Rules, Snot, and Barbara Kingsolver
Posted: June 23, 2010 Filed under: Writers Write | Tags: artists, creativity, Trusting Your Instincts, writers, writing Leave a comment »Warning: This post contains spoilers. If you haven’t read Kingsolver’s The Lacuna, you should. It’s wonderful.
In church this week, the sermon was from the book of Mark. Church leaders condemned Jesus for healing on the sabbath. Looking for a way to get rid of the messiah, the dudes in charge poked and prodded at every opportunity. Apparently, helping someone on the seventh day was against the rules. Jesus was so pissed off, he took his supernatural medicine elsewhere. Too bad that Dad forgot the eleventh commandment, “Thou shalt not repair a withered arm on a Sunday.”
Today, I picked up Cherry from art class. They drew silhouettes positioned nose to nose. The effect of light against dark created a trick. Look at the dark figure, and you see people. Watch the light space in the center, and you see a goblet. The child sitting next to Cherry drew a drippy nose on her profiles. Her mother was not amused. “What is that?” “Snot.” “Why did you draw it?” “I thought it was funny.” “Erase it, now. You’ve embarrassed me.” The kid picked up a giant art gum and removed the mucus.
The main character in Barbara Kingsolver’s The Lacuna cooks breakfast for Diego Rivera and types for Trotsky. A kid alone in the world, he needed the work. Later, he wrote the great American novel. The problem was, he did it smack in the middle of Joseph McCarthy’s witch hunt. When words are taken out of context, assigned to the writer instead of the character they were written for, he’s asked, “Did you write this? Answer yes or no.” “Yes.” Guilty as charged.
Walking with Cherry out to the car, I realized, I’m like her classmate–erasing the snot off my picture. I avoid writing the truth when it doesn’t match someone else’s sensibilities. I follow the rules, not out of commitment, but fear. What good is that? Kingsolver’s novelist wasn’t a communist, but he was prosecuted anyway. Jesus was condemned for healing on the wrong day, and that kid in art class never finished a picture. Why bother? Her mother would just make her erase it.
I’ve decided to throw away my eraser.
Wednesday Check-in
Posted: June 16, 2010 Filed under: Wednesday Check-in, Writers Write | Tags: Donald Maass Workshop, walking, writers, writing, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook 5 Comments »Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook: 55 tasks completed out of 591 possible, 0 since 6/9.
Miles walked: 4.5 since 6/9.
I’m a better walker than writer this week.
I’m at a place where the antagonist takes the story to a different level, and I’m discovering why she goes there. The ending doesn’t change, but the route does. I’m asking the question: what evil happens when a completely ruthless person is told No?
Wednesday Check-in
Posted: June 9, 2010 Filed under: Wednesday Check-in, Writers Write | Tags: competitive swimming, Donald Maass Workshop, family, swimming, walking, writers, writing, Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook Leave a comment »Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook: 55 tasks completed out of 591 possible, 2 since 6/2.
Miles walked: 3.5 since 6/2
I’m more than half-way through the tabbed manuscript. Some of the new scenes are place-keepers. The problems will be ironed out in rewrites, but the story’s skeleton is morphing. I’m discovering things about secondary characters that I didn’t know. The dumb jock is really a secret computer geek. And, there is at least one tactic too terrible for even the villain to consider. Chapter Seven, the current lesson, has been the hardest and the most helpful work so far. The end of the story is in front of me, but I see major changes in the next twenty pages.
I’ve had trouble finding time to walk since the girls finished school. I’m always with them, and they aren’t keen on walking when I need to. Today, I managed a mile and half around our neighborhood while they were at swim team practice. One of the other moms babysat, so I could get a little exercise.
At the end of swimming, Cherry won a bet with her coach. She swam a 25 meter freestyle without taking a single breath. She cut her time to 16.4–more than two seconds faster than her fastest race time. Very good for a ten year old girl swimming summer league. It was very cool to see her coaches and teammates cheering for her when she got out of the pool.
