ANOTHER GREAT SUMMER WRITING FESTIVAL AT UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

10 great days in Iowa and once again very inspired to write and submit. Novel is taking a backseat right now while I focus on a series of Short Stories. I was very inspired by my instructors - Kate Aspengren and Bart Yates - to go deeper and not settle for just skirting the narractive and entertaining the reader.

John Dalton gave an excellent lecture on novel writing and one of the aspects he discussed was that the number one thing modern readers look for in a novel is "truth." Of course my truth may not be everyone else's but a big part of going deeper in my work will be casting a sharp and clinical eye on my own thoughts and behaviors as well as the people (ahem - I mean characters) in my stories.

Kate Aspengrebn's "Coming of Age" class allowed me to look at some of the experiences in my early teens that I haven't examined in a long time. She is an excellent instructor and very supportive. As usual the experience was full of intensely personal and moving stories from some very good writers (and as usual I was the only male in the class).

Bart Yates opened some doors in my writing because I've always been resistent to descriptive passages in my work - but with the input of an excellent workshop of writers, he helped me to realize that detailed description can help me to access aspects of character development. Yes, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar - but it helps to know what one looks, tastes, smells and feels like in the hands of the narrator in a work of fiction.

I am being productive and completed a 2500 word story called "Probably Not Real" which is the first in a planned series of 13 stories centering around the theme of Male-Female Relationships in the Internet Age. I am tentatively calling the collection "No Strings Attached." All thirteen stories are set during the first year of my Divorce circa 2007-08.

Reworking, Reinventing, Redefining and Reflecting

Several months of distractions, side-projects, false starts and mild inspiratins have led me to an interesting juncture. I am diving back into the novel process but have reworked the structure to make it more personal, straitforward and accessible. I am vey excited about diving back in. The novel will now be set in one specific year in the mid-1980's and will branch out to include several reflections and family narratives from as early as 1936. I will be narrating from my current perspective but will spend a lot of time in the mindset of a rather lost and confused 25 year old.

Wish me luck.

The Sorrow and the Pity - but enough about me...

Okay so I went off tracks for awhile there but I recently did something I recommend to every struggling wannabe writer out there in the blog-o-sphere - take a real Writing Workshop!


My fabulous fiancee suggested we go to the University of Iowa's Summer Writing Festivaland it was a great idea. Ten days and three workshops later (a pair of two-day weekend classes and a five day week-long workshop) I now have a newly completed short-story and about 20 new pages of decent novel material - but most importantly, I completely re-envisioned my novel and it will now be told in three first person narratives one of which is based in part on my own life as a teenager.

So there you have it. Look into U of Iowa for next Summer or check into your local colleges for writing workshops. It was great to be immersed in a serious atmosphere with other writers and experienced instructors who provided excellent input, stimulating creative exercises and all-around enthusiastic vibes. - JC

Changes to setting - This should help

At first I was very resistent to the idea but I decided to restage the novel in the original (i.e. accurate) time period by beginning in 1930's Philadephia and having the "present day" action all take place in 1987.

I was frightened of the idea of writing a period piece set in the 80's instead of a contemprary novel but I realize that it will be more true to the characters and to the narrative to set it up this way. I went through the first 20 pages and made the necessary changes and will now proceed according to this plan. I had to decide now before things got too convoluted and I am happy with my choice.

I don't know whether this will affect the popularity or marketability of the final novel but it should yield a more accurare and less manipulated accounting of the characters and events. It also gives me the freedom of painting trhe surrounding action with a Reagan era brush which should be a lot of fun.

Day 21 - Remote Writing with Stephanie

I had a few false starts and lots of delays over the past 2 weeks. Rewrote some of the material and fleshed out the characters but didn't do any major writing.

On Saturday Jan 23rd I went to a coffee shop in NoHo (The Amsterdam Cafe) and wrote on her laptop onthe utside patio for an hour or so. Worked out the intro to Maddy's character - I decided to set it in, you guessed it, a coffee shop.

I was happy with the work but I am moving far too slowly on the novel. It's been three weeks and I only have 12 pages.