Kay Kenyon's Blog, page 22

Writing what we don’t know

Musing today on that sage advice, write what you know.  Sounds like a good idea, but is it?

Not if we take it too literally. We don’t write to record what we’ve done or re-imagine what we’ve done. It could be argued that we write to experience something vicariously. And these events or experiences might be quite new to us.

Like many fiction writers, you may–like me–have a boring life. We keep our lives uneventful so that nothing will get in the way of writing. (Maybe this in itself should warn off aspiring writers. Write novels, and you will shun the world.) E.L. Doctorow said in a recent interview in the Paris Review that “A writer’s live is so hazardous that anything he does is bad for him.” Experiences are not good. They take you away from writing.

Doctorow’s was an outrageous statement. Meant, I think, to make us question our assumptions about writing. Look closely, and there’s truth to found there.

Of course we do mine our experiences, but for the most part they are emotional experiences. As writers we experience emotions that are universal. Each of us has experienced an incredible variety of emotions. As writers, our job is to imagine such emotions hitting characters more deeply than these emotions may have visited us. It is the writer’s special talent to empathize with people–whether they are male or female, similar to us or dissimilar–and to imagine their lives. I can write about a soldier in Flanders in WWI, if I have experienced suffering and death (and am willing to do the factual research), and I can write about about a Victorian woman’s quest for power if I have ever been thwarted in a deep desire.

In our writing we make use of our practical experiences, of course. But quite often these are extras: returning a serve in tennis, saddling a horse, birthing a child.

The rest is the exploration of the imagined place, person and specific feeling. And we will know it as we write it.

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Dear readers and friends,

My blog is changing. I’ll be sharing more personal perspectives on the writing life rather than teaching fiction. I find that I need to commit more time to my writing, and some things, alas, must go.  It’s exciting to have a new book coming out, and of course, the next one’s under way. They’ll now get more of my attention.  I hope you’ll still drop by and catch some of my musings on the writing life and, soon, some insights into my latest book .  With many thanks–Kay

Why I write

Dear readers and friends,

My blog is changing. I’ll be sharing more personal perspectives on the writing life rather than teaching fiction. I find that I need to commit more time to my writing, and some things, alas, must go.  It’s exciting to have a new book coming out, and of course, the next one’s under way. They’ll now get more of my attention.  I hope you’ll still drop by and catch some of my musings on the writing life and, soon, some insights into my latest book .  With many thanks–Kay

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Why I Write

I’m probably not the only writer who sometimes asks herself, Why the hell am I doing this? Writing, that is. Especially, writing novels. The answer sure isn’t glamor, money and prestige. Of course there is some income from the endeavor, but for most of us, it ain’t a lot. As for glamor, the last time I felt glamorous was sitting in my best dress at the Hugo ceremony and hearing my name from the stage–not winning an award, but being thanked by an editor. Yup, that was the high point in glamor. And those of us in the trenches know the business too well to hope for, of all things, prestige.

So if the money isn’t great, the job is rather pedestrian, and it’s short on prestige, why do it? Most of the answers I’ve heard don’t convince me. Writers may say that they want to connect with readers, or bring certain characters to life, or that they just plain “love it.”

Here is a friend of mine bravely trying to hit a golf ball out of the rough. Play it as it lies is the rule. Somehow this reminded me of the writing life.

I’ve also heard writers say they have stories that just have to get out. (I’ve never quite understood that one. What happens if the story doesn’t come out?)

I was one of those authors who, until a memorable evening last week would have answered that I write novels because “I love it.” But when an experienced novelist and writing teacher raised an eyebrow at my answer, I threw it back at him. Why do you write?

He answered: Because there’s nothing else I’m suited for.

I had an immediate reaction to that one, and it was: that’s the truth. In all honesty, this is probably the real reason I write these long, long stories taking up months of my life between page one and page 413. And put up with the plot that won’t and the editor that doesn’t get my story.

I like that answer because it’s humble, and as close to the truth as I may get . . . and it reminds me that I don’t have to be happy every day writing. I don’t have to be in love with it every day, or win a Hugo. So, the real answer, please: There’s nothing else I know how to do. Writing is what I do.

May not be profound– or is it?

The next fiction dream

Dear readers and friends,

My blog is changing. I’ll be sharing more personal perspectives on the writing life rather than teaching fiction. I find that I need to commit more time to my writing, and some things, alas, must go.  It’s exciting to have a new book coming out, and of course, the next one’s under way. They’ll now get more of my attention.  I hope you’ll still drop by and catch some of my musings on the writing life and, soon, some insights into my latest book .  With many thanks–Kay

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As I write this, I’m embarking on a new novel. As usual with any new book I work on, I don’t talk about my concept. Talking about the book too soon seems to cool the fire I need to get started on the venture–to believe the story is possible, to commit my energy to the next fictive dream.

But I still want to talk about my writing experience. The wins, losses, hopes, frustrations, and those occasional spectacular gifts from the writing gods.

Today my observations on this insane process of novel writing relates to how incredibly high story hopes climb at the beginning. I’ve seen it many times with my books, and sometimes with short stories, that at first there is a kind of love affair with a story.

Serial book love

Why does the next story always seem like the most exciting project ever? The finished books are all very well, but one has, after all, written, and rewritten, and read them ad nauseum, down to the final galleys. So they fade in the heart, a little. Oh, but the WIP! And that goes for my latest WIP. I just love this new story. At least the potential of it.

After so long in the business, I’m schooled enough to be humble, but in the back of my mind, I’m saying this one is dazzling.

Or is it? Maybe I’m getting better in some ways with each book I write.  And it’s at least possible that I have a tiger by the tail with the latest  one. But it might just as easily be an infatuation with something new.

Maybe it’s serial book love. An excitement untainted by the practical matter of getting that brilliant story down on the cold, white page. There will be battles and doubts ahead. The new love will no doubt prove to have feet of clay. . . and I may love it just a little less, eventually. But, no matter. We take what the writing gods offer.

Today I’m in love.