I have always preferred painterly works over slavish photo realism. We have cameras for that. I prefer seeing the unique hand of the artist. And your equating this to writing is most helpful. As is the idea of opening the aperture (which made me smile because I like to shoot with a 50mm wide open, to craft tighter images). Opening the aperture, as it relates to writing, is like bearing more of one’s soul, instead of being superficial. When someone asks me what a good book is about, I struggle sometimes. Yes, I can provide a synopsis, but the magic and truth of the book is in the words and experience. “Read it,” I’ll say, “Because telling you won’t do it justice.” The same with a great film. You have to experience it all. The music, imagery. It all culminates into the memorable experience. The unique vision and personality of the director.
Beautifully written article with some really interesting ideas about fiction! As Virginia Woolf tells us - there is more truth in fiction than in fact. So, maybe we need to bend the world a little more to really see it.
Critical theory and cultural studies helps me to do this -- to push the 'real' into different places in my fiction.
Thanks for a really poignant and thought provoking post!
One of the new writer's greatest challenges is how to toss out two pages of plodding, detailed character description and exchange it for the fifty sparkling words that illuminate the character through their dialog and action. The only way is to read, read, read, write, write, write and edit a hundred times. Thank you, Charles. I am always inspired by your articles, though I admit some of them are over my head. Thank you Sharron at 🍁Leaves
I like this reminder about the optics of fiction, how much depth, granularity, and texture there is in a work, and how we react to what we see on the pages.
Great post! It makes me wonder how much we could be missing from reading works from another era in which we are meant to "fill in the blanks" of the characters without having enough awareness of the social context. I guess it shows why learning about the historical context of any novel makes your understanding of it more complete.
Great post, one that really resonates with me. I especially like the bicycle analogy.
I have always preferred painterly works over slavish photo realism. We have cameras for that. I prefer seeing the unique hand of the artist. And your equating this to writing is most helpful. As is the idea of opening the aperture (which made me smile because I like to shoot with a 50mm wide open, to craft tighter images). Opening the aperture, as it relates to writing, is like bearing more of one’s soul, instead of being superficial. When someone asks me what a good book is about, I struggle sometimes. Yes, I can provide a synopsis, but the magic and truth of the book is in the words and experience. “Read it,” I’ll say, “Because telling you won’t do it justice.” The same with a great film. You have to experience it all. The music, imagery. It all culminates into the memorable experience. The unique vision and personality of the director.
Beautifully written article with some really interesting ideas about fiction! As Virginia Woolf tells us - there is more truth in fiction than in fact. So, maybe we need to bend the world a little more to really see it.
Critical theory and cultural studies helps me to do this -- to push the 'real' into different places in my fiction.
Thanks for a really poignant and thought provoking post!
One of the new writer's greatest challenges is how to toss out two pages of plodding, detailed character description and exchange it for the fifty sparkling words that illuminate the character through their dialog and action. The only way is to read, read, read, write, write, write and edit a hundred times. Thank you, Charles. I am always inspired by your articles, though I admit some of them are over my head. Thank you Sharron at 🍁Leaves
I like this reminder about the optics of fiction, how much depth, granularity, and texture there is in a work, and how we react to what we see on the pages.
Great post! It makes me wonder how much we could be missing from reading works from another era in which we are meant to "fill in the blanks" of the characters without having enough awareness of the social context. I guess it shows why learning about the historical context of any novel makes your understanding of it more complete.