Sorry to have been remiss in posting! Here's what we talked about this week.
Recommendations for reading:
+ Wonderboys (Michael Chabon)
+ Riddlemaster of Hed
+ The Name of the Wind (LeGuin)
+ Bleak House (Dickens)
+ The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (... am I the only one in the world who hasn't read this yet?)
+ books by Wilkie Collins
+ books by A. S. Byatt
+ The Shadow of the Wind (Sara, help me out on the author!)
We also talked about the upcoming November, which happens to be National Novel Writing Month. I quote: "National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30."
Even if you're writing a BA this year, take a stab at writing for NaNoWriMo. Remember, "the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output," so you can write whatever you want and rewrite it later. A lot of you have mentioned that it's hard to just get started, so take this as your chance to put pen to paper (or fingertips to keyboard) and write whatever comes. You can revise it later.
To that end, it's important to start NaNoWriMo with a fresh idea. Don't bring preexisting characters or plots into it. I'll be starting with the kernel of an idea I already have, but not with the complex world I've built around another project in the works.
Having primed you, here's the prompt for this session.
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Write a scene in which a character's body, as well as his mind, is engaged in doing something. Here are some possibilities:
+ repairing something
+ playing solitaire or a game involving other players
+ doing exercises
+ painting a canvas or a wall
+ cutting down a tree
+ giving someone a haircut
Explore how various activities and settings can change what happens within a scene. For example, what happens when characters are planning their honeymoon while they are painting an apartment, or while one of them is cutting the other's hair. Pay attention to body language and choreography.
(adapted from What If: Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers, by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter)
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Last, but not least, the next meeting will be Monday, August 25, at 7 p.m. at my apartment.
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3 comments:
I'll be at home, but have fun!
The Riddlemaster is Patricia McKillip.
Re: Wilkie Collins - read The Woman in White or No Name. Although he's not for everyone...don't blame me if you hate it. ;)
"books by A.S. Byatt" should mean Possession, specifically. Because it's amazing.
SHADOW of the Wind is Carlos Ruiz Zafon and beautiful. Like Byatt crossed with Borges and Eco.
NAME of the Wind is Patrick Rothfuss, but is basically A Wizard of Earthsea on steroids, and that one is by LeGuin.
(I think this is my fault, since I blathered about all three of them)
Oh, and more YA joy: Robin McKinley has a new book out. I'm psyched.
Oh man, did you do NaNoWriMo? I was going to, but decided to just focus on a few short stories I've been writing instead.
Oh well, there's always next year.
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