Winter: A Dirge

The wintry west extends his blast,

And hail and rain does blaw;

Or, the stormy north sends driving forth

The blinding sleet and snaw:

While tumbling brown, the burn comes down,

And roars frae bank to brae;

And bird and beast in covert rest,

And pass the heartless day.

 

~ Excerpt from “Winter: A Dirge” by Robert Burns

 

Paul Cornoyer, before 1910

A Sense of Style

Anyone who has been engaged in the craft of writing for any length of time has developed a uniquely personal style.  During the last three years in Chapman’s English and Creative Writing program, my own narrative style has been described as meticulous, high, ornamental, tedious, lovely, distracting, measured, and obsolete.  While some of these modifiers may sound complimentary and affirming, particularly to one who chooses her words with the utmost precision, all but “lovely” was intended as a well-meaning nudge in a different direction.  Apparently, my writing style is redolent of rambling 19th century narratives that would never sell today but which I adore and, I’m sure, unconsciously attempt to emulate.  

I’ve struggled to understand when and why ostensibly “good” writing became that which is barren of metaphors, similes, and all but absolutely essential details and descriptions.  I’ve diligently and painfully culled every darling from early drafts of my novel chapters and short stories that isn’t crucial to understanding the characters and setting.  But there’s a point at which personal style and self emerge and subdue the darling-slayer.  I simply wouldn’t write about a “partially fried egg” when I could describe instead the “translucent yellow-gray bubble cooking to a grainy lump” on a hot, Arizona sidewalk. 

Recently a friend and MFA peer reminded me of what William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White have to say about style:

As you become proficient in the use of language, your style will emerge, because you yourself will emerge, and when this happens you will find it increasingly easy to break through the barriers that separate you from other minds, other hearts – which is, of course, the purpose of writing, as well as its principal reward. […] Write in a way that comes easily and naturally to you, using words and phrases that come readily to hand. […] It is almost impossible to avoid imitating what one admires.  Never imitate consciously, but do not worry about being an imitator; take pains instead to admire what is good.  Then when you write in a way that comes naturally, you will echo the halloos that bear repeating (The Elements of Style, Longman Publishers). 

I am keeping a wary eye on my tendency toward narrative adornment.  I’m trading adverbs for stronger verbs and assessing the merits of every descriptive detail.  However, as my style and skill continue to develop, I know that my desire and inclination to write sensuous, labyrinthine, and, yes, meticulous prose will not likely change.  Style is, after all, a reflection of the self.

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Style is the dress of thoughts.” ~ Samuel Wesley

Short Story Award for New Writers

Glimmer Train is currently accepting submissions for its annual Short Story Award for New Writers contest through February 29.  The contest is open to writers whose fiction has not appeared in any print publication with a circulation over 5,000.  Entries must not have appeared in any print publication.  Stories submitted to this category are typically 1,500 to 6,000 words and should not exceed 12,000 words. 

The first place winner will receive $1,500, publication in Glimmer Train Stories, and twenty copies of that issue.  The second and third place winners will receive $500 and $300, respectively, and possible publication.  Results will be posted on April 30, and the winning story will be published in Issue 87.  For more information or to submit your work, visit the website at http://www.glimmertrain.com/newwriters.html.

Good luck!

 

John Fowles Literary Forum – Carlos Franz

The John Fowles Center for Creative Writing at Chapman University promotes and advances the discipline of creative writing in all its aspects: fiction, poetry, drama, creative non-fiction, and film.  Each spring, the Center invites a distinguished group of national and international writers to participate in its annual reading series, giving students and non-students alike the opportunity to be exposed to and gain a greater appreciation for cultural and societal diversity in literature. 

The 2012 literary series is devoted to Latin American writers Carlos Franz, Alicia Kozameh, Márcio Souza, Sergio Chejfec, and Luisa Valenzuela, beginning with a reading by Franz on Monday, February 20.  Romanian author Bogdan Suceavã will conclude the series with a special reading on April 23.  

Franz studied law at the University of Chile, graduating with first honors in 1981.  From 1980 to 1984, he was a fellow member of the literary workshop of José Donoso in Santiago.  His novels include Santiago Cero, El lugar donde estuvo el Paraiso, El desierto (translated as The Absent Sea), and Almuerzo de vampires.  His short stories have been published in Chilean, Latin American, and international anthologies, and he is a regular contributor to several Spanish and Latin American newspapers and magazines. 

The event will begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Henley Reading Room of Leatherby Libraries with a reading of original fiction by MFA student Graham Towers.  A representative from Chapman’s English Department will be available at the event to answer questions about the MA in English and MFA in Creative Writing programs.  Admission is free and open to the public. 

For more information about the John Fowles Center or 2012 Literary Forum, visit the website at http://www.chapman.edu/fowles/.

Love is More Thicker Than Forget

love is more thicker than forget

more thinner than recall

more seldom than a wave is wet

more frequent than to fail

 

it is more mad and moonly

and less it shall unbe

than all the sea which only

is deeper than the sea

 

love is less always than to win

less never than alive

less bigger than the least begin

less littler than forgive

 

it is most sane and sunly

and more it cannot die

than all the sky which only

is higher than the sky

 

~ E. E. Cummings, “[love is more thicker than forget]” from Complete Poems 1904-1962, edited by George James Firmage

 

The Man Within My Head

Acclaimed author and travel writer Pico Iyer is returning to Chapman University on February 22 to give a lecture and read from his new book, The Man Within My Head (Knopf, 2012), in which Iyer explores the kinship he feels with the late British novelist Graham Greene.  

“Almost all of us have some stranger we’ve never met – a singer, a movie star, a writer, a figure from history or from fiction – who somehow seems to know and read us better than our friends and family do,” says Iyer, who, despite similarities between Greene’s life and his own, believes the sense of affinity is largely inexplicable. 

Iyer is the author of twelve books and has been a regular essayist for Time magazine since 1986.  His articles on literature, travel, and other topics have also appeared in The New York Times, National Geographic, Harper’s, the Times Literary Supplement, and many other magazines. 

Iyer has visited Chapman annually for the past nine years as a visiting writer with the Department of English.  This year’s event will take place in the Henley Reading Room of Leatherby Libraