I didn’t do that class but do you remember that Longer MS workshop that Bobbie taught where everyone wrote and revised 100 pages in a semester? I do know she insisted that everyone started fresh MSS rather than working on ongoing labours of love - the class was about learning and exploring, which is hard when you have attachments.
I don't think any writing could be fabulous in that context! But I guess that wasn't the point. (I didn't imagine that, did I? Everyone had to start with something new? It wasn't offered during my cycle of classes.)
"I blame those grasping cookie-cutter writing courses, and a growing list of blurbers I can never trust again." Thank you for articulating this! I've had some real disappointments after getting caught in a book's hype, and it completely erodes trust around blurbers, recommendations etc.
Yes - those hypers have some explaining to do. Sometimes it’s easy to connect them, e.g., as fellow authors at an agency or publisher, so I guess they’re doing someone a favour. I think I have to train myself not to get drawn in - I have grown good at skimming.
I like September and the start of new Masterclasses! And I like the style of Ruth Ozeki - The book of form and emptiness;
"In the beginning (headline)
A book must start somewhere. One brave letter must volunteer to go first, laying itself on the line in an act of faith, from which a word takes heart and follows, drawing a sentence into its wake. From there a paragraph amasses, and soon a page, and the book is on its way, finding a voice, calling itself into being.
A book must start somewhere, and this one starts here."
I like Ruth Ozeki's style too - I've not read this book yet, but am keen to. That opening could be the start of most any book, but I like how it sets a certain curious and reflective tone for what's to come.
I'm glad you're working; means I'm learning a lot:)
Maybe it's a start of most any book but I don't think so; It's a very sensitive lettering of an opening, almost like the feeling of waves forming in the ocean, taking its own form as it hits and clasps the shoreline. Not everyone can write like that.
Sorry - I guess I mean this could be the start of any story in terms of its factual content. But as you say, not every story is so sensitively drawn. And few people can write like that! It's also very confident and assured - I like that especially.
Structural would be something else - by factual here I mean the basic facts of a piece of writing. In the above opening from Ours Souls At Night this might be something like: a woman walks down the street to pay a visit to a neighbour. We could take that fact and describe it in any number of ways or as part of any number of stories - this is where style and structure and other techniques or aspects of craft come into play.
Love the idea of letting ourselves discover our voices by practicing outside the projects we feel our writerly lives depend on!
I didn’t do that class but do you remember that Longer MS workshop that Bobbie taught where everyone wrote and revised 100 pages in a semester? I do know she insisted that everyone started fresh MSS rather than working on ongoing labours of love - the class was about learning and exploring, which is hard when you have attachments.
I took that class. It was fabulous! I wasn't fabulous in it, but she was...
I don't think any writing could be fabulous in that context! But I guess that wasn't the point. (I didn't imagine that, did I? Everyone had to start with something new? It wasn't offered during my cycle of classes.)
"I blame those grasping cookie-cutter writing courses, and a growing list of blurbers I can never trust again." Thank you for articulating this! I've had some real disappointments after getting caught in a book's hype, and it completely erodes trust around blurbers, recommendations etc.
Yes - those hypers have some explaining to do. Sometimes it’s easy to connect them, e.g., as fellow authors at an agency or publisher, so I guess they’re doing someone a favour. I think I have to train myself not to get drawn in - I have grown good at skimming.
I like September and the start of new Masterclasses! And I like the style of Ruth Ozeki - The book of form and emptiness;
"In the beginning (headline)
A book must start somewhere. One brave letter must volunteer to go first, laying itself on the line in an act of faith, from which a word takes heart and follows, drawing a sentence into its wake. From there a paragraph amasses, and soon a page, and the book is on its way, finding a voice, calling itself into being.
A book must start somewhere, and this one starts here."
I like September too! But it does mean WORK.
I like Ruth Ozeki's style too - I've not read this book yet, but am keen to. That opening could be the start of most any book, but I like how it sets a certain curious and reflective tone for what's to come.
I'm glad you're working; means I'm learning a lot:)
Maybe it's a start of most any book but I don't think so; It's a very sensitive lettering of an opening, almost like the feeling of waves forming in the ocean, taking its own form as it hits and clasps the shoreline. Not everyone can write like that.
Sorry - I guess I mean this could be the start of any story in terms of its factual content. But as you say, not every story is so sensitively drawn. And few people can write like that! It's also very confident and assured - I like that especially.
(Smiley) Maybe I don't understand factual; is that the same as structural?
Structural would be something else - by factual here I mean the basic facts of a piece of writing. In the above opening from Ours Souls At Night this might be something like: a woman walks down the street to pay a visit to a neighbour. We could take that fact and describe it in any number of ways or as part of any number of stories - this is where style and structure and other techniques or aspects of craft come into play.
(Have you read this book? I recommend!)
Understand, thanks. Haven't read but I will; I love and was surprised by her question:))