It's Where I'm From

If you have had the opportunity James Joyce's Ulysses, or any of Joyce's works for that matter, one thing that comes to the surface is that the city of Dublin takes on its own character persona. Because all stories need an environment in which to take place, the ability create an environment that is as identifiable as any other character in a story is valuable skill indeed.

It's one thing to say this, however, and something all together different to execute. For one, we are trained, as writers, to always be moving the story forward. With characters as a main focus, we learn to make their stories move. The right environment, though, can make that story even better.

One hurdle that young writers face is in thinking that, because they come from a small town, there is nothing exciting to take from that experience. They try to set stories in big cities like New York or Chicago. The reality of this situation is that small towns are teeming with unique characters, dirty laundry, and oddball traditions. Big cities, however, harbor their own sense of anonymity fostered by the impersonal nature that comes with large populations.

To start figuring out how to create an environment that has character depth, start making notes about what makes your town so unique. If you live in a big city, focus on what makes your neighborhood so unique.

Where I'm from:

• Strangers wave hello as they drive by. The motive is two-fold. Of course, it's just good manners. It also lets you know they are taking notice of who is around.


• It's okay to close the bar as long as you don't miss the VFW pancake breakfast the next morning. You can bring your hangover; you won't be the only one.


• You ALWAYS tip the girl scooping your ice cream, because she is 16, her wrist hurts from scooping for the last 7 hours, and she's working hard instead of sitting at home on facebook... and that still matters.


• The land is so flat that the sunset takes an hour. And for that hour, the sky is painted the most beautiful shades of blue, orange, and pink you have ever seen. In fact, it's so beautiful that sometimes, you watch the sunset for the whole hour.

These are just a few examples. What you can see shaping up here is a pretty consistent backdrop. The way it affects a love story, a mystery, or even a comedy can add a new dimension. It's the invisible character that colors the story, provides calm or tension, and whispers that the story still continues even after the last page is finished.

So go ahead. Start making your list. What's it like where you're from?

The Last Supper (The Study)

Two days ago, I posted a short story of mine called The Last Supper. I figured it was a timely post, with the new year approaching. I had something else in mind, however. If you haven't read the story yet, please take a few minutes to do so now. What follows will make more sense if you do.

The following in excerpted from my eBook: Tapping Creativity.

They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. It’s also a good way to kickstart a new piece of writing. Each of us has a small handful of writers we admire. Be it the concise journalistic prose of Hemingway or the winding, subconscious, lengthy sentences of Faulkner, delivery of your story hinges very much on technique.

Too often we get stuck in ruts. We use the same words. We use the same sentence lengths. We become predictable with the parenthetical phrases. Before you know it, you’re rhythm is a lullaby and you can barely stand writing it. Imagine a reader trying to endure it. You’re convinced, though, that if F. Scott Fitzgerald were writing the exact same story, it’d be un-put-down-able.

So why not write your story like one of your favorite writers would?
The following is the opening of a story that started as a poem. I had an awful time, for some reason, trying to shape it into prose. So I put it away and picked up one of my favorite authors, James Joyce, and read his story, The Dead. By adopting his sense of rhythm, syntactical freedom, and tone, I got the following:

Finding a parking space was difficult. We were always the last to arrive and the last to leave. It was my first New Year's Eve outside of Detroit, and although it was only Livonia, there is usually less Happy New Year gunfire.

We pulled up along the curb; three houses down. The snowflakes were dipdancing down to the browned grass. It was pretty. Under the circumstances, it seemed really out of place. Walking to the house, I could see where others' prints were already being filled with newfall.

I felt the heaviness as I walked through the door. Uncle Mike and Aunt Maggie owned a sauna/massage parlor that occupied the front part of the house. Aunt Charlotte, with her nose reddened to match her hair, set down her drink rather clumsily—liquor lapping up the side of her glass. Nabbing our jackets, she swayed around the corner to one of the sauna rooms.

I continued this approach through the entire story, so much so that, in a workshop, one student actually said that the writing reminded him of Joyce’s The Dead. Maybe I was a little heavy-handed in the first draft. After a few rounds of revision, however, I made the story a little more “mine”. I may never have gotten to completion had I not first started by first imitating Joyce.

For a better look at the process, let’s take the above passage and try it like another writer might approach it—say, Hemingway. We’ll need to keep the sentences on the shorter side, use adjectives carefully, and pay close attention to natural details. Hemingway I’m not, but being familiar with his style, this is how I think it might read if he gave it a shot:

Parking spaces were few. We made a habit of arriving last. It was my first New Year’s Eve outside of Detroit. It was only Livonia, but there is less gunfire to greet the New Year.

We parked along the curb, three houses down. Snowflakes fell on brown grass. Pretty. It seemed out of place. Walking to the house, I could see the others’ prints were already filling with new snow.

As I walked in the door, the room felt heavy. Uncle Mike and Aunt Maggie ran a sauna and massage parlor from the front of their house. Red haired and red-nosed Aunt Charlotte plopped her drink down. Liquor slid up the side of the glass. She took our jackets and cut a wide path around the corner to one of the sauna rooms.

Shorter. Tighter. More direct. Better? That’s up to the reader. The important part is that the piece is definitely different and I achieved the difference by trying to use someone else’s words to tell my story. In the end, both versions are distinctly mine.

To get started, take a piece you already have and rewrite it as your favorite writer might. This should get the words moving. If you’re feeling especially adventurous, trying rewriting Barbara Kingsolver as Don Delillo might. How would Gordon Lish present a work of John Cheever’s? There are endless combinations and they all force you to examine your words and achieve a tone. Once you get started, though, the hard part is over.

The Truth About Myths

In modern society, people often equate the term "myth" with "lie". At the very least, we allow for a myth simply to be a misunderstanding of what should seem like a logical conclusion. In the literary sense, however, the concept of myth means so much more.

In the modern age, Joseph Campbell is perhaps the world's most noted comparative mythologist. Speaking of mythology, he offered:

A whole mythology is an organization of symbolic images and narratives, metaphorical of the possibilities of human experience and the fulfillment of a given culture at a given time.

In this context, the concept of myth and mythology become of much more use to tapping creativity in your writing. Across virtually every continent and every culture, a local mythology has evolved. These mythologies show us the values and taboos of the societies from which they rose. Moreover, they collectively show us the values of humanity as a whole.

Many contemporary writers have used classic mythology to influence their works:

James Joyce: Ulysses (The Odyssey)
Thomas Pynchon: The Crying of Lot 49 (The Narcissus)
Salmon Rushdie: The Ground Beneath Her Feet (Orpheus & Eurydice)

This is just a very small sample. Each of these writers, especially Rushdie, have pulled influence directly from myths originating in the Western and Eastern worlds alike.

In movies, George Lucas has made no secret of the role of mythology in influencing the most successful movie series in history: Star Wars. And the Coen Brothers openly used names and references to The Odyssey in O Brother, Where Art Thou?

But why? Why is it that myths that are thousands of years old can still be as powerful, and exert such an influence, in today's society? Because myths, at their very core, are about humanity. They are about trials and tribulations. They are about moral conflict and transcendence.

Achilles and Arjuna both asked if war was the answer.
Odysseus and Pious Aeneas both persevered until they reached their "home".
Jesus and Buddha transcended the physical boundaries of the Universe.

To use myth in your own writing, pick two different cultures and find a common theme. Almost every mythology has a creation story. You can start there. Read these stories. Compare them. Note differences. More importantly, note similarities. Then put the pen to the page and give it a shot yourself. You don't have to write The Iliad, but grasping the concept of myth as is applies to core human values should help you in your own writing.