I like writing fiction. A heap. A ton. A lot. I've been trying to be a little more organized about how I write - try to write a little every day, that sort of thing - but there's nothing better than the random moment in the canned veggies aisle at the supermarket or at the car wash when an idea suddenly appears - like a winning lottery ticket, unexpected but highly desired - and demands to be explored. Sometimes I enjoy being told what to write, and sometimes I find it constricting, but no matter how I feel about a story, once I really get started I always - ALWAYS - find myself writing things I didn't expect. There is nothing quite as wonderful or scary as telling a story and not knowing what will happen next, of knowing that I will be the first person in the world to discover where this story leads.
I'm not as big of a fan of writing about fiction. I find it gets more difficult as the piece gets longer. I love a good two page story, really enjoy work that's around thirty pages long, and struggle with anything longer. With short works, the author is forced to leave a lot of breathing room, a lot of space for analysis and interpretation. As a work gets longer it becomes more refined, more defined. The space for interpretation shrinks. The only way I can find significant subjects for discussion in longer works is by fracturing them into smaller segments, sifting through the broken bits to find subtext. It's not that I can't read a novel- I like reading novels - but I almost always lose the sense of the novel as a single cohesive unit. Instead, it becomes a series of interrelated vignettes, sort of like taking a long movie and converting it to a mini-series. The trick is finding a book that can be fractured and have each section stand on its own as interesting/valuable while still connecting to the other sections of the story.
Writing around fiction: Yeah, there's usually some around.
Writing about friction: Don't most stories contain friction?
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4 comments:
I agree with you when you say that writing fictional stories is very different from writing about fiction. I had a great time writing my own fiction. It allowed me to be creative and I did something different with my writing. We have spent the last 4 or 5 years writing about fiction but very little time for us to write our own fiction. It was finally time to step away from all of these academic essays that we have been writing and now finally being able to take the time and write our own fiction stories. Writing fiction is very different from writing about fiction. All I did was think of an idea for my story and then sat down and started writing. When writing about fiction, you have the author’s stories and any type of criticism written on the author. I think fiction short stories are a great unit to use when teaching. You can see how creative the students can get when they write their own stories.
I am totally with you on the great feeling of getting a spark from some random thing you've seen. you are walking and all of a sudden you see something like high heel tracks in the mud and next thing you know there is a story! I have to give you credit though, very rarely do I actually write down my stories unless someone tells me I need to. Usually I just find them the closest person and talk their ear off with the idea I've had. Now with the writing about fiction. I am a little split. I think it is really fun to sit and discuss what is going on in a novel and criticize it, but the second I am told I need to write my ideas down- not so much with the fun. anyway I have said enough. go write a story you lazy bum...
I also enjoy writing fiction. This is weird because I used to think otherwise. I have always had a hard time thinking of ideas and employing detail. I think I have gained practice though because I have had a switch. I love to write fiction now and don't like to write about it.
I agree with you that the story tends to fall into place on its own and that is a pretty awesome concept. I think students will enjoy writing fiction as well. I think though that they should learn the distinction. I think students are moving into writing as they speak.
When this happens, it is almost as if they are writing fiction. This is where the "I" conflict comes in. Teachers don't want to allow students to use the word I because essays become more personal and less analysis.
So, I think it is important for us teachers to lay down that distinction so that students will not have that confusion in their minds.
With this knowledge, they will be informed writers.
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