Chuck Q & A - June 2004
1. From joechummer:
Is it okay to use a thought verb for the sake of brevity, such as when you have more important things to get to, and unpacking the verb would detract from the focus?
Chuck Responds:
For the next six months, no. Find your real focus, and stay with it. If you need to use thought verbs to explain yourself, you may not be clear enough on what you want to show. Again, pretend you’re a camera – a minimalist distinction called “recording angel” – and you must demonstrate everything with action. You can’t explain it.
Also, is there anything inherently wrong with getting inside a character's head when they are alone? My third person characters (especially the moody ones) often become introspective, and I think it helps advance certain aspects of character motivation to know what goes on inside their head.
Chuck Responds:
God forbid. The worst parts of fiction are the self-obsessed rants of lonely characters. If you must be introspective, lapse into a flashback scene. But, again, a tangible physical scene. Or give the lone character a physical task that demonstrates some unspoken drive or motivation. July’s essay on “Big Voice vs. Little Voice” will deal more with managing soap-box rants.
2. From bh:
'Ego' writing:
In this month's distinction essay, you make reference to 'thought' verbs. These types of verbs seem to be functions of the Ego, as defined by Jung – feeling, thinking, intuition, and sensation. In your essay about head and heart authority and submerging the I, you also touch upon ideas that resemble Jungian theories of the Ego. Is Jung a source for some of your theories on writing? And, if so, what other psychological or sociological theories do you incorporate into your writing?
Chuck Responds:
Sorry, nope. I just try to do what seems to work. But I do like Jung’s other work.
3. From Spike:
I've noticed that a lot of "thought" verbs deal with some kind of anxiety or fear. In the example you gave with the late bus, you did a quick breakdown of this with the character "worrying" about everything that could go wrong, including a drunk bus driver and a fiery wreck.
In "Guts", you have a character who's in a life-or-death situation, but also worried about his parents discovering him jerking off in their pool. What kind of fear or anxiety is more powerful in fiction, the "life or death" type of fear or the kind of fear that deals with embarrassment and inconvenience?
Chuck Responds:
Most people would probably tell you: Life vs. Death. But, I don’t think we conceive of death that easily. Even in the worst situations, it seems as if people are more interested in saving face. And that failure to respond to the larger issue (death!) generates laughs. The “socially inappropriate response” is always a reliable way to find humor. That denial of the inherent drama. So… you want to terrify your reader with the threat of death, but periodically lessen that tension by having your character be more concerned with how their hair will look when their dead body is found. That release then allows you to build to a greater point of terror without burning out your reader.
4. From pmck:
In “Diary” you deal with physical aspects of the subconscious through Graphology and Misty’s painting.
I have a story where the idea is to show another side to the narrator by giving access to his subconscious thoughts. In the sense that I’m using internal dialogue as an alternative means of character description for the reader.
How would I go about unpacking this? The idea I have is to have the narrative occasionally interrupted by random quotations from his “animal side”. Am I venturing off track with this approach?
Chuck Responds:
Consider putting those “quotations” in the real world. Either through the “invisible friend” method (“Harvey or fight club”). Or, by allowing your character to “glean” what they need from the seemingly random scenery, i.e. the overheard conversations, sermons, and signs that just occur. Like the end of “American Psycho” where the narrator sees a door, marked with the sign “This Is Not An Exit.” As humans, we’re always looking for signs – my favorites are fortune cookies. You could try dreams – but they seem trite and over-used nowadays. As do song lyrics. As do Italics.
5. From jptorney:
Ok, Chuck. I applied the "un-packing" technique to a story, and the length of it doubled. And it was already too long. After thinking about this for a couple days, this question came up: writers like yourself, Denis Johnson and Bret Easton Ellis seem to know exactly which details to include in your short stories and which to cut. Which parts of the story receive more emphasis than others. Me, I seem to be emphasizing everything for fear of the reader not getting the complete picture. Any rules, tricks or guidelines you can provide to help me and other people who might have this problem?
