Chuck Q & A - Second Quarter 2005
*Covers Workshop topics 16 - 18.
1. THEMES & CLICHES: Question submitted by dissent:
Would a burnt-tongue cliché work well as a chorus, or would this just become cumbersome and annoying to the reader? What I mean is, misusing cliché to fit a certain character as a chorus or transitional device.
Chuck Responds:
By saying something the wrong way, you avoid using a cliché. So burnt-tongue passages and clichés are mutually exclusive. But that said - I've just remembered (from years and years ago) a fellow workshop writer who used the phrase "The plot sickens..." as an on-going chorus in her book. That's kind-of burnt tongue, but you could argue it's too clever. It doesn't slow the reader or re-invent the ordinary world. To me, a chorus is something fairly bland that marks a moment, resolves it, and bumps the reader to a new topic. "The plot sickens..." Burnt tongue does the opposite, by slowing the reader and lingering a moment longer in the profound moments of a story.
2. TEXTURES & TALKING SHAPES: Question submitted by marsjams13:
For Haunted, you've used different textures to tell the story, like King's Carrie. In Carrie, it is obvious these textures have different narrators. However, with Haunted, the quilt's narrator is ambiguous. The reader is told who supposedly "wrote" each story, yet the envelope story indicates that no one does what they came to do (write) and the similar style in narrative voices leads me to believe the "we" is actually a single narrator. Did you write Haunted with a specific narrator in mind, or is the narrative identity less important in a quilt story?
Chuck Responds:
I had no single narrator in mind. The narrator is plural because no single character will take responsibility for the story. It's a way for them all to lie and hide. Isn't all reality just a mutual agreement among people in a culture? I could argue that the plural voice implies the narrators are dead, and we're all combined in death, but that imposes my version of the story as the one true version. The first few drafts of the wrap story were filled with specific detail - real names and voices - but that made the chapters too similar to the stories. To create more contrast, I made the chapters as bland and "fairy tale" as I could.
3. THEMES & CLICHES: Question submitted by snuffy:
I have heard several writing instructors say that when creating genre fiction -- noir or science fiction, for example -- you have to follow the "rules" of the genre. How does the use of cliché relate to genre fiction? Is it possible, or recommended, to avoid cliché in these forms?
Chuck Responds:
I don't know much about "genre" fiction. I've never studied it. But it's easy to notice which examples of a genre "breakout" to a wider readership: the ones that best re-invent the clichés. For examples of recent mysteries that side-stepped cliché, look at Snow Falling on Cedars, The Lovely Bones, or The Curious Case of the Dog at Midnight. However, when I talk about clichés, I'm usually referring to phrases or description in the narrative - not to the clichés of structure and plot that your instructor probably meant. Those are set in stone: the murder, the discovery process, the first-act reveal, etc.
4. TEXTURES: Question submitted by theshinningserpent:
Regarding "Texture" - If I'm using splices of non-fiction to transition or summarize, how then do I differentiate those words from the words coming from by Big Voice, and/or my Little Voice--Is the narrator using these words?
Chuck Responds:
To really answer this well, I'd need more information about your story. If it's told in first person, all the story must come through the narrator. But your nonfiction material can still be things the narrator is seeing or hearing in the world. These nonfiction forms - street signs, graffiti, music - occur in real-world Little Voice scenes.
5. TALKING SHAPES: Question submitted by Parkaboy:
Since we're halfway through the year, and given that substitute authors may not cover the subject, I was hoping you might give us a head's up on the other structural patterns you mentioned, in addition to the 'O' and the 'Quilt.' Ever since you wrote that essay, I've been anxious to hear about those.
Chuck Responds:
The next few essays will be about different "shapes" or non-linear forms a story can take
6. THEMES & CLICHES: Question submitted by fluffhood76:
This question has to do with theme. Because I've struggled with this for awhile now. I've read your essay on theme, which has been helpful. But my biggest problem with defining a theme is that I always see it as almost too rigid, too absolute, and maybe I'm taking it too seriously. But I feel like my feelings about whatever the theme is changes over time, and I may second guess myself, constantly altering it, and thus spiraling my work. With shorter projects it's less of a problem, however it's with the larger projects that I can't drill it down. Any advice? Should I just define a theme to carry some universal message, and have it act more as a unifying device? Or is there something other I should consider?
Chuck Responds:
Ask yourself: What is the biggest secret issue in your life right now? What can't you fix or tolerate that threatens to drive you nuts? That's your theme. Warning: Your issue can't be "world peace" or some external shit like that. It has to be your most-private shit.
7. TEXTURES: Question submitted by Dr.Jekyll&Mr.Hyde:
Essay eighteen talks about different visual textures, like writing a novel in tattoos. The main device in my story is an ingredient list. An old woman keeps looking at it, repeating it in her mind, but her thinking always gets cut off before she reaches the bottom. I see it as a running chorus.
I don't know if I should make the list a texture or a visual icon that stands out. The actual appearance of the list is important but since it keeps repeating it gets tedious. I'm stuck on whether to show the list in the old woman's handwriting, or just keep it in straight prose.
