A Writer's Moment: 'Write What You Have To Write'

A Writer's Moment: 'Write What You Have To Write': “I always tell students that writing a poem and publishing it are two quite separate things, and you...

'Write What You Have To Write'

“I always tell students that writing a poem and publishing it are two quite separate things, and you should write what you have to write, and if you're afraid it's going to upset someone, don't publish it.” –  Wendy Cope

 

Cope, born in England in July 1945, has attracted a popular following with her lighthearted, often comical poetry.  Named an Officer of the British Empire (entitling her to be addressed as Dame Wendy), she is far from expressing herself as royalty when writing her poems.  In fact, she has been lauded for her keen eye for the everyday, mundane aspects of English life, especially the desires, frustrations, hopes, confusions and emotions in intimate relationships.  

 

                      

She also writes for kids, focusing on their hopes, dreams and frustrations.  For Saturday’s Poem, here’s just one of the dozens and dozens of clever Wendy Cope poems that I’ve loved reading over the years. 

The Orange

 

At lunchtime I brought a huge orange –

The size of it made us all laugh.

I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave –

They got quarters, and I had a half.

 

That orange, it made me so happy,

As ordinary things often do

Just lately.  The shopping.  A walk in the park.

This is peace and contentment.  It’s new.

 

The rest of the day was quite easy,

I did all the things on my list

And enjoyed them, and had some time over.

I love you.  I’m glad I exist.

 

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A Writer's Moment: Something Happens Before Our Eyes

A Writer's Moment: Something Happens Before Our Eyes: “Something happens between a novel and its reader which is similar to the process of developing photographs, the way the...

Something Happens Before Our Eyes

“Something happens between a novel and its reader which is similar to the process of developing photographs, the way they did it before the digital age.  The photograph, as it was printed in the darkroom, became visible bit by bit.  As you read your way through a novel, the same chemical process takes place.” – Patrick Modiano  

French novelist and Nobel Prize winner Modiano (born on July 30, 1945) and his analogy of the development of the novel “before our eyes” is a remarkable one that also gives us a bit of a look into his writing style.  He lets the picture slowly unfold, sometimes leaving us startled, sometimes satisfied, sometimes angry, but always interested in what’s coming next.

His novels delve into the puzzle of identity in ways seldom seen.   And, he tackles a time in France – the German occupation during World War II – that evokes both heroism and shame depending on whose point of view his tale is being told. 

 

   

The winner of almost every major European and French writing award, he was honored for his life’s body of work even prior to winning the Nobel and was – up until that award – one of the few international writers whose work had never been translated into English until he won the Nobel.

 

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'Fascinated By Human Behavior'

A Writer's Moment: 'Fascinated By Human Behavior':   “As a novelist, I'm endlessly fascinated by human behavior and interactions.” –   Juliet Marillier   A New Zealand native who now...

'Fascinated By Human Behavior'

 “As a novelist, I'm endlessly fascinated by human behavior and interactions.” –  Juliet Marillier

 

A New Zealand native who now lives in Australia, Marillier was born on July 28, 1948 and while she was a lifelong self-proclaimed “lover of fantasy,” she didn’t start writing her own versions until 1999.  Earlier, she focused on music, both on the performing side and in teaching and conducting.  

 

She got into writing with the book Daughter of the Forest, loosely based on the legend of the Children of Lir and "The Six Swans” (a story that has many versions, including one by the Brothers Grimm).   That book kicked off her “Sevenwaters Trilogy,” and the second in the series, Son of the Shadows, won Australia’s top fantasy fiction award.

 

Marillier’s novels combine historical fiction, folkloric fantasy, romance and family drama, and the strong elements of history and folklore in her work reflect her lifelong interest in both fields. However, her stories focus above all on human relationships and the personal journeys of the characters.  “Each of my novels features a protagonist undertaking a difficult personal journey. On the way, each of these characters - mostly female - discovers something about herself and at the same time makes an impact on other people's lives,” she said. 

                                                                                                    

Since 1999 she has written 20 novels and dozens of short stories, 5 which have won Aurealis Awards and 4 the Sir Julius Vogel Award.  She’s also been named for the American Library Association’s Alex Award, and France’s Prix Imaginales.

Noted for her great characters, she said that to write convincing characters, “You must possess the ability to think yourself into someone else's skin.” 

 

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'Flowing To A Satisfying Conclusion'

A Writer's Moment: 'Flowing To A Satisfying Conclusion':   “The best writers who have put pen to paper have often had a journalism background. “ – Rick Bragg Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist B...

'Flowing To A Satisfying Conclusion'

 “The best writers who have put pen to paper have often had a journalism background.“ – Rick Bragg

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bragg was born on this date in 1959 in Piedmont, AL, and credits his development as a writer to his ability to be a good listener.  Bragg wrote for several small newspapers before gravitating to the New York Times where he became a national correspondent and then Miami Bureau Chief, covering the controversial story of young Cuban Elian Gonzalez and earning the Pulitzer for his efforts. 

Among Bragg's best-known books are All Over But the Shoutin’, the story of his turbulent childhood in Alabama; and two high-profile biographies, one about POW Jessica Lynch I Am A Soldier Too, and the other about rock-and-roller Jerry Lee Lewis.

