Or, How I Fell Off My Literary Horse and Got Right Back On - June 16 was Bloomsday during the centenary of James Joyce's "Ulysses". It's prompted this, my longest post ever, about finding readers, staying creative, and having fun with your writing.
OK, I took some time now to read this. It is not my kind of passage, because it did not catch me. But this is hard to judge, maybe the whole story would.
In general I think you should write with your voice and I here very much agree with Saunders. He is also right when he says that everyone should work on their own (shit)-hill instead of trying to be Hemingway.
I think you should totally write the way you like it, because there will never be the case that everyone will like it. Getting a book published is anyway extremely hard. What about doing short stories in the meantime?
Thanks Igor! I've heard from others it's not really their kind of passage either. But as I say, it blows me away.
Yes - realization I'm coming to is that I need to write my own stuff in my own way. And then I'll go out and find the readers who want that style of writing.
Funny you should mention - I've written a couple of short stories lately and sent them out. What's really funny is that one was written after I re-read "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" by Hemingway. I still injected my own style though... lol I may have been influenced by him in that piece, but it's a far cry from his totally barebones style.
3. Accept your voice and make it louder and louder
Saunders explains how he aspired to write like Hemingway, but after some time accepted that at most, he can only become a hemingwayish side-kick. He accepted he is George and hoped for the best:
This is a big moment for any artist (this moment of combined triumph and disappointment), when we have to decide whether to accept a work of art that we have to admit we weren't in control of as we made it and of which we're not entirely sure we approve. It is less, less than we wanted it to be, and yet it's more, too–it's small and a bit pathetic, judged against the work of the great masters, but there it is, all ours.
Let’s have a look. Say you need to rewrite this opening to a story:
The sun fell into Ann's window with a force that, lying in bed, she keenly felt on her wrist as she went to answer the phone. It was so early. Who could be calling so early? Outside there was a truck or bus going by.
How would you open? Saunders goes:
Jesus. Who could be calling so early?
This is his voice and I find it beautiful. Short and it makes me want to see the next sentence. But, please, it is not the right way, it is the right way for Saunders’ voice. Finding your voice is hard. You need to listen carefully and encourage it to grow louder and louder.
Yes, George Saunders has a great voice, doesn't he?
I also agree with his ponderings about a finished piece being less and more than the original thought, and wondering whether or not we are in full control when we create. (I say it's both. That's what writing with wild abandon means: not thinking and just writing. It's still us writing it though. It may be our conscious brains getting out of the way of our sub-conscious brains enough to let that creativity flow through, yes. So it's easy to suspect The Muses or some similar thing. But it's still us.)
For me, the hardest part of finding voice is to make sure the reader is following along with what I'm trying to convey. I tend to walk that line between subtle suggestion and being too subtle -- and often I'm on the wrong side of it. But I'm working at it, and hopefully I'm refining it.
As for publishing short stories here: One major drawback of publishing stories online and/or in social media is that many contests and publications will no longer accepted them because they are "previously published". I'd rather keep submitting the (very) few stories I have and hope they find a home out in the world...
So far to two CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) contests, one local and one national, and a flash fiction piece to The Masters Review. https://mastersreview.com/flash-fiction-contest/ What I really like about this last one is that there was an option to get a professional critique of your story, which I think will be really helpful.
I sort of do this in and out of all my other stuff, so I can't say I'm hard core about submitting to contests at all. But it is fun when I do it!
OK, I took some time now to read this. It is not my kind of passage, because it did not catch me. But this is hard to judge, maybe the whole story would.
In general I think you should write with your voice and I here very much agree with Saunders. He is also right when he says that everyone should work on their own (shit)-hill instead of trying to be Hemingway.
I think you should totally write the way you like it, because there will never be the case that everyone will like it. Getting a book published is anyway extremely hard. What about doing short stories in the meantime?
Thanks Igor! I've heard from others it's not really their kind of passage either. But as I say, it blows me away.
Yes - realization I'm coming to is that I need to write my own stuff in my own way. And then I'll go out and find the readers who want that style of writing.
Funny you should mention - I've written a couple of short stories lately and sent them out. What's really funny is that one was written after I re-read "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" by Hemingway. I still injected my own style though... lol I may have been influenced by him in that piece, but it's a far cry from his totally barebones style.
Thanks for the insights -- much appreciated!
Why don't you publish your short stories here too?
This is what I had in mind, it is from my review of Saunders' book.
https://eightyfour.substack.com/p/george-saunders-a-swim-in-a-pond-in-the-rain
3. Accept your voice and make it louder and louder
Saunders explains how he aspired to write like Hemingway, but after some time accepted that at most, he can only become a hemingwayish side-kick. He accepted he is George and hoped for the best:
This is a big moment for any artist (this moment of combined triumph and disappointment), when we have to decide whether to accept a work of art that we have to admit we weren't in control of as we made it and of which we're not entirely sure we approve. It is less, less than we wanted it to be, and yet it's more, too–it's small and a bit pathetic, judged against the work of the great masters, but there it is, all ours.
Let’s have a look. Say you need to rewrite this opening to a story:
The sun fell into Ann's window with a force that, lying in bed, she keenly felt on her wrist as she went to answer the phone. It was so early. Who could be calling so early? Outside there was a truck or bus going by.
How would you open? Saunders goes:
Jesus. Who could be calling so early?
This is his voice and I find it beautiful. Short and it makes me want to see the next sentence. But, please, it is not the right way, it is the right way for Saunders’ voice. Finding your voice is hard. You need to listen carefully and encourage it to grow louder and louder.
Yes, George Saunders has a great voice, doesn't he?
I also agree with his ponderings about a finished piece being less and more than the original thought, and wondering whether or not we are in full control when we create. (I say it's both. That's what writing with wild abandon means: not thinking and just writing. It's still us writing it though. It may be our conscious brains getting out of the way of our sub-conscious brains enough to let that creativity flow through, yes. So it's easy to suspect The Muses or some similar thing. But it's still us.)
For me, the hardest part of finding voice is to make sure the reader is following along with what I'm trying to convey. I tend to walk that line between subtle suggestion and being too subtle -- and often I'm on the wrong side of it. But I'm working at it, and hopefully I'm refining it.
As for publishing short stories here: One major drawback of publishing stories online and/or in social media is that many contests and publications will no longer accepted them because they are "previously published". I'd rather keep submitting the (very) few stories I have and hope they find a home out in the world...
Thanks for the great conversation!
~Graham
Ok, thanks! Where are you submitting?
So far to two CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) contests, one local and one national, and a flash fiction piece to The Masters Review. https://mastersreview.com/flash-fiction-contest/ What I really like about this last one is that there was an option to get a professional critique of your story, which I think will be really helpful.
I sort of do this in and out of all my other stuff, so I can't say I'm hard core about submitting to contests at all. But it is fun when I do it!
~Graham
Thanks! I will check the masters out.