Thank You for New York. Get some rest.
Chuck Responds:
Straight prose. Easier for your overseas translators. Plus, the idea of a chorus is to insert a "beat" of bland time. A pause, that lets the reader jump to a new topic or scene. So a familiar chorus is less likely to hold your reader's attention. You want folks to recognize the "shape" of the chorus and NOT sub-vocalize it. You can vary the list of ingredients, and don't overuse them. But again, like "he said/she said" attribution, the material that comes between the choruses has to be so compelling that readers will tolerate the bland, abrupt transitions created by a chorus. Go re-read chapter six of Fight Club and see how sloppy I get, re-wording those damned rules.
8. THEMES & CLICHES: Question submitted by productiongirl:
With regard to the topic of cliché, beyond the period of avoiding cliché and hyphenated phrases, do you believe that creating " cliché" for a character to use could work within their development? I don't mean the typical cliché but more like colorful catch phrases created by the writer specifically for that character, that could distinguish a character by the region they live in or the work they do.
Chuck Responds:
Yes, of course. We all have a small "wardrobe" of phrases we use to introduce new topics and grab attention. Or resolve old topics. Or refer back to past events. All of these function like choruses, even if they're only two or three words, tacked onto a longer sentence. Part of starting each story is collecting the "wardrobe" of phrases specific to each character.
What's important is that these phrases must be unique to that character. A compelling character can say offensive, stupid, self-important shit - but he can't be boring or clichéd.
9. GENERAL: Question for Chuck submitted by jody:
Chuck, at a recent reading I asked you if Haunted was a book describing what it was like to write a novel, pimping out parts of your experience, cutting off parts of yourself. And you replied that Haunted was more about what it's like when someone is unable to write what they should really be writing about and so their life gets twisted up in their stories. How do you know if what you're writing is the deep, real thing you should be doing or if it's wearing a fictional mask by the time it's done? Is there something that lets you know a particular piece is an authentic expression?
Chuck Responds:
Here's the irony. The fictional mask lets you be even more honest. Plus the mask makes the story less literal and more entertaining to a wider audience. Less MY experience, and more OUR shared experience. But the test for bullshit - for me - is always the same three questions: "Would I feel comfortable reading this in public? Can they make a big movie from this? Will I send my mother a copy of this?" If the answer to all three of these is "hell no" then I'm writing something risky and personal enough. I'm not wasting my time.
10. Question for Chuck submitted by rkdaley:
You do a great job with these essays. Thank you. They're very helpful and a joy to read.
It was posted here on the Cult that these essays are comin' down at the end of this year. They're gonna return to us in book form I've also read.
Has havin' the essays up on the Cult helped you at all? And if so, in what ways?
They sure the hell've helped me.
Chuck Responds:
Becoming more aware of yourself - your behavior and thinking -- is always worth the time. Some of my favorite writers have declined to talk about their process for fear that this self-awareness would spoil the joy of writing. I happen to disagree with that idea. In this same vein, Joy Williams writes that once a writer knows a sure way to create a certain effect she must abandon that method. I do agree with Joy.
Unless you're aware, you're more likely to repeat the same patterns without growing beyond the ones that you've found work. Recognizing a pattern seems to kill it, forcing you to create or find something different.
While I discuss choruses, here, I use them less and less in my fiction. Some of these elements are so basic to life - like the buried gun - we can never escape them. But being aware of them lets a writer experiment and use the basic tools to the best possible effect.
Some stuff, I still can't do for shit. I can't write a sympathetic character to save my ass. All I'd need to do is put a small girl on crutches, give her cancer and walk her out on stage... but I hate that stuff. So I overcompensate with characters that too many people despise.
I also wish I could teach folks how to get a "good idea." The single most important aspect of any story is how much it surprises and amazes the reader. What I talk about in these essays is just the frame - you have to fill it with something worthwhile. That 90 percent of this job, nobody can teach.
Always keep in mind that this is a story about a story about a story. Nothing I present here is the absolute "truth." But it helps to have a shared language about writing. This way, writers can discuss aspects of storytelling.
My long-term goal has been to teach or coach writers, in some face-to-face setting, reading and editing their work. With health insurance. And by writing these essays I've collected in one place most of my personal, vague rules about writing. And I've been able to present those rules to a wide audience, instead of answering the same questions a million times at book events. Not everyone can come study with Tom Spanbauer, or get an MFA at the writers workshop in Iowa, and my goal was to serve those folks who work full-time jobs - at Freightliner even - and pass along the best advice that other writers have given me.
On a deeper level, every magician wants to show the audience how a magic trick works. Sure, that would destroy the illusion of easy, fun "magic," but it would let the magician show how much effort and practice and control goes into something that looks so simple. As a writer, I don't sit down and write anything in one, perfect draft. I want to show you how many rules I follow. This work involves more than wearing a tuxedo and waving a magic wand. Strategy goes into every word you use. But this dissection does wreck the illusion that writing, like magic, is some kind of easy miracle.
That illusion might serve the magician, but it doesn't serve the next generation of magicians. And ultimately, it doesn't serve the audience.
