On Writing True Fiction

For years, ever since the first writing workshop I conducted, I've called the kind of writing I do "True Fiction."

What does that mean exactly? It's the kind of fiction in which the character—or the muse via the characters—dictates the course of the story, as opposed to fiction in which the plot is carefully outlined according to formulaic rules. It's literary fiction vs. genre fiction. It's seat-of-the pants writing, character driven rather than plot driven. 

So why do I call it true. It's because I write to learn the truth—about a given issue, about life, and about myself and what I really believe, and about what is important.

Others have described this kind of writing in their own terms, and a host of writers employ it. The late Tony Hillerman once said in an interview that he does not outline his books. He tried it, but it never worked for him. His characters had their own ideas of how the story should go.

And that's how they are, in true fiction. Once you are in the heart and mind of your story's characters, they will tell you if you're not telling the truth about them—about what they would do, think, or feel. And that's what makes writing so much of an exciting adventure.

Ann Lamott said "You make up your characters, partly from experience, partly out of the thin air of the subconscious, and you need to feel committed to telling the exact truth about them, even though you are making them up."

And it works like magic, as long as you, as Ann Lamott says, "don't pretend you know more about your characters than they do, because you don't. Stay open to them."

It's what Jon Gardner was talking about when he said, "Art is as original and important as it is precisely because it does not start out with a clear knowledge of what it means to say. Out of the artist's imagination, as out of nature's inexhaustible well, pours one thing after another."

"The writer," Gardner says, "asks himself at every step, 'Would she really say that?' or 'Would he really throw the shoe?'"

Wallace Stegner declared, "It is fiction as truth that I am concered with."

Oakley Hall claims that "Truth, not fact, is the business of fiction."

And as I write my stories from the characters' perspectives, I agree. It is the best way I know to learn and convey the truth of what it is really like to face the serious and difficult issues that challenge the human spirit.

In my workshops on "Writing True Fiction" I will show you that you, too, can write fiction from a character's perspective.

Have ideas—will travel

author@janetmuirheadhill.com

Reading and Writing for Kids

With summer vacation beginning for children across the country, kids and parents may be looking for activities to keep active young minds occupied. They'll want to enjoy plenty of outdoor sunshine, of course. For days when they must stay indoors, how about reading and writing, not only for something to do, but to keep them from losing reading ability.

According to an article in the Marshall News Herald, Formal research and common sense shows that summer reading retention is a key contributor to student success. Like any skill, reading is maintained and enhanced with practice. Students who don't read over the summer might see as much as two months of reading ability slip away. This reading loss is cumulative, and by the end of sixth grade, non-summer readers might be as much as two school years behind their "summer reading" peers. Reading as few as four books during the summer break helps children retain their reading levels.

Miranda's Book Club is one place that kids can go online to find reading and writing activities. This dynamic site explores ways to interest kids in reading and writing and provides rewards for doing so. Still under construction, more activities will be added daily.

Compelling Fiction Comes from the Heart, not the Head

Are you intimate with the characters in the novel you are reading? Do their problems become yours as you are reading? Are their emotions, happy, sad, frightened, or angry, real to you? Felt by you? Then you are reading a book written by an author who tells his or her story from the heart, not from the head. The author became one with the characters, felt the emotion, and suffered or rejoiced with the characters as the story progressed. 

Regardless of who we are and what we write, we are bound to put some of ourselves into our writing. Each experience is unique and our passions and our idiosyncrasies help to flavor our work. Writers, don’t be afraid to give your characters some of your own passions, phobias, and emotional upheavals. It will give your writing passion as well as encouragement to those readers who carry the same troubling baggage you do.

The purpose of "true fiction" is to express and show emotion with which readers can relate, to allow the reader to experience the emotion vicariously. It should also have the potential for positive influence. Literature influences people. It is up to the "true fiction" writer to use that power for the reader’s good. There is nothing wrong with fiction that is written solely to entertain. But the purpose of "true fiction" is to touch the readers’ emotions; to help them feel what they may be afraid to feel in real life.

 “People recognize that it feels good to feel and that not to feel is unhealthy.… Literature offers feelings for which we don’t have to pay.” (Janet Burroway,  Writing Fiction, A guide to Narrative Craft) 

“Don’t be afraid to ask of your writing, ‘Who will this art help? What baby is it squashing?.…Ideals expressed in art can effect behavior in the world, at least in some people some of the time.… I have said that wherever possible, moral art holds up models of decent behavior; for example, characters in fiction, drama, and film whose basic goodness and struggle against confusion, error, and evil—in themselves and in others—give firm intellectual and emotional support to our own struggle.” (John Gardner, On Moral Fiction )

Giving thanks, Living thanks

The day after Thanksgiving finds me in a contemplative mood, with much for which to express gratitude. Family, friends, shelter, warmth, food, and freedom should never be taken for granted as I tend to do throughout most of the year. An e-mail newsletter from James Ray, speaker and author of The Science of Success stated that gratitude is the mother of creative vibrations, that life is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and that "you are the prophet." In other words, we are in charge of our lives, and our gratitude has a lot to do with creating a positive outcome.

I have believed this to be true for a long time, maybe most of my life. Even though I have seen the evidence that it works, it's still easy to let difficulties and set backs spawn negative emotions, doubt, and blame. Thanksgiving is a good time to get me thinking of the many things I have, and to realize that it is in my power to create more good things by living a grateful life. I can walk, I am in good health, I have eyesight, in fact all my senses are still working, and I have the ability to read. For those things I give thanks everyday.

In another e-news letter I received today from Dan Poynter, author and publishing guru, I was made aware of statistics about the decline of reading in today's world. An article in USA Today titled, Americans close the book on recreational reading, gives statistics backing up the claim that Americans of all ages are reading less and less as the years go by. Chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts, Dana Gioia is quoted, "We've got a public culture which is almost entirely commercial- and novelty-driven." He calls the decline "probably the single most important social issue in the United States today."

I am concerned. I treasure books as a means to expand my mind and horizons. Those who don't, I believe, are missing something important. The question is, "What can be done?" Gioia suggests that the media has the power to make a difference. He cites cases where a brief mention of a book or a poet in a movie or TV show resulted in a spike in sales of that work. "I guarantee that if we could expand the coverage in the media, you'd immediately see people responding," he says. "People are looking for things to do that aren't dumb. I don't think that Americans are dumber than before, but I do believe our public culture is."

I ask myself what I can do, and in my mind I hear, "Let's write more news items about books and authors. Let's visit our schools and entice students to become readers and writers." Recently, members of two local writers groups got together to present an assembly to our high school students. We were well received and thanked afterward by the kids. Maybe we could do more of these programs. Working with our teachers from elementary through college to conduct presentations and seminars in the classroom might be a small start in the right direction. I'd not only like to see more kids enjoying recreational reading, but also taking an interest in writing. I haven't looked for any studies to prove this suspicion, but it seems to me that a large percentage of authors today are over 50 years of age. It would be great to see more young people joining the ranks.

I'd like to hear more suggestions for what we, the ordinary citizens, might do to increase an interest in books.