Well, four months later, it looks like I bit off more than I could chew. With a crazy spring both at home and at work, I just wasn't able to gain any momentum. But I'm not giving up yet, just adjusting.
The original plan still stands: choose a topic or genre every few months and read three or four related books that approach the topic from different angles. I had planned to start with food writing, but I'm shifting gears to graphic novels instead. Since they're a little faster to read, I think that will be a better place to start and build up some steam for the project. I'm already planning to read Maus and at least the first volume of Fables, plus maybe something like Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. I'll get back to food writing soon.
Since I obviously can't be trusted to finish books for the blog in a timely manner, I'm going to try to stick to a once-a-week (or so) schedule by adding in shorter pieces on things that come up in the rest of my reading and that might turn into a full-fledged topic in the future. This remains a work-in-progress, but I'm hoping at the very least that it becomes a way to flex my writing muscles on a regular basis. Any and all feedback is welcome!
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
On Writing and Discovery
To get myself into the habit of reading a book with the aim of writing about it for the blog, I started with Stephen King's On Writing. Although it is primarily about fiction, and therefore doesn't directly relate to any of the writing I'll be doing here, it did give some general insight into the writing process, and the way to think about writing from a reader's perspective.
One of the images that most struck me in the book was King's description of a piece of writing as a fossil to be uncovered. For him, the process begins with an idea—a question or a situation—and his job is to discover the characters and mechanics of the plot. I've heard many writers describe the moment when the characters "take over" the novel, but I had never heard the entire writing process articulated in quite this way:
"Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer's job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible. Sometimes the fossil you uncover is small, a seashell. Sometimes it's enormous, a Tyrannosaurus Rex with all those gigantic ribs and grinning teeth. Either way, short story or thousand-page whopper of a novel, the techniques of excavation remain basically the same." (pp. 163-164)
In another life I was a graduate student in mathematics, so King's fossil analogy brought to mind the question of where mathematical proofs come from. The mathematician Paul Erdös described particularly elegant proofs as coming from "The Book." The implication was that for each theorem, there is an ideal proof waiting to be discovered. But even if your proof isn't going to be the most elegant, the thought process is still one of being lead forward, step by step, from logical deduction to logical deduction. In fact, one way to think about the job of the mathematician is to set or assume a series of definitions, and to use logic to discover what other facts and relationships they lead to.
Of course the process of discovery is going to be more subjective in writing than in mathematics (which is never supposed to be subjective). If Stephen King and I start with the same narrative situation, I guarantee that we will write different stories. But I do think that the same idea can apply to both fiction and non-fiction, to storytelling and argument. In other words, in King's analogy, the job of any writer is to start with the germ of an idea, and to prod and scrape it inch by inch until they have discovered the fully formed idea underneath.
As an aside, in reading On Writing, I realized (or remembered) how much I like Stephen King as a writer. From this and the little else I have read, I enjoy his no-frills style and find it refreshing how seriously he takes his own reading and writing, without taking himself too seriously. In fact, I enjoyed the book enough that I may plan a Horror series specifically to read one of his more well-known books. My first series, though, will be on Food Writing.
I recently finished Ruth Reichl's debut novel, Delicious!, which was a perfect post-holiday read. It centers around a food magazine unexpectedly shuttered (a situation Reichl knows first-hand) and the sections describing the magazine and various meals are wonderful. The plot has its weaknesses, but it was charming and a good lead-in to the real genre of food writing. I haven't settled my whole list yet, but I'm now leaning toward adding one of Ruth Reichl's memoirs. I will start, though, with The Gastronomical Me by M.F.K. Fisher, if only to begin near the beginning of great twentieth century food writing. More on that soon.
Other books finished since my last post:
The Kept by James Scott
This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz
Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead
The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld
All the Names by Jose Saramago
Delicious! by Ruth Reichl
One of the images that most struck me in the book was King's description of a piece of writing as a fossil to be uncovered. For him, the process begins with an idea—a question or a situation—and his job is to discover the characters and mechanics of the plot. I've heard many writers describe the moment when the characters "take over" the novel, but I had never heard the entire writing process articulated in quite this way:
"Stories are relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world. The writer's job is to use the tools in his or her toolbox to get as much of each one out of the ground intact as possible. Sometimes the fossil you uncover is small, a seashell. Sometimes it's enormous, a Tyrannosaurus Rex with all those gigantic ribs and grinning teeth. Either way, short story or thousand-page whopper of a novel, the techniques of excavation remain basically the same." (pp. 163-164)
In another life I was a graduate student in mathematics, so King's fossil analogy brought to mind the question of where mathematical proofs come from. The mathematician Paul Erdös described particularly elegant proofs as coming from "The Book." The implication was that for each theorem, there is an ideal proof waiting to be discovered. But even if your proof isn't going to be the most elegant, the thought process is still one of being lead forward, step by step, from logical deduction to logical deduction. In fact, one way to think about the job of the mathematician is to set or assume a series of definitions, and to use logic to discover what other facts and relationships they lead to.
Of course the process of discovery is going to be more subjective in writing than in mathematics (which is never supposed to be subjective). If Stephen King and I start with the same narrative situation, I guarantee that we will write different stories. But I do think that the same idea can apply to both fiction and non-fiction, to storytelling and argument. In other words, in King's analogy, the job of any writer is to start with the germ of an idea, and to prod and scrape it inch by inch until they have discovered the fully formed idea underneath.
As an aside, in reading On Writing, I realized (or remembered) how much I like Stephen King as a writer. From this and the little else I have read, I enjoy his no-frills style and find it refreshing how seriously he takes his own reading and writing, without taking himself too seriously. In fact, I enjoyed the book enough that I may plan a Horror series specifically to read one of his more well-known books. My first series, though, will be on Food Writing.
