Great House by Nicole Krauss

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide masterclasses within their books.

          Masterclasses take place when performance artists and musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don’t generally have this option, but I have found some books to be masterclasses for characters, backstories, plots, settings, voice, and/or creativity.

 

          Without a straightforward plot, Great House by Nicole Krauss is not for everyone, but I think it is a good read for writers. At the heart of the novel are several writers and a desk that is important to them as it passes in and out of their lives.  

 I recommend this book more for the insightful writing than anything else. With an unwavering voice, Krauss addresses some of life’s big issues and questions.

…a writer should not be cramped by the possible consequences of her work. She has no duty to earthly accuracy or verisimilitude. She is not an accountant; nor is she required to be something as ridiculous and misguided as a moral compass. In her work the writer is free of laws. But in her life…she is not free. (page 28)

…Do you think books can change people’s lives? (which really meant, Do you actually think anything you write could mean anything to anyone?)…I asked the interviewer to imagine the sort of person he might be if all of the literature he’d read in his life were somehow excised from his mind and soul, and as the journalist contemplated that nuclear winter, I sat back with a self-satisfied smile, saved again from facing the truth…[I had been] countering the appearance of a certain anemia in life with the excuse of another, more profound level of existence in my work…(page 36)

Terrible things befall people, but not all are destroyed. Why is it that the same thing that destroys one does not destroy another? There is the question of will—some inalienable right, the right of interpretation, remains. (page 190)

…The dead take their secrets with them, or so they say. But it isn’t really true, is it? The secrets of the dead have a viral quality, and find a way to keep themselves alive in another host… (page 259)

 

             When it comes to writers, relationships can be tricky as solitude is a requirement for work.

…I might have stayed up half the night working, writing and staring out at the blackness of the Hudson, as long as the energy and clarity lasted. There was no one to call me to bed, no one to demand that the rhythms of my life operate in a duet, no one toward whom I had to bend. (page 17)

The life I had chosen, a life largely absent of others, certainly emptied of the ties that keep most people tangled up in each other, only made sense when I was actually writing the sort of work I had sequestered myself in order to produce…preferring the deliberate meaningfulness of fiction to unaccounted-for reality, preferring a shapeless freedom to the robust work of yoking my thoughts to the logic and flow of another’s. (page 43)

…I avoided the attic [wife’s study]…out of respect for her privacy, without which she wouldn’t have survived. She needed a place to escape, even from me [her husband]. (page 87)

 

As for the writing desk, the descriptions depend on the characters' perspectives.

I looked across the room at the wooden desk at which I had written seven novels…One drawer was slightly ajar, one of the nineteen drawers, some small and some large, whose odd number and strange array…has come to signify a kind of guiding if mysterious order in my life, an order that, when my work was going well, took on an almost mystical quality…Nineteen drawers…hid a far more complex design, the blueprint of the mind formed over tens of thousands of days of thinking while staring at them, as if they held the conclusion to a stubborn sentence, the culminating phrase, the radical break from everything I had ever written that would at last lead to the book I had always wanted, and always failed, to write. (page 16)

To call it a desk is to say too little. The word conjures some homely, unassuming article of work or domesticity, a selfless and practical object that is always poised to offer up its back for its owner to make use of, and which, when not in use, occupies its allotted space with humility…you can cancel that image immediately. This desk was something else entirely: an enormous, foreboding thing that bore down on the occupants of the room it inhabited, pretending to be inanimate but, like the Venus flytrap, ready to pounce on them and digest them via one of its many little terrible drawers. [a description of the same desk by non-writing character] (page 248)    

 

Books in My Reading Pile

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          It seems like I have a never-ending reading pile. No matter how fast I read, the pile keeps growing. Where are these books coming from?

          Like most avid readers, I have favorite authors that are must reads. So in my reading pile are Devoted in Death by JD Robb (which I’m just finishing but wouldn’t recommend); Why I Came West by Rick Bass (I love reading memoirs about the Great Outdoors in autumn); and Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman (which I am rereading).

