This week we shifted from Wreckage of Reason back to Bird by Bird. This is great because while Wreckage of Reason is great for learning about different ways and forms in which to write fiction, I feel like a really learn a lot from reading what Anne Lamott has to say about writing, the writing process and how to write in general. I really like how she tell the writers in her class that getting published isn't the greatest or best thing about writing a book, rather the real joy is the struggle through writing the book and through the writing process. She seems to have a much different outlook to writing and the process of writing a book then others. I believe this comes from her own personal experiences writing, along with her experiences from her childhood of watching her father as an author and writer.
In this section of the reading, pages 33-94, I found a couple different sections very interesting and very intriguing. The very first section in the reading this week is called "School Lunches". I thought this was a great outlook at writing because I would never actually think to equate writing to school lunches. In the reading, Anne asked her students to write about their experience at school lunches. She sat down with them and wrote how lunch was really about, "Opening our insides in front of everyone. Just Like writing is. Some bag lunches, like some people, were Okay, and some weren't. There was a code, a right and acceptable way. It was that simple." This is a great way to show how something so simple, as just thinking about a school lunch, is so much like writing. Opening up and sharing everything that you have written is like showing what your parents packed you for lunch. She also talks about how these are both also like taking a shower at school in front of everyone. To get clean and not smell bad, you have to get naked in front of everyone, even when you know that everyone is looking or judging you. She states that writing is similar to this because you have to show everyone what you are writing, even though you know that everyone is looking at it and judging it. This really helped me when writing my own fiction stories because when I had a hard time thinking of things to write, I simple thought of this exercise and it gave me ideas, which helped me press on with my writing and get through writers block.
The next part of the reading that I enjoyed and thought was interesting was called "Dialogue", and is on page 64. This section really appealed to me because personally, I have a really hard time with adding dialogue to my stories and many times, I simply don't add dialogue because I don't feel like I Mix it into the writing correctly. In this section she really opened my eyes to how important dialogue can be to a piece of writing. A narration can tell you exactly what is happening from an outside view, but when you add dialogue, it makes you feel as if you are part of the story, or that you are actually there. It can really help the reader get a feel for what kind of person the narrator or person telling the story is, along with giving a better view of what the character that is doing the speaking is actually like. She says, "Remember that you should be able to identify each character by what he or she says. Each one must sound different from the others." This is an excellent point because if the dialogue of one person doesn't differ from that of another then the reader can get confused as to who is actually speaking. Once your reader is confused, they will become uninterested, and this is what you really want to avoid. This section really gave me some good ideas of how to add dialogue to my stories. It also showed me how adding dialogue correctly can really help paint a picture for the reader of what is happening in the story and really help the reader understand the characters. On the other hand it also showed me how adding dialogue the wrong way can be a total disaster.
Finally, I thought the section called, "Set Design", was great as well. I really try hard to paint a picture for the reader of what the scene should look like, and to really give the reader a sense of where the story takes place and what is happening around the characters. With this being said, I really did learn a lot from how Anne talks about set design. In this section she uses a garden as an example, which I think is a great example because if when described correctly, a garden can seem beautiful, colorful, and alive, but described poorly can make a reader think of a black and grey dead plants. She states, "Characters prepare for their roles, improvising dialogue, while you set the stage for their appearance.", and she nailed it dead on with this statement. Characters can only do so much in a story or piece of writing, the scene and surroundings around the characters really make the story whole. This section helped teach me how to describe the surroundings in a story better, and how to set the scene for the characters in a story more accurately. The reading this week was an easy and helpful read. With our portfolios due in a few weeks, the reading really helped me with some of the problems that I was running into while writing. I enjoyed the reading and can't wait to finish reading what Anne Lamott has to say about writing.
No comments:
Post a Comment