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Isn’t it nice when you find new authors that you instantly adore? That’s been my reaction to a couple of the writers we’ve read in my Native American Novel class. I want to read some more James Welch, but the author I have really developed a crush on is Louise Erdrich. Her novel Tracks is to blame.

Tracks is a book that doesn’t fully reveal itself on the first read. The narrative switches between two different narrators and it takes awhile to adjust to the rhythms and the voice of each. Once I figured out this rhythm, it was simply a matter of letting go, leaving yourself in the hands of a fantastic storyteller. As I read some of the chapters I though they’d make terrific stand-alone short stories. It turns out several of the chapters appeared in places like The New Yorker and Harpers prior to the novel. Chapters that function as complete stories as well as part of a whole: something I like very much.

Anyway, Erdrich is one of those writers who makes you feel like you’re sitting with a good friend with a cup of hot tea as you hear the story unfold. There’s a touch of the fantastic about the events and a subtle mystery to how the story is being constructed. Happily, Erdrich is a writer that I think I can learn from. Sometimes I read great books but think that pulling apart the prose won’t do much good because the writer’s style is so far from my own. Not that I can try to match Erdrich’s brilliance, but I think I can learn from the rhythm of her stories.

So I have Four Souls, a sequel of sorts, coming on audio through interlibrary loan and the rest of her work has made it onto my not-so-short list of writers I need to read whenever I get time for recreational reading.

A brief note on this but I think I’m allergic to short fiction workshops. I believe this affliction is temporary as I am not discrediting the benefit of workshops, and I certainly am still learning how to write better stories, but I think writers need time away from workshops just as much as they need time in them. Jay Lake wrote awhile back (I wish I had time to find his post) that writers need different kinds of workshops at different points in their careers.

The fiction workshops I’ve been in have been focusing on the salable story, which is not a bad starting point. However I’m in a more experimental mode, less “what does a good short story look like?” and more “how can we push against those rules?” As odd as it sounds, I’ve been writing stories that I don’t think have a good chance at selling because I’m experimenting. Yes, I know that if you write well enough you can break any rule in the book and that’s what I’m hoping for, but not what I’m counting on. In other words I’m not writing specifically for publication, I’m writing in ways that interest me. With some luck, they’ll interest some editors as well. But the important think is giving myself the creative freedom to explore. Otherwise, it feels too much like work.

Current Mood: Fine |