I recently finished Ruth Reichl's debut novel, Delicious!, which was a perfect post-holiday read. It centers around a food magazine unexpectedly shuttered (a situation Reichl knows first-hand) and the sections describing the magazine and various meals are wonderful. The plot has its weaknesses, but it was charming and a good lead-in to the real genre of food writing. I haven't settled my whole list yet, but I'm now leaning toward adding one of Ruth Reichl's memoirs. I will start, though, with The Gastronomical Me by M.F.K. Fisher, if only to begin near the beginning of great twentieth century food writing. More on that soon.
Other books finished since my last post:
The Kept by James Scott
This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz
Astonish Me by Maggie Shipstead
The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld
All the Names by Jose Saramago
Delicious! by Ruth Reichl
Friday, December 6, 2013
Digging In
I'm still reading Stephen King's On Writing (in between reading other books for work and pleasure), and really enjoying it. But before I finish, now seems like a good time to start brainstorming ideas for my first topic. Based on some articles I've read and interviews I've heard recently, I've been reminded that I like food writing, but haven't really read much of it. Since the holiday season is basically a month of thinking about, talking about, and eating delicious food, this seemed like a good topic to start with.
The two specific inspirations for this topic idea are an article and a podcast.
First, I recently read and enjoyed "Mozzarella Story" by Calvin Trillin, from the December 2 issue of The New Yorker. Not the most earth-shattering piece of food writing, but it was charming, nostalgic, and made me want to seek out the nearest ball of fresh mozzarella.
The second inspiration was an interview on Slate's Culture Gabfest with Luke Barr, the author of Provence 1970 and the great-nephew of M.F.K. Fisher. His book is about a season that found many of the leading figures in 20th century cuisine (including M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and Judith Jones) all living in the south of France, cooking for each other and arguing about food. Reviews of the book have been good, and their conversation highlighted for me how little I know about how we arrived at the food culture we have today.
Both of these whetted my appetite (sorry) for more writing about food and food culture. I have a lot of ideas about things to read, so the real challenge will be whittling it down to a list of three or four. Initial thoughts include:
The two specific inspirations for this topic idea are an article and a podcast.
First, I recently read and enjoyed "Mozzarella Story" by Calvin Trillin, from the December 2 issue of The New Yorker. Not the most earth-shattering piece of food writing, but it was charming, nostalgic, and made me want to seek out the nearest ball of fresh mozzarella.
The second inspiration was an interview on Slate's Culture Gabfest with Luke Barr, the author of Provence 1970 and the great-nephew of M.F.K. Fisher. His book is about a season that found many of the leading figures in 20th century cuisine (including M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, James Beard, and Judith Jones) all living in the south of France, cooking for each other and arguing about food. Reviews of the book have been good, and their conversation highlighted for me how little I know about how we arrived at the food culture we have today.
Both of these whetted my appetite (sorry) for more writing about food and food culture. I have a lot of ideas about things to read, so the real challenge will be whittling it down to a list of three or four. Initial thoughts include:
- M.F.K. Fisher (How to Cook a Wolf? Something else? She wrote so much!)
- Julia Child's My Life in France
- Calvin Trillin (The Tummy Trilogy would give me three for the price of one)
- A more contemporary food memoir
- Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma probably)
- One of the Best Food Writing anthologies
- Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss
Recognizing that I'm only going to be scratching the surface, let me know if you have a top one or two that shouldn't be missed.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Education on a Shoestring
Almost every day I find myself listening to the radio, reading an article, or watching TV and thinking, "Huh, that's interesting. I wish I knew more about that." I'm not in college anymore, and continuing education classes can be expensive, so I don't have the opportunity to dive deeply into each new topic for a semester, with an expert to guide me. But I am constantly surrounded by smart people and good books, and if I find the time to write at least a little about what I'm reading, learning, and thinking about a topic, I figure I can fashion myself a mini-course on almost any subject.
So, the plan: For each topic, I'll pick three or four books (hopefully with suggestions from you) that come at the topic from different angles. I'll post here about each book, what I'm learning, how it's making me think differently about the topic, and what directions it's prompting me to go in next. Some of my initial ideas are very broad, but as I read more and get more suggestions, I'm sure I'll find myself in deeper and deeper subcategories.
As a sort of prerequisite, I'm going to start with On Writing by Stephen King. I've always enjoyed writing, but it's a muscle I haven't flexed seriously since my last year of grad school, so it seems like an appropriate place to start. That will also give me time to sort through and prioritize my many topic ideas (everything from cognitive science to zombies).
Note: On the "Syllabus" page I'll keep a running list of themes and genres I'd like to explore, and I'll update with links to posts by topic as I go.
So, the plan: For each topic, I'll pick three or four books (hopefully with suggestions from you) that come at the topic from different angles. I'll post here about each book, what I'm learning, how it's making me think differently about the topic, and what directions it's prompting me to go in next. Some of my initial ideas are very broad, but as I read more and get more suggestions, I'm sure I'll find myself in deeper and deeper subcategories.
As a sort of prerequisite, I'm going to start with On Writing by Stephen King. I've always enjoyed writing, but it's a muscle I haven't flexed seriously since my last year of grad school, so it seems like an appropriate place to start. That will also give me time to sort through and prioritize my many topic ideas (everything from cognitive science to zombies).
Note: On the "Syllabus" page I'll keep a running list of themes and genres I'd like to explore, and I'll update with links to posts by topic as I go.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)