I got into the classes I wanted, so this fall I’ll be taking a fiction workshop with Janet Fitch, who wrote the novel White Oleander, and a screenwriting workshop with Stephen Mazur, who wrote the Jim Carrey movie Liar, Liar. So I’m happy about that.
USC has a graduate writing contest going on right now. I entered my newest story, “Blood of Virgins.” The judges are two of my favorite contemporary short story writers, T.C. Boyle and Aimee Bender, who are on the faculty here. I hope I win something, but even if I don’t it’s a thrill just to think of those two actually reading something I wrote.
Last night Bobby Moresco, co-writer of Crash, came to speak to the program. He said a lot of great stuff. The thing that really struck me was his quote, “Being a writer is about being able to ask questions and then answer them.” I’ve heard this same idea before, but when he put it that way it just clicked for me in a new way. That’s what the creative process is: you start out with some interesting premise, character, or image and keep asking yourself why, why, why until an entire narrative emerges.
Speaking of questions, I received another piece of good writing advice recently. Erich Van Lowe, former head writer for The Cosby Show, taught my survey class for a few weeks. He said that the opening of a story should raise questions in the minds of the audience, so that they’ll stick with the story because they want to find out the answers to those questions. I asked if he could give an example, so he talked about the opening of the Lost pilot. You see a guy wearing a nice suit lying in the jungle. Instantly you’re intrigued. Who is this guy? Where is he? Why is he just lying there? Why is he wearing a suit in the jungle? Then he gets up and starts running furiously. Where’s he going? What’s the rush? Then he busts out of the trees and onto a tropical beach. He’s on an island. What’s he doing on an island? How’d he get here? Slowly the camera pans and you see crowds of people escaping the flaming fuselage of an airliner. The guy rushes to help, and you wonder, will he be able to save them? What caused the plane crash? What island are they on? By this point you’re totally hooked.
The other day in the bookstore I saw something I’ve never seen before. Annie Proulx’s short story “Brokeback Mountain,” basis for the hit film, has been published as a book. Just that one story. It’s really more of a pamphlet, but it’s got a spine and it’s shelved with all the other books. I’m glad for anything that increases the profile of short fiction. $10 is a lot for one short story, though the publisher must be figuring that the massive popularity of the title will overcome that hurdle, and they’re probably right.
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