tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147920534572837961.post4491497350126035641..comments2023-10-06T12:12:31.468-04:00Comments on The MFA/MFYou Newsletter: StorytellingAshley Cowgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12362214167891115633noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147920534572837961.post-7162486132502425832010-05-20T12:04:57.495-04:002010-05-20T12:04:57.495-04:00Thanks, Adam! I really like that "movement&qu...Thanks, Adam! I really like that "movement" idea. Reading your post seems to have loosened something in my mind about the main character in the novel I'm working on right now, and I've been excitedly banging away at the keyboard ever since. I plan to get the next set of stories/poems up on the website on or around July 1st.Ashley Cowgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362214167891115633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147920534572837961.post-51174152361367640932010-05-19T13:21:24.504-04:002010-05-19T13:21:24.504-04:00from Adam, btw - i forgot to signfrom Adam, btw - i forgot to signAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147920534572837961.post-84748972275068724962010-05-19T13:20:15.467-04:002010-05-19T13:20:15.467-04:00An interesting point, Justus.
And what someone do...An interesting point, Justus.<br /><br />And what someone does doesn't have to be extreme in order to be a plot. James Bond might do plenty, and this is doubtless plot-tastic, but then what he does is expected within the context of his lifestyle. As is what your character does within the context of his lifestyle which might be no more than, for example, a series of blind-dates. Such a thing might be common, but provides enough for the character-language-plot thing.<br /><br />Short stories are another prospect. I read in the book 'Writing in general and the short story in particular' by (I can't remember but he's basically written a real treat here) that the point is to have your character 'move'. What happens to him and what he does is of course limited, but somehow you must show that he's 'moved' in some way. I don't mean physically, of course, although that might work as a metaphor i.e. 'he leaves the bar' or whatever. For character movement I thought of an example that it could be something so simple as a different reaction to the same stimulus at the end of a story than at the beginning (e.g. the mailman again walking past his door without delivering). Of course the reaction has to be believable based on what he thought/did/saw/talked about in between. Because I don't know about you but doesn't it piss you off when you watch a film and the character acts totally inappropriately based on what you know about him, just to move the plot along or have something happen? Yes. So the trick is to make the 'movement', however relative-extreme, believable. That's right, you have to be a magician! lol!<br /><br />Nevertheless if you don't mind me saying, Ashley, I think your blog is moving in a writer's struggles sort-of way. Informative, interesting, and moving. I found it when reading through Pedestal Mag's archives. I found your highly original story in there and followed the links to your website. Can I ask then, when is the next update of story-comparisons on that website?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147920534572837961.post-53527186038143863552010-05-16T11:06:16.199-04:002010-05-16T11:06:16.199-04:00Yes, Adam, I agree. I've often heard and read ...Yes, Adam, I agree. I've often heard and read that it's important to remember that character is revealed through action. This is part of the old "show, don't tell" maxim, which, although overstated, has some validity. We understand and learn about characters based on what they do, not merely what they think or how they use language. And there's a tendency among the literary crowd to have passive characters who sit around THINKING and don't actually DO much, which results in boring stories as well as boring characters (I've read a lot of MFA workshop stories with this problem, and I know I've been guilty of this too). But that Saunders story is a great example of digging deeply into characters' thoughts while having them DO something interesting.Justushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12701126200573700215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147920534572837961.post-6070172897889886842010-05-15T22:15:51.496-04:002010-05-15T22:15:51.496-04:00That's a really good point, Adam. Maybe the tr...That's a really good point, Adam. Maybe the truth is that language and plot are really encompassed in the issue of character development, since both play into helping the reader know and understand a character. I've never thought about it like that, but you're totally right!Ashley Cowgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362214167891115633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147920534572837961.post-89358043747356155782010-05-15T15:59:41.741-04:002010-05-15T15:59:41.741-04:00a really interesting post.
i can't think of a...a really interesting post.<br /><br />i can't think of a booker prize winner that wasn't a damn good story too (the booker is the uk's sort-of 'top' literary award). <br /><br />also - perhaps you could say that character comes alive, as well as through his particular language, through his actions i.e. being affected by events and in turn effecting them. this cycle could possibly pass off as a plot. in that respect you're bang-on to suggest the three necessary, indeed mutually inclusive, elements of a story.<br /><br />another interesting insight into MFA workshops too!<br /><br />AdamAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147920534572837961.post-3023641993910178202010-05-09T12:37:59.905-04:002010-05-09T12:37:59.905-04:00That was the story that turned me into a Saunders ...That was the story that turned me into a Saunders fan. I had read a couple of his other pieces in Best American or elsewhere and liked them, but I read that one in the New Yorker and it totally blew me away. Then I went out and got one of his collections.Justushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12701126200573700215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147920534572837961.post-18389297963075551432010-05-09T11:47:15.219-04:002010-05-09T11:47:15.219-04:00Yep, that's the story Saunders read. Isn't...Yep, that's the story Saunders read. Isn't it awesome? He did such a great job of reading it, taking on a totally different voice for each of the three characters. I'll have to read that Scott Turrow book.Ashley Cowgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362214167891115633noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147920534572837961.post-53561387380474029592010-05-09T08:59:07.667-04:002010-05-09T08:59:07.667-04:00I wholeheartedly agree. Was the Saunders story the...I wholeheartedly agree. Was the Saunders story the one about the girl getting grabbed and the neighbor boy seeing it?<br /><br />I'm reading Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent right now. Evidently it's the book that more or less founded the modern legal thriller genre, and it's really well written. He was a Stegner fellow at Stanford before becoming a lawyer, so he really knows how to put language together, but he also knows that a gripping plot is essential.Justushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12701126200573700215noreply@blogger.com