Winter Words Writer's Confrence--Literary Fiction Panel

[tamela_j]

The following are some notes I collected while attending Winter Words at Fairfield Public Library here in Fairfield Connecticut back in December. I was going to squee about meeting and talking to Da Chen (who I was lucky enough to interview for an article) but I've moved past the fangirl phase (plus I HATED the pic that we took together:( and will not be posting it)

Anyway...here's the gist of what was discussed...

 

Sara Nelson the Editor-in-Chief of Publishers Weekly moderated the panel for Literary Fiction. Sitting on the panel were:

Michael White is the author of six novels including upcoming “Beautiful Assassin (2008) and 2007’s “Soul Catcher.” He also directs Fairfield University’s new low-residency MFA in Creative Writing.

Nalini Jones is a Stanford Calderwood Fellow of the MacDowell Colony and has taught at Columbia University and the 92nd Street Y in New York, her story collection “What you call Winter” was published in 2007 by Knopf.

Professor of English at Fairfield University, the editor of Dogwood and Mezzo Cammin, a resident faculty member of Fairfield’s new M.F.A. program on Enders Island, Kim Bridgeford is a Pulitzer Prize nominated poet and Donald Justice Prize winner and was the 2007 Connecticut Touring Poet.

Matthew Sharpe has taught creative writing and literature at Wesleyan University, Columbia University, Bard College’s MFA program and in high schools throughout NYC. He is the author of three novels, “Jamestown,” “The Sleeping Father,” and “Nothing is Terrible” and one short story collection “Stories from the Tube.”

Nelson opened up the panel by asking why one writes literary fiction especially in the after effects of what she described as “Black Wednesday” in publishing. “It is a difficult time for publishing in general, and a really difficult time to publish literary fiction.”

Sharpe said that it’s always been a bad time to have a career in literary fiction and gave the statistic that one percent of literary writers actually make their living writing literary fiction.

“If you want to make a living in writing, don’t write literary fiction. If you want to write literary fiction, find a different way to make a living.”

Bridgeford advises that in any climate you must be relentless in sending your stuff out. She also said as a poetry editor, if you want your poetry to be noticed, do something different. Take on an unusual situation or write something humorous. “Reading a lot of poetry can sometimes feel like a slow march of death, if I read something that brings me out of that for awhile, I take notice.”

Jones said that for her what makes it easier to write in this financial climate is to “write with no thought of where it will go.”

Sharpe agrees with that saying, “If I let the publishing world’s crisis affect me, I’d have a writing freeze.”

He went on and said that he just had to do what he did and hope that there is a market for it somewhere. He used to wish that he could write the next Patterson, Crichton or Grisham and other writers that are at the top of their game, but he cannot.

“There so good because that’s the thing that their soul most wants to do. If I could do that I would, but that’s not my soul’s calling.”

White said that it’s not all doom and gloom though for writers who want to publish literary fiction. The places that are struggling right now are the big houses that didn’t really publish too much literary fiction anyway.

“Publishing is not this single living thing in New York City. Literary short stories never lived in NY anyway; it lives in magazines, college journals and small presses all over the country.”

And unlike the publishing houses, those publications are usually ran by grants and universities and the financial crisis effects it differently.

 

The next question was one that seems to go hand in hand with this particular genre. “What exactly is literary fiction?”

White began by saying that the labels are mostly for marketing and not something the author really has to worry about too much. He also said that the lines blur in this genre.

“If ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ was published today, it would be labeled YA,” said White. He went on to say there were many literary fiction titles that cross genres such as sci-fi and mystery.

 Having said that, he did go on to list a few things that to him signify a work being literary:

     1. Fresh, original, robust prose.

     2. Avoidance of clichés, tropes and formulas.

     3. Characters

     4. Voice on the page

     5. Breaks conventions

     6. Plots that focus and a moral and spiritual journey

 

Jones added that for her, usually if it bares reading more than once, if there are things that require further study or ruminations, she considers it literary fiction.

For Sharpe the qualifications for terming something literary fiction are a bit more personal.

“Usually, if I like it, it’s literary fiction.”

He went on to explain that while he can’t define it, he knows it when he sees it.

 

After that, they discussed how it is that they write and what draws them to the genre of literary fiction to begin with.

Jones began by saying that she always found that she was writing anyway. She began her career as an assistant to a writer, which she said, “Sounds more glamorous then it was.” But what she took from that experience is that “Real people can be writers.”

She said she went to get her MFA so that she could be a better amateur but somewhere along the line, “suddenly noticed, I was trying to be a writer.”

Bridgeford said that she came across literary fiction the same way William Faulkner did, by being a poet first.

She took a very clinical route to getting to where she is. “I wanted to try my hand at literary short fiction, so I began investigating how it was done.”

Taking the O’Henry Prize collections, she began dissecting and taking apart the stories to find out just how and why they worked.

Sharpe said that he feels lucky that most of writing comes intuitively to him, but that he’s constantly feeding his intuitiveness by studying the craft.

“You have to be a close, careful reader and disciplined writer, and then you can discover your thoughts while crafting them.”

He compared his technique to jazz musicians who have some idea what the music’s structure will be but still allow themselves to improvise throughout the piece.

Jones agreed saying that when she starts it’s with a good idea of where it should begin but she has no idea where it will go.

White said that literary fiction is probably the only genre where you can sit down and just let the story flow.

“In a mystery story, you can’t not know who the killer is when starting to write.”

Having said that, though, he continued by saying in a short story it might not be necessary to know where you’re going, but in a novel, you should have some rough ideas. He likes to have five or six chapters plotted out at a time.

“It’s like mountain climbing, you don’t have to be able to see the top of the mountain the whole time, but you want to see what’s in front of you, what your obstacles are before you get to them.”

After this the session broke out into questions and answers, which always sorta makes me break out in hives as people ask the dumbest questions. This one was no exception and I won’t dignify them with space on my journal. Just leave you with a word of advice.

If you’re ever in a room of published writers and you get a chance to ask them that question that is burning in your soul…think long and hard and ask yourself, “Have they already answered it?” “Is it a question that will be beneficial to more than just I?” and, “Am I capable of asking a question in a timely manner that doesn’t meander and actually not be an actual question?” If the answer is no to any of these questions, do yourself and everyone else a favor and DON’T ASK!

If you REALLY need to know and are that obnoxious, corner the writers alone when we don’t all have to hear the insipid nonsense and question if we even want to be in the same field as you. Thanks.