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Fiction: The Bear Came Over the Mountain: newyorker.com

Fiction: The Bear Came Over the Mountain: newyorker.com

Update

I have finished reading Norton's Guide to Creative Writing and have been super busy with working on my PhD papers. I'm also in the final stages of a longer short story, though the way this editing is going, it's not going to be that long (~2500 words).

Tentatively titled "Nadezhda," it started out as a flash fiction piece. I try to write a solid 500 words (edited) per week and have been quite successful thus far, for the last 15 weeks. As a result, I'm currently on Flash Fiction piece #15, of which "Nadezhda" started on #9. 6 weeks times 500 words equals 3000 words- I guess that seems about right. Though as I remember it, I had the carcass of the story in about a week and have since been editing and rewriting substantially.

Another update on the other Flash Fiction pieces: of the other eight, all but 2 have found homes for publication. Two of them (Freight Hopper and Dead Blackbirds) have been combined into slightly longer pieces of Flash Fiction.

Nice songs, thanks Nik for the link!

Nik's Blog: Yours: "I am a little bit in love with this at the moment. I think it's fab. And I like sharing. Enjoy! (7 to go...)"

Thanks to Nik Oerring for sharing.

NGCW-Chapter 9

All exercises are taken from Alice LaPlante's  The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing (NGCW).

Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin

1. What effect is created by telling certain aspects of the story ‘out of sequence’? How would this be a different story if the events were simply told in chronological order?

The basic story is different from the basic plot in that the story is told out of sequence, in order to have the greatest impact on the reader. The flashbacks in the end add depth to the story, forcing the readers to ask questions like ‘why’ and ‘how’ instead of ‘and then.’

2. Is there an epiphany in this story? Do any of the characters change in any way? If yes, explain how.

The characters do not necessarily change but come alive. The main character starts the story with one perspective of his brother and ends with another. As a result, Sonny as a person comes alive and becomes fully dimensional through the narrator’s epiphany of who he is.

NGCW-Chapter 8

All exercises are taken from Alice LaPlante's  The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing (NGCW).

Hills like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway

1. Point out places where word choice, syntax, and gestures help us understand how something is said.

“I don’t care about me.”
“Well, I care about you.”
“Oh, yes. But I don’t care about me. And I’ll do it and then everything will be fine.”
“I don’t want you to do it if you feel that way.”
The girl stood up and talked to the end of the station…

2. Point out places where the adage “dialogue is what characters do to one another” rings true.

“It tastes like licorice,” the girl said and put the glass down.
“That’s the way with everything.”
“Yes,” said the girl. “Everything tastes like licorice. Especially all the things you’ve waited so long for, like absinthe.”
“Oh cut it out.”
“You started it,” the girl said. “I was being amused. I was having a fine time.”
“Well, let’s try and have a fine time.”
“All right. I was trying. I said the mountains looked like white elephants. Wasn’t that bright?”
“That was bright.”

3. Point out places where the dialogue is deliberately non-grammatical in order to make it sound spontaneous and reveal emotion.

“Would you do something for me now?”
“I’d do anything for you.”
“Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?”

Inside the Bunker by John Sack

1. How does dialogue add to the essay? Would the essay have the same impact if there were no dialogue in it? Why or why not?

The dialogue illustrates the narrative of the story adding to the story considerably. The essay would not be the same without it and will likely be less believable as a result.

2. How does the author make the dialogue sound spontaneous? What techniques does he use?

By interspersing the dialogue and the narrative, the author makes the spoken words sound spontaneous and not forced.

3. How is the dialogue used to characterize the various speakers, as well as move the essay forward?

The dialogue illustrates the opinions of various speakers, directly from them. Instead of paraphrasing, the words and opinions are more realistic than they would be in narrative form.

NGCW-Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Part III

All exercises are taken from Alice LaPlante's  The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing (NGCW).

The Swimmer by John Cheever

1. When do you first realize that this story might be told completely in a realistic mode?

As Neddy begins his journey to swim home, the readers slowly gets glimpses that the story is not entirely realistic. Some people are not home when he expects them to be, his mistress doesn’t want him anymore, and his friend has been sick for awhile. Neddy is not aware of these things and he starts to question his memory.

2. How does Cheever gradually draw us into the fantastical nature of the events of the story?

Neddy’s friends grow up and deal with adult issues while he does not. He continues to deny reality to the point that his ex-mistress even asks him, “Will you ever grow up?” Time passes without Neddy realizing it and the reader is gradually drawn into his slightly fantastical world.

3. There are two possible explanations for the aspects of the story that don’t make sense (from a view of “reality” as we know it). What are they? What do you believe?

The possibilities are that Neddy is either crazy or dreaming or the entire story is a fictional metaphor. I tend to see it as a metaphor, similar to Kafka’s Metamorphosis.