Flannery O’Connor says that “her fiction takes its character from a reasonable use of the unreasonable” and she also says that she wants her stories to contain an “some action, some gesture” which contains where the real story lies, an action or gesture that is both “totally right” and “totally unexpected.” So, above her interest in telling particular stories about particular people and events, O’Connor has developed some abstract ideas about how she wants her stories to work. These are ideas that she applies to all, or most, of her work. These ideas are a part of her aesthetic.
Is there "some action, some gesture" in your story which contains where the real story lies, an action or gesture that is both "totally right" and "totally unexpected"? In a sentence or two, describe how this is or is not so? If so, underline it in your story and write in the margins ACTION/GESTURE
Do you have any abstract ideas about how you want this first story for this class to work? What are they? If this is a hard question for you, try to answer it here, but keep thinking about it.
What abstract aspects of the stories we’ve read and discussed in this class so far do you particularly admire and want to model? Name both the story and the specific aspect and say something about why.
How is your aesthetic growing so far in this class? (How is your sense of things you admire in stories growing? What do you admire now in stories that you didn't think to admire before?)
One of the reasons we care about stories is because we find them relevant. For some reason, they matter to our lives. When we talk about theme in stories, we're talking about relevance. We're not only talking about what the story is about, we're saying, well, what about what it's about? We're asking, "So what?" If the story matters to you, or to any reader, they ought to be able to say why. In saying why, they're talking about theme and relevance. They're talking about why they care about the story.
In Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," there are explicit lines, especially near the end which state the theme. "They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing--these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their specific mass and gravity, they had tangible weight. They carried shameful memories. They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run of freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all..."
Not all stories state their themes in such explicit terms. Most stories, in fact, imply their themes through action, characterization, description, image, symbol, etc. (The Wig, The Use of Force). Cathedral is sometimes explicit in its themes (especially in dialogue and image).
What is your story about?
What about what it's about? (Talk here about relevance.) "The Wig" is about overcoming grief. That's what it's about. But it also implies something more: it implies that facing denial is essential to overcoming grief. That to overcome grief one cannot live in a fog. That grief cannot be overcome merely through the passage of time, but only through some direct action and some explicit effort at connection. And that this may never be completely overcome, but that hundreds of small actions, like picking up one's son at the breakfast table and hugging him, might make things, at least, better. Do you see, here, that it takes a bit longer to talk about relevance than it does to say what it's about. "Overcoming Grief" is two words. To say why a story is relevant takes a few sentences at least, and these sentences speak to the story, but they don't paraphrase the story. Notice how I made no mention at all of a wig from the garbage. But that wig is absolutely essential. In other words, talking about relevance doesn't in any way stand in for the story. What it does, mostly, for the author, is make their own stories' themes more clear to them.
Is your theme explored mostly through implication? How? Or are there specific lines in your story which speak to the theme?
Workshop Logistics and Distribution
Note Calendar change/order reversal: For 2/17 we will read "Yours" and for 2/22 we will read "Helping"
For Tuesday, 2/15
Read your peers' stories
Write a peer response for each
Writing is a difficult lonely endeavor, and every writer is a perpetual beginner. Therefore, don’t be ungenerous with another person’s attempts. Such an act will only reflect on you.
Like the Reading Response, the Peer Response is an attempt to describe the qualities of your peer’s story specifically, to say more than, “I like this,” or “I think this is just beautiful,” which is no good, empty, unless you can say why. But the Peer Response is fundamentally different in that you are also charged with trying to help the author improve the story. Because of this, you must always remember to be conscientious and constructive. Take a risk, say something that will help the author make their piece better, but say it in a way that it can be received well.
What is the story about?
What about what it's about? Write about relevance? (Two or three sentences)
What is the story's unstable, but static ground situation?
What does the main character want?
What's in the way?
Is the obstacle formidable? Why?
Is there more than one obstacle? (Is there complication or rising action?)
What comes along that upsets the static situation and makes it dynamic? (A wig from the garbage? A girl who won't open her mouth? A blind man coming to spend the night?)
What is the main character's problem rooted not in the situation, but in character? (Another way to say this is: what is your character's existential dilemma? They can't grieve. They can't surrender control or power. They don't know how to connect meaningfully with other people.)
What are the moments of connection and disconnection?
What is the climax of the story? How is this related to a change in the protagonist
What questions do you have that the story does not yet answer? What suggestions can you make that would move this story closer to what it really wants to be about? What areas might be developed that would make the draft stronger and more compelling?
Notice how, in this response, you're not being asked whether you "liked" the story, or even "liked" a particular moment or image or scene or piece of dialogue. You're being asked to describe the formal qualities of the story that relate to character and conflict. You're not being asked to "evaluate": you're not being asked to say whether the story, or any part of it, is good or bad. Those questions aren't appropriate questions to ask until the story is finished. You're not being asked to decide whether you would ever want to hand this draft to someone else to read. You're being asked to describe it as a system. Hopefully, what this does for you, as a peer reviewer, is take the pressure off. You're not being asked to judge someone, or judge anything. You're being asked to describe. If you're not sure what the climax is, then your job is to say you're not sure, and to make a guess. Your hesitance is important for the author to hear. If the obstacles aren't formidable enough yet, or the story doesn't complicate itself (lacks rising action), your job is to say so. Again, you're describing the draft, not the author. We all want to make the story better, and our first task is just to respond to what's right there, on the page. Because all too often, the author has a lot more in their head than is on the page, and they think they've communicated something that they haven't yet, and they think the story means one thing, and the reader thinks it means something else.
The Peer Response should be 1-2 pages double spaced, typed. Make sure to be bring TWO COPIES of your peer response. One to give to me and one to give to the author.
Margin notes are the place where you say to the author: Nice image, or Great dialogue, or Good description, or Funny, or make a checkmark, or Great transition, Good characterization. In your margin notes, you can heap on the praise and good will and fellowship. So read the story with a pen in your hand, making margin notes along the way. Should you point out spelling errors, typos, individual sentences which confused you? Sure, that would help the author clean up their draft, but the real work you have before you is in the answers to the "big picture" questions up above.
Good Luck!