 500-page outline. (She researches during the second draft.) About two-thirds of the way through that first draft, she knows the ending and the meaning. The last third doesn't need much revision because she knows where she's going.

Connie Willis outlines like a demon and can identify the main event in each chapter. She can't move forward until she knows all the details.

Some work fast, some work slow. Again, everyone's different. Find what works for you and stick to it.

Turning Ideas Into Stories

Let's say you've got an idea for a story. You want to write something about a brain transplant.

1. Who's Point of View? Who will this transplant hurt the most? The doctor? Patient? Parents of the child? That's your POV character, the person with the most to lose.

2. What can go wrong? The operation gets screwed up. This will generate ideas. Think of Frodo and the ring - what can go wrong?

2.5. With what result? Somebody else wants the ring, Gollum, etc. The ring starts to take over the wearer. The events of the plot make the characters change.

3. What's at stake? STUFF COSTS! The thing at stake doesn't necessarily have to be big. It could be a relationship, peace of mind, etc. It doesn't have to be the ruling of the world.

4. What do these people want? Everybody wants something. List your characters. What do they want at the beginning of the story? Sparks you to generate more plot ideas. What about the middle? Does it change? If you keep motivation under control, you'll have a lot of your story under control.

Early Decisions in Your Story

Plot and character can and often do change in your stories. These things shouldn't change:

POV - The fewer POV characters, the better. We see reality from one head. Stick to one in a short story. Let the reader know early if you're doing a multiple, then limit it to one POV per section. It shouldn't look like a mistake or lack of control.

TONE - You should know the tone of the piece by the end of the first section. Heroic fantasy? Romp? Hard-boiled? Pick one and stick with it. Everything must make logical sense in its own terms.

Oops....

Sorry about the, uh, somewhat lengthy delay, leaving you hanging at the end of Week Three. I just realized that maybe someone's at Clarion now (or thinking about going to Clarion in the future) reading Clarion journals in preparation/anticipation/pure boredom. In all likelihood, however, absolutely no one is reading or has ever read my Clarion journal, yet, for the sake of completion, I promise to post the rest of my Clarion experience very soon.

Signed,

Clod of the Year