Thanks for the help. This workshop is the balls.
Chuck Responds:
Find a way to tell your story in ONE page. Then, two pages. Adding only what you need. Write to make your story as short as possible – with little or no description – just lots of physical action. Trust that your reader will follow the action and invent their own reasoning behind it. People will follow action. Then trust, and quit trying to control so much. But first, do YOU know what happens in the story? Too often, we pad the story because we’re hiding a lack of events. Or because those events aren’t strong enough to carry a whole story. This is why good short stories make good movies – because the action is compressed and happens bam-bam-bam in short order.
6. From lakanen:
It seems the elimination of thought verbs is somewhat tied to submerging the I. I found that after submerging the I in the chapter I'm working on, that when I went back in to remove thought verbs, in many/most places I had thought verbs to remove, I had failed to submerge the I previously. Coincidence?
Chuck Responds:
No coincidence, here. Remember, you are a camera. Even in real life, try living a few days without imposing lots of internal dialogue on your world. Stop judging and worrying, just pay attention and study how people move their hands while they talk – often, it’s a better story than their mouth tells. You can always revert back to “thinking” and inventing secret meanings for the world around you.
7. From Voxangelikus:
When un-packing a story or an idea, is it more efficient to start out with your thoughts in whatever form they may be (i.e. notes scribbled, a "packed" version of events) and then expand upon them or should you try to un-pack as much as possible first? Since I've been visiting this site, I have noticed that I take a LOT of shortcuts, and maybe for me it's better to write everything out and then expand (as it would be different for someone else)... but I was curious which technique you found more effective.
Chuck Responds:
For my first draft, I try to get it straight in my mind. Then, when I’m afraid of forgetting it – and because I hate sitting still – I write the thing in one draft. Usually, five or six pages, quilting together my thoughts and notes, quickly. I print this and carry it with me, reading and re-reading it. Looking for where it’s weak. In the outside world, I look for the physical details I’ll need for the next draft. And I bounce the ideas off people, to find new ways to demonstrate the themes. By the time I sit down for the second draft, my first draft is covered with notes. Making a clean, revised copy, I repeat this process several more times.
8. From NinjaGenuis37:
Dear My Palahniuk,
At the risk of sounding juvenile or disrespecting the time you put into these essays, I would like to ask a random question that is unrelated to the essay. Do you or have you ever read the Harry Potter books? It seems so many people are caught up in it and I was wondering where you stand. By the way your latest essay helps me a lot. I'll probably spend years updating all my writing but it will be a lot better now. Thanks man you are the greatest.
Chuck Responds:
Sorry, I’ve never read the Harry Potter books.
9. From Ian Jasper:
Chuck,
Thanks for your time and effort. What do you think of writers imitating/stealing your style? The topic has come up in Workshop reviews.
Chuck Responds:
Imitation is a good way to learn – then evolve your own style. In Tom Spanbauer’s workshop, at some point, all the students sound like bad copies of Tom. Most move on to incorporate aspects of Tom’s Minimalist style into their own, unique, voice. Other students find their work won’t sell because the world already has one Tom Spanbauer. Me… I started writing by copying Stephen King. Then Steinbeck. Then Dorothy Parker. To copy some style, you do need to dissect it. Study it. Only then can you reproduce it and borrow from it.
10. From hereticblue:
After a writer has created something they think is worthy of being published when is the best time to copyright that work? Seeing as how the agent, editor, etc which would be acquired later might want various aspects changed. I understand that your agent probably takes care of that but what about those of us that will be seeking agents in the future for first-time publication? Thanks in advance for all your help with the Q&A's and the workshop.
Chuck Responds:
Then only thing I’ve ever done is put that “copyright” (circled C) symbol with the date on my title page. Some people will insist you put that on every page. Other people will insist you mail yourself a copy of the work, dated and sealed, to open in court if need be. But, please… I’ve never worried that much beyond making the story as effective as possible. Nobody would dare steal Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.” Your voice, your plot, that’s your best protection – and the little circled-C.
