Writing and Crying

Is it a good thing to make someone cry? If it's your reader, it certainly is. I'm not an easy person to make cry, so when I read Steve Erickson's Our Ecstatic Days and cried copiously, I was curious. What what he trying to do to me? And why did it work? And why did I feel so good about feeling so bad?
There are plenty of reasons to cry: pain, anger, humiliation, sadness, mourning, happiness, empathy, or even witnessing noble acts or feeling holy awe. Most of these motivations are not used by writers. I suppose you could write a book so long-winded that the reader would cry from lower back pain when picking it up. I've certainly been made angry by a book, but it's not a long-term relationship so I don't usually cry. Apparently, the further up the scale you go, the more likely it is that a reader will enjoy having a good cry.
A good cry should leave a person feeling "value-added." You've taken them somewhere and shown them something of worth, something that enhanced their human experience. I cried over Our Ecstatic Days because Erickson showed me my worst fears but I didn't have to actually live through it.
Robert Frost said "no tears in the writer, no tears in the reader." I guess that means first we suffer for our art and then it's the reader's turn! If you think that's a hard order, just try and make your reader laugh!

No one got them all right!

I must admit I probably wouldn't have either. (I hope someone tests me so I can prove my own literary acumen!) The answers to yesterday's post quiz: 1) William Gibson 2) John Banville 3) Don Delillo, 4) Henry James, 5) Cornelia Funke, 6) James Salter, 7) Willa Cather, 8) Neil Gaiman.

Did you notice any common elements in these endings? I chose a very odd assortment of genres and time periods, so you wouldn't expect too much similarity. This is what I observed:
1) Most of them tell what happened instead of showing it in a drawn-out scene. Most of the time when you are writing, it's best to stay in the moment, right in the thick of the action. That last line is a place where it's okay to compress time a bit.

2) Most of them are dramatic. No one is dawdling around after the excitement is over.

3) Most of them convey a strong emotion or theme. Finally, you get a chance expose the heart of your story so the reader closes the book with the feeling still resonating inside them.

4) Most of them seem to be written with the sound and rhythm of the words in mind. Read the Banville and the Delillo endings aloud. Do you hear it? There's a real difference in rhythm and it isn't accidental. And yes, we'll get into that later.

Next post, I am going to give you a truly awful ending. Naturally, I had to write it myself to be sure it would sink to my low standards.

Time is stretchy.

Do you know one of those tiresome people who when you ask them how their day was, they tell you every minute in plodding exactitude? Time lumbers forward in their recounting like a soporific elephant. Writers, in contrast, put time through its paces: slowing down for scenes, racing through summaries and even leaping forward and backward as it suits the narrative. What you need to know is, simply, that the more important something is, the more words you ought to devote to it. For example, if someone jumps from a train, the action may take only a minute in real-time, but you would want to write every nuance, every emotion and detail to draw out the excitement. Conversely, if your character has an uneventful cross-country drive, sum it up in a sentence. Don't be afraid to play with time.

It's Easier to Avoid Sin Than Practice Virtue

And no one is quicker to find fault than a publisher. So while you write your book, watch out for these mistakes:

1. You have no knowledge of other books in the genre. (Yes, I've heard that you can make money writing romance novels, but if you don't love to read them you'll have a hard time pulling it off. Write what you love to read. Anyhow, it gives you a great excuse to sit around reading your favorite books. You're doing "market research"!)

2. You have no experience writing, but refuse all advice. Creativity is a gift, but it won't get your plot untangled. Obviously, this can't apply to anyone reading this.

3. You don't pay attention to other people's speech so all your characters sound alike. Don't let your 3 year olds sound like thirty year olds. Or visa versa.

4. You don't really care about your characters, so you allow gruesome and tragic things to happen to them that aren't necessary to the plot. This sometimes happens to good writers with wildly creative imaginations. No brakes. Rule of thumb: Think twice before adding maggots. (See Neil Gaimon's American Gods ) If you write horror, then those gruesome scenes are necessary to your plot.
   

5. You love a writer so much that you try to write exactly the same way. It's okay to be slightly under the influence, but value your own voice. Then down the road, other writers will want to imitate you.