When I shifted from writing poetry to writing stories, I thought—a rookie thought—that I’d just be able to do it. It was around 1980 and minimalism was coming into style, and I tried to write spare stories where each sentence throbbed with meaning. I did this for a couple of years and not only were the results awful, the practice was too. Zillions of crossouts. I could write an entire page and end up with a series of black lines and no kept words.
This is exactly what I was looking for! I’m currently studying the short story form with a marvelous teacher through Santa Monica College (our text is The Penguin Book of the American Short Story edited by John Freeman) and am blown away by how much I’m learning about how these splendid stories work. But how, I was wondering, could I approach that level of understanding of the novel, and plot specifically, as I continue work on my own book. And here it is! I couldn’t ask for finer. Thank you (again), Alice!
Oh my God, Alice, I just this second realized a deep dive into Girls is so what I need to do as a reprieve from, you know, the shitshow. I remain in your thrall.
While I write personal essays about daily life and travel, I always seek to find the story. No matter how fascinating the destination or trip, I certainly wouldn't want to read a straight description myself, so I assume few others would either. Your questions will be great ones to consider in that effort. Thank you!
This post is exactly what I needed! I've been going back to revise my old stories. For years, I'd come out of a workshop with feedback, and I wouldn't have the foggiest idea of how to fix the issues or implement the feedback I got. So I dropped them in a drawer, then filing cabinet, as the drawers got full. Now I'm going back - some of these stories are from 2015-8! - and they're TERRIBLE! They had NO PLOT. I've been rereading everything on plot and how characters change. I'm charting the plots in everything I read and all the movies I watch (as I try to see all the Oscar noms). I'm now 50 and a cancer survivor - I don't know that I have the time to take two years off to read like you did, but these questions are GOLD! Thank you! And thanks for giving me hope - if you learned plot, surely I can too?
Excellent advice, and a great reminder. I did this with 2 or 3 of my favorite books: I wanted to find out why they were my favorite, how the authors did what they did, and essentially find the nuts and bolts of the story like you did. I annotated with little post-its sticking out everywhere. After reading your post, it's encouragement to reread these books after several years of in-depth writing and reading about plot and story, and approach them with specific questions (I love your examples and will use those, plus others!).
Thank you for sharing, Alice. When I made the switch from poetry to stories I did something like this. I was working as a barista and couldn’t afford yet to buy books. I would go to the public library and check out a stack of BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, going back to the forties. I put this stack beside my bed and every night for at least a year I read one story. When I finished that stack I returned to the library for more. I didn’t know it but I was after similar questions and answers as yours in a less organized manner. The osmosis method. Your questions are perfect.
Looking forward to the Girls talk. Re your Beatles fandom: Have you listened to any of Andrew Hickey’s amazing podcast A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs? The “All You Need Is Love” episode alone is worth a million bucks (and almost four hours long!)
This is exactly what I was looking for! I’m currently studying the short story form with a marvelous teacher through Santa Monica College (our text is The Penguin Book of the American Short Story edited by John Freeman) and am blown away by how much I’m learning about how these splendid stories work. But how, I was wondering, could I approach that level of understanding of the novel, and plot specifically, as I continue work on my own book. And here it is! I couldn’t ask for finer. Thank you (again), Alice!
Oh my God, Alice, I just this second realized a deep dive into Girls is so what I need to do as a reprieve from, you know, the shitshow. I remain in your thrall.
While I write personal essays about daily life and travel, I always seek to find the story. No matter how fascinating the destination or trip, I certainly wouldn't want to read a straight description myself, so I assume few others would either. Your questions will be great ones to consider in that effort. Thank you!
Love the list of writers, especially Edith Wharton.
This post is exactly what I needed! I've been going back to revise my old stories. For years, I'd come out of a workshop with feedback, and I wouldn't have the foggiest idea of how to fix the issues or implement the feedback I got. So I dropped them in a drawer, then filing cabinet, as the drawers got full. Now I'm going back - some of these stories are from 2015-8! - and they're TERRIBLE! They had NO PLOT. I've been rereading everything on plot and how characters change. I'm charting the plots in everything I read and all the movies I watch (as I try to see all the Oscar noms). I'm now 50 and a cancer survivor - I don't know that I have the time to take two years off to read like you did, but these questions are GOLD! Thank you! And thanks for giving me hope - if you learned plot, surely I can too?
Thank you, Alice - excellent advice as always and much appreciated as I return to my novel. ❤️🙏🏾
Excellent advice, and a great reminder. I did this with 2 or 3 of my favorite books: I wanted to find out why they were my favorite, how the authors did what they did, and essentially find the nuts and bolts of the story like you did. I annotated with little post-its sticking out everywhere. After reading your post, it's encouragement to reread these books after several years of in-depth writing and reading about plot and story, and approach them with specific questions (I love your examples and will use those, plus others!).
Thank you for sharing, Alice. When I made the switch from poetry to stories I did something like this. I was working as a barista and couldn’t afford yet to buy books. I would go to the public library and check out a stack of BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, going back to the forties. I put this stack beside my bed and every night for at least a year I read one story. When I finished that stack I returned to the library for more. I didn’t know it but I was after similar questions and answers as yours in a less organized manner. The osmosis method. Your questions are perfect.
Looking forward to the Girls talk. Re your Beatles fandom: Have you listened to any of Andrew Hickey’s amazing podcast A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs? The “All You Need Is Love” episode alone is worth a million bucks (and almost four hours long!)
What great questions! And you learned from your studies so beautifully-