Writing Workshop
August 30, 2008
One of the most fun writing tools is to take a situation that feels right and to ask "what if?" That's apparently what Jincy Willett did when she conceived of her novel THE WRITING CLASS.
It's about an aging overweight fearful female writer who was published to great acclaim at age 22 -- then, nothing! So she teaches these writing classes, quite reluctantly. There's a twist in the novel, when two of the thirteen in the class end up dead.
The point of the writing class is not unlike the mission of what we writers call Workshop -- where the members bring in the latest chapter of their book, read it aloud, and everyone else critiques it. Workshop is on Thursday nights. I love Thursday nights. When I first joined, it was on Monday nights. Then, I loved Monday nights.
By comparison, THE WRITING CLASS made me really crabby. I was looking forward to interesting characters, maybe a few writing tips, but the novel tried too hard to be clever and literary. I wanted to love those characters, and I didn't.
My mind wanders back to just before my first Workshop, about two and a half years ago. I promised in an earlier blog that I would tell this story.
It was a few weeks into January, and I was just driving around the SW Portland suburb where I live. It was a typically rainy day, but a light rain was falling, a mist. I could easily see through the windshield of my Mustang convertible, as I drove on a main road where I've driven thousands of times. My cell phone sang out its cheerful, nameless tune, and I picked up without looking.
"Hello, Diana. What are you up to these days?" It's Chuck Pahalniuk, whom I've interviewed a half-dozen times.
"I'm procrastinating writing my book." I have no idea why these words popped out of my mouth, but they did.
At that very instant, a white Lexus with gold lettering turns, pulling right into view, with the license plate even with my line of sight.
It says W-R-I-T-E.
I say, "Omigod!"
Chuck says, "What?!"
I tell Chuck of this seemingly random appearance of this Lexus and its license plate "WRITE."
Chuck says "Are you in a writing group?"
"No," I say.
"Well you are now -- we meet Monday nights."
I had never seen this car before -- nor have I seen it since. The synchronicity of that car with that plate at that moment -- that changed my life.
I love this magic!
One of the most fun writing tools is to take a situation that feels right and to ask "what if?" That's apparently what Jincy Willett did when she conceived of her novel THE WRITING CLASS.
It's about an aging overweight fearful female writer who was published to great acclaim at age 22 -- then, nothing! So she teaches these writing classes, quite reluctantly. There's a twist in the novel, when two of the thirteen in the class end up dead.
The point of the writing class is not unlike the mission of what we writers call Workshop -- where the members bring in the latest chapter of their book, read it aloud, and everyone else critiques it. Workshop is on Thursday nights. I love Thursday nights. When I first joined, it was on Monday nights. Then, I loved Monday nights.
By comparison, THE WRITING CLASS made me really crabby. I was looking forward to interesting characters, maybe a few writing tips, but the novel tried too hard to be clever and literary. I wanted to love those characters, and I didn't.
My mind wanders back to just before my first Workshop, about two and a half years ago. I promised in an earlier blog that I would tell this story.
It was a few weeks into January, and I was just driving around the SW Portland suburb where I live. It was a typically rainy day, but a light rain was falling, a mist. I could easily see through the windshield of my Mustang convertible, as I drove on a main road where I've driven thousands of times. My cell phone sang out its cheerful, nameless tune, and I picked up without looking.
"Hello, Diana. What are you up to these days?" It's Chuck Pahalniuk, whom I've interviewed a half-dozen times.
"I'm procrastinating writing my book." I have no idea why these words popped out of my mouth, but they did.
At that very instant, a white Lexus with gold lettering turns, pulling right into view, with the license plate even with my line of sight.
It says W-R-I-T-E.
I say, "Omigod!"
Chuck says, "What?!"
I tell Chuck of this seemingly random appearance of this Lexus and its license plate "WRITE."
Chuck says "Are you in a writing group?"
"No," I say.
"Well you are now -- we meet Monday nights."
I had never seen this car before -- nor have I seen it since. The synchronicity of that car with that plate at that moment -- that changed my life.
I love this magic!
Labels: book review, Chuck Palahniuk, Jincy Willett, synchronicity, THE WRITING CLASS, workshop, writing
posted by Diana Page Jordan @ 4:22 PM
1 Comments:
You write nice articles! WRITE ON!
Greets!
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