          Many of my friends and co-workers are avid readers, too, so I have books recommended by them including I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming (murder mystery series); Live By Night by Dennis Lehane; All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (the next book I will start); and South Toward Home: Travels in Southern Literature by Margaret Eby. (I love reading about authors’ lives—and there is something special about southern writers.)

          I watched Michael Dirda on Book TV on C-SPAN2 recently. I’ve read him before so I decided to try On Conan Doyle (a memoir which I’m enjoying immensely) and Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education (which I think I will love).

          Due to good reviews, I picked up Among the Ten Thousand Things by Julia Pierpont (barely started) and My Struggle Book 1 by Karl Ove Knausgaard which is hard to categorize, but is a uniquely fascinating book. (I’m halfway through and plan on reading the other two books in this series. Includes many Insightful Asides.)

          Some of the books in my reading pile I discovered while simply browsing. These include A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit (full of Insightful Asides); The Bard on the Brain: Understanding the Mind Through the Art of Shakespeare and the Science of Brain Imaging by Paul M. Matthews, MD, and Jeffrey McQuain, PhD, with a Foreword by Diane Ackerman (she is one of my must read authors); and The Art of Crash Landing by Melissa DeCarlo. (The first paragraph made me laugh and the book contains Insightful Asides).

I also read books recommended by authors I like. The Essay: Old & New, by Edward P. J. Corbett and Sheryl L. Finkle, was a recommendation from William Cane in his book Fiction Writing Master Class (post dated 9/7/15).

What are you reading?
 

 

Fiction Writing Master Class by William Cane

By Kate Phillips

      

          I’m taking advantage of the back-to-school sales stocking up on pens, paper, and notebooks. Feeling nostalgic, I’m also recommending Fiction Writing Master Class by William Cane this week. Why not take a “class”—it is September after all.

         On page 1, Cane begins:

          So many people today are banging their brains out against the keyboards asking themselves, “Why can’t I write like the greats?” when the simple answer is that you can…”

          On page 3:

          Allow me, then, to introduce you to one aspect of rhetoric…that can literally salvage your writing career, infuse your style with new vim and vigor, and give you a voice equal to the best and brightest who came before you. It’s all in this book about classical rhetorical technique of imitation…[which stopped being taught in schools 80 years ago].

          To simple to be true? Well, consider for a moment that musicians…learned their craft by doing covers of other artists’ songs.

          On page 5:

          The ultimate goal of this book is not to make you a clone of these other writers but to help you learn their secrets so you can express yourself with confidence, style, and your own unique voice…[which] will emerge in a way it never could have done without this crucial foundation.

 

          Among the 21 authors Cane suggests imitating are Balzac, Melville, Kafka, Hemingway, Salinger as well as Edgar Rice Burroughs, Margaret Mitchell, Ray Bradbury, and Tom Wolfe. Excerpts from their books are included to illustrate the authors’ secrets.

Start with the chapters about authors you already enjoy reading and branch out to the ones you always mean to get to someday. 

Charles Dickens use of characters in conflict while making his readers laugh and cry is revealed in Chapter 2. “Transmuting your own experiences, you will create art and affect your readers as deeply as you yourself have been affected.” (page 24)

          Edith Wharton’s decisions about when to describe settings and foreshadowing are discussed in Chapter 6. “Integration is perhaps the most sophisticated technical device Wharton employs in a scene. It is a method of describing the background location here and there during the course of the action.” (page 66)

            W. Somerset Maugham’s characters, chapter organization, and narrative flow secrets are shared in Chapter 7. “In addition to putting characters in a position where they must decide what to do, narrative can be made to flow more quickly by piquing curiosity about future events and setting up expectations by ‘advertising’ what is going to happen.” (page 77)

         

          Why no one writes dialogue like D. H. Lawrence is illustrated in Chapter 10. “Lawrence is unique in his ability to find the right emotional language to describe eyes, looks, and expressions. He also knows what is relevant…the words he chooses are full of connotation…” (page 106) How he created excitement in the simplest of scenes is revealed on pp. 109-112.