The winner of more than 50 writing awards and professor of journalism at the University of Alabama, he always hearkens back to journalism as a great foundation for any writer.  Learning to be a reporter teaches attention to detail, how to deal with deadlines, how to “listen” to both what is being said and what is left unsaid, and how to organize a story so that it flows to a satisfying conclusion.
 

 

“People who think there is something pedestrian about journalism are just ignorant,” Bragg said.  “I don't think there's a difference between writing for a newspaper or magazine and doing a chapter in a book.”   

 

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'Poetry Is Intimate'

A Writer's Moment: 'Poetry Is Intimate':   “I feel like prose comes much more from outside me than poetry does. Poetry is intimate and more generated in my own theater, shall we say...

'Poetry Is Intimate'

 “I feel like prose comes much more from outside me than poetry does. Poetry is intimate and more generated in my own theater, shall we say. But in prose I have to be responsive to that story that’s coming to me and there has to be some part of me that goes out to meet it.” – Tess Gallagher

 

Born in July 1943 to a logging family in Port Angeles, WA, Gallagher has published numerous collections of poetry, including Instructions for a Double, which won the Elliston Book Award.   Her Moon Crossing Bridge, a series of 60 poems on the theme of loss and grieving, prompted the American Book Review to call it “a rare document of loss, faith, and returns—return to the site of loving and to the gradual last breath, return to life's immediate summonings.”

 

For Saturday’s Poem here is Gallagher’s,

Now that I am Never Alone

In the bath I look up and see the brown moth

pressed like a pair of unpredictable lips

against the white wall. I heat up

the water, running as much hot in as I can stand.

These handfuls over my shoulder—how once

he pulled my head against his thigh and dipped

a rivulet down my neck of coldest water from the spring

we were drinking from. Beautiful mischief

that stills a moment so I can never look

back. Only now, brightest now, and the water

never hot enough to drive that shiver out.

 

But I remember solitude—no other

presence and each thing what it was. Not this raw

fluttering I make of you as you have made of me

your watch-fire, your killing light.

 

 

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'Kind of the Whole Thing'

A Writer's Moment: 'Kind of the Whole Thing':   “Lyrics are kind of the whole thing; it's the message. Something might have a beautiful melody but if it's not the truth coming ou...

'Kind of the Whole Thing'

 “Lyrics are kind of the whole thing; it's the message. Something might have a beautiful melody but if it's not the truth coming out of your mouth, it's not appealing.” – Alison Krauss

Often credited with reviving America’s interest in bluegrass through her writing of the score for the wonderful movie O Brother Where Art Thou?, Krauss seemed born (on this date in 1971) to be a singer, songwriter and entertainer extraordinaire.  A violinist at age 5, and competition fiddler by age 8, she had her first recording at age 14, already the lead fiddler by then with a group that was to become Union Station – the band she still performs with today.   And while her fiddling is almost unsurpassed, her singing, as they say “ain’t too shabby either.”

She has released 14 albums, appeared on numerous soundtracks, and won dozens of awards, including 28 Grammys, more than any other living performer.  Her creative and heartfelt writing has been lauded in successful movies like the one above and Cold Mountain, which both earned her Academy Award nominations. 

 

To jump-start your day and enjoy great music, too, here are two examples of Krauss’ writing, singing and fiddling.  The first is with Union Station on "The David Letterman Show" in 2011, and the second a version of her award-winning hit “Down to the River to Pray” from O Brother Where Art Thou? performed with the Berklee College Gospel Choir.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hayb9mZSZDQ  (Lay My Burden Down)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CJfxaWRkNs  (Down to the River to Pray) 

 

 

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A Writer's Moment: 'Leaving an Impression With the Reader'

A Writer's Moment: 'Leaving an Impression With the Reader':   “Any writer who gives a reader a pleasurable experience is doing every other writer a favor because it will make the r...

'Leaving an Impression With the Reader'

 “Any writer who gives a reader a pleasurable experience is doing every other writer a favor because it will make the reader want to read other books. I am all for it.” – S.E. Hinton

 

While still in her teens, Hinton became a household name as the author of The Outsiders, her first and most popular novel, set in Oklahoma in the 1960s. She began writing it in 1965 inspired by two rival gangs, the Greasers and the Socs, at Will Rogers High School where she was a senior.  Her desire was to show sympathy toward the Greasers by writing from their point of view.

She marketed it to publishers herself and in 1967 New York City-based Viking Press took a chance on it.  Good idea on their part.  To date, it’s sold over 14 million and still sells over 100,000 copies annually.

Hinton's books have been acclaimed for their realism and the attention to details that Young Adults not only identify with but embrace.  America’s YA librarians have agreed, giving her the Margaret A. Edwards Award for her body of work on behalf of youth and young adults.  The librarians noted that in reading Hinton's novels "a young adult may explore the need for independence and simultaneously the need for loyalty and belonging, the need to care for others, and the need to be cared for by them."

Her other key works, known to generations of YA readers, are That Was Then, This Is Now; and Rumble Fish.  Hinton, born on this date in 1948, also is a member of the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame.

“How a piece ends is very important to me,” she said.   “It's the last chance to leave an impression with the reader, the last shot at 'nailing' it. I love to write ending lines; usually, I know them first and write toward them, but even if I knew how they came to me,” she added,  “I wouldn't tell.”

 

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