The Brain Dump

I added chapters 6-11 (the rest of Part One) of Duncan and the Heart of Aria to the sidebar. I actually wrote one (and a half) more chapters in order to meet my January quota, but those are in no condition to be read, so this finishes out all the progress I have made on my first novel. One hundred and eleven, single-spaced, letter-sized pages . . . one-third of the way there. I've continue to work on it, sporadically, as school keeps getting in the way, and I'd say I am approaching the halfway mark. Approaching . . . Still, it feels good to see them listed together (even if it is only in a sidebar).

I got my second story workshopped in class last week. I turned in a heavily revised version of "A Rat Problem"--what I have since changed to just "Rat Problem." Aaaaaaaand it filled the class with wonderful bewilderment--wonderful because they said my writing style was very strong and that I have a good sense of dialogue and action; bewildering because they had no idea what to make of the ending. A few of them got it, although they weren't certain in the conclusions they had reached. So I got things to clarify . . .

My professor says I'm "afraid of character." I told him there is a difference between being afraid of character and being much more interested in the systems that construct that character. This, evidently, is one of the last things you want to say to a literary fiction professor. I'm surprised he didn't burn me at the stake.

It really brings into focus how much I need to break myself away from the "literary establishment," for, if nothing else, my simple sanity. Part of me, naturally, really wants to be accepted in this incredibly exclusive club as they wield considerable cultural clout. But. The tradeoff is having to write very specific stories--stories that, frankly, do not interest me as an artist. Don't get me wrong. The literary elite are very good at what they do, and I enjoy reading (some of) their stories. But I have other things to say.

When I think about this stuff, I like to remind myself of my two favorite authors: Thomas Pynchon and Kurt Vonnegut. Pinny is shunned by most of the literary world because of his ontic antics and the sprawling, bloated, massive narratives that are his calling cards. Gravity's Rainbow, what is hailed by most as his masterpiece (no argument here), was in fact rejected by the Pulitzer Advisory Board as "turgid," "overwritten," in parts "obscene," and overall "unreadable." But I can say with confidence that he doesn't give a fuck what they think. The more I learn about him actually lends me to believe that some of the things he does, he does in order to disrupt their contented modes of reading. Kurt Vonnegut was similarly shunned as merely a science fiction writer by the literary world for much of his career. It wasn't until Slaughterhouse-Five that they realized how good science fiction can, in fact, be. But, again, he wasn't writing for those jackasses.

And neither am I. I have finally zeroed in on what it is I want to say to the world and I don't need anyone's approval to say it (though it is nice to hear that people are listening (Comments, please . . .)). Literary fiction is a genre like any other and grad school has showed me that I want to write something else. That's a hard pill to swallow when that particular genre is held up as the be-all-end-all of literature. But I need to accept it. And I think, slowly but surely, I will.

I added two more short stories and two more chapters of Duncan and the Heart of Aria to the sidebar. The short stories are "A Rat Problem" and "Blame Game." The draft of "Blame Game" is a really rough second draft, and I am in no way happy with the title. That said, I think it's an enjoyable story and one of my better ideas.

My "Dick and Jane: A Love Story" is going to be workshopped in my Fiction Writing class tomorrow. The professor makes no bones about his literary preferences, leaning towards the literary minimalism of Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Carver, and Tobias Wolff. My being generally rejects this kind of writing, preferring rather the wandering postmodernist investigations of genre and form. Thomas Pynchon, for instance, one of my favorite authors, has been deemed a maximalist by many. The ol' Prof hates postmodernism. He says it's "anti-art," which makes me giggle. We'll see how he responds to my deconstruction of the love story.

I added a short story I recently completed for my fiction writing workshop in the sidebar. It is entitled "Dick and Jane: A Love Story." It is my first (last?) love story and certainly my finest. I would love to hear what you guys think of it. Thanks!

Hello peoples,

I added a a new feature in my sidebar over there on the right. It is the "Writings" section where I will put my various literary ramblings. Why I have not done this sooner, I can only attribute to my abysmal self-esteem as a writer. Right now there are just a few pieces--my two latest short stories (and, coincidentally, previous two posts (<---resisting urge to link to self: *resisting*)) as well as a personal essay I wrote last quarter for my essay workshop class. Feel free to read away, I do hope you find some enjoyment in it. I encourage you to let me know what you think of it, either via email or even if its a quick posted comment. I would love to hear what parts worked for you, what parts didn't, but if you just want to fawn over my genius, that's okay too!

Also, I added a newsletter on the left in case you would like to receive updates on my latest posts. Tired of wondering whether I found the time to blather something out and don't want to mess with RSS readers? Sign up for my newsletter! In a perfect world, I will send it out at the end of each week with that week's postings--hopefully meaning I will have posted a thing or two that week worth checking out.

That's the plan anyway.

Also, I will start a Pic o' the Week every Sunday (again . . . that's the plan) for your enjoyment. Do you have a picture you think is funny or otherwise worthy of note? Email it to me and if I agree it could be the next Pic o' the Week!

This week's photo: The new hair-do.

Don't mind if I . . . do . . .