          Plots, drafts, symbols, and many other secrets are shared from these and the other authors like Ian Fleming’s attention to detail on page 169; Flannery O’Connor’s use of humor in serious writing on pp. 206-208; and Suspense, Stephen King style on pp.242-247.

           Fiction Writing Master Class by William Cane is illuminating and engaging. Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery; it’s also educational.

         

The Wonders of Solitude edited by Dale Salwak

By Kate Phillips 

 

 

          I picked up The Wonders of Solitude edited by Dale Salwak and read the inside cover flap. The first sentence:

In a world that devalues solitary time, this inspirational volume of quotations on the essential importance of solitude aids us in bringing contemplation and silence back into our busy lives.

I find solitude essential not only when I write, but at times during the day to stay centered. It’s comforting to know I’m in good company.

 

There is nothing either / or about being alone, because it is not a role. It is not a reduced way of life. It is a possibility for us to participate in a highly creative endeavor: the discovery of our whole selves.

                                                           --Phillis Hobe (page 39)

 

…that perfect tranquility of life, which is nowhere to be found but in retreat, a faithful friend, and a good library.

                                                   --Aphira Behn (page 53)

 

Every kind of creative work demands solitude, and being alone, constructively alone, is a prerequisite for every phase of the creative process.
                                                --Barbara Powell (page 59)

 

There is nobody else like you. The more you can quiet your own thoughts, fears, doubts, and suspicions, the more will be revealed to you from the higher realms of imagination, intuition, and inspiration.

                                                --Kenneth Wydro (page 65)

 

When we are in the act of writing we are alone and on our own, in a kind of absolute state of Do Not Disturb.

                                       --Eudora Welty (page71)

 

When I begin to sit with the dawn in solitude, I begin to really live. It makes me treasure every single moment of life.

                                                --Gloria Vanderbuilt (page 89)

 

To live a contemplative life is to be open enough to see, free enough to hear, real enough to respond... it is a life of grateful receptivity, of wordless awe, of silent simplicity.

                                                          --Sister Marie Beha (page 114)

 

Screenplay: Writing the Picture by Robin U. Russin & William Missouri Downs

By Kate Phillips

 

          Updating My Personal Screenwriting Class:

I just found the book I really wanted and needed for My Personal Screenwriting Class entitled Screenplay: Writing the Picture by Robin U. Russin and William Missouri Downs. Both graduates of UCLA School of Film and Television who wrote every day and eventually sold screenplays, their book is a truly useful and often funny guide that gives you the basics, excellent advice as well as stating mistakes to avoid.

The authors give examples of screenplays, formats, and discuss line by line what should be there and why. They give terrific explanations of what works and what doesn’t. Then they share what readers for production companies are looking for as they read screenplays.

This book is well organized and easy to read. At the end of each chapter are exercises that get you writing the screenplay you’ve dreamed about in the correct format.

Russin and Downs cover every genre with their suggestions. They presume you have a story in mind so they want to help you polish it as well as look professional when you send your screenplays out.

I wish I had found this book years ago. I can only imagine how many screenplays I would have written by now. However, the important thing is that I found it so I’ll be completing my screenplay sooner than I thought—and in better shape thanks to the authors’ wise insights.

 

Kinder Than Solitude by Yiyun Li

By Kate Phillips

First pages are usually the best written in a book—highly polished and edited—so I always want to see if the author sustained that level throughout his or her book.

When I’m in a bookstore, I pick up books and flip through them stopping at random pages to see if the writing style grabs my attention. I only read a sentence or two, not many words to convince me to buy in, but if the author is good, they are enough.

When I’m viewing books online, I can’t do that as only the first pages are available. To be honest, I’m more disappointed in the books I buy this way when I know nothing about the author. However, while online I can view many more books than are in a bookstore so I discover more gems this way.

The latest gem I’ve read is Kinder Than Solitude by Yiyun Li. Her book caught my eye as I looked for something new to read online. I loved the title.

I opened to the first pages and read the first paragraph. Based on that paragraph alone, I decided to buy her book. I also knew if the book lived up to that paragraph, I would use it as the basis for a masterclass post. I’ve never made this decision based on 93 words before, but Li captured the absurdness of human nature during one the most solemn of occasions. She made me think and she made me laugh.

Read the same paragraph for yourselves. If it appeals to you, read the rest of Li’s book. Her insights into human nature keep coming—fresh, true, eye-opening, and heartbreaking.

The plot of the book is sparse: The four main characters grow up in China, but after a slightly mysterious tragedy, two relocate to America. It’s the author’s voice and the creativity of her insights that made this a masterclass for me. Here are a few examples:

 

…believing, like most people, in a moment called later. Safely removed, later promises possibilities: changes, solutions, rewards, happiness, all too distant to be real, yet real enough to offer relief from the claustrophobic cocoon of now.  (page 33)

 

She had never been much of a reader of fiction before, but these [Russian or French] novels, whose characters bore long and unmemorable names had comforted her: even the most complicated stories offered a clarity that she could not find in the world around her…  (page 134)

 

No, solitude she did not have; what she had was a never-ending quarantine.  (page 229)

 

 

While these and many other lines appealed to me, I especially loved the phrase claustrophobic cocoon of now—four words that capture life when difficult perfectly.

Solitude a never-ending quarantine? I never considered solitude any kind of quarantine, but it is whether imposed or chosen.

The clarity of Yiyun Li's insights is why I recommend writers read Kinder Than Solitude. It’s also why I’ll read the rest of her books.

  

Two Books Filled with Quotes for Writers

By Kate Phillips 

 

          Summer is a busy time—beach, pool, visitors, BBQs, vacations, and, hopefully, writing. While writers should read as much as possible, there isn’t always time to settle down with a novel so I’m recommending two books of quotes for writers. They are easy to pick up and put down and filled with support and wisdom.        

          A Writer’s Commonplace Book by Rosemary Friedman offers quotes in eight categories: On Writers and Writing; On Literary Endeavour; On Knowledge, Discovery and Travel; On Creativity and the Arts; On the Human Condition; On Love, Marriage and Family; On Life and Death; and On Random Thoughts.

          Some of my favorites:

 

 

            A writer knows more than he knows. He has a subconscious
              ability to read signs.

                                                            --Nadine Gordimer  (page 13)

 

It is a delicious thing to write, whether well or badly, to be no longer yourself but to move in an entire universe of your own creation.

                                                    --Gustave Flaubert  (page 75)

 

The aim of literature was to write a book that would reveal to the reader things he had never thought of before.

                                             --Simone De Beauvoir  (page 82)

 

                  All normal people require both classics and trash.

                                             --George Bernard Shaw  (page 84)

 

Learning, thinking, innovation and maintaining contact with one’s own world are all facilitated by solitude.

                                                    --Anthony Storr  (page 164)

             There is power that works within us without consulting us.

                                                     --Voltaire  (page 208)

 

 

In The Writer’s Quotation Book: A Literary Companion edited by James Charlton some of my favorites include:

 

In a very real sense, people who have read good literature have lived more than people who cannot or will not read…It is not true that we have only one life to live; if we can read, we can live as many more lives and as many kinds of lives as we wish.

                                           --S. I. Hayakawa  (page 12)

 

There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island…and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.

                                           --Walt Disney  (page 16)

 

When you reread a classic you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than there was before.

                                           --Clifton Fadiman  (page 19)

 

Literature is an occupation in which you have to keep proving your talent to people who have none.

                                           --Jules Renard  (page 55)

 

Advice to young writers? Always the same advice: learn to trust your own judgement, learn inner independence, learn to trust that time will sort the good from the bad—including your own bad.

                                           --Doris Lessing  (page 73)

 

Nine out of ten writers, I am sure, could write more. I think they should and, if they did, they would find their work improving even beyond their own, their agent’s and their editor’s highest hopes.

                                           --John Creasy  (page 94)

 

          Take time to read, but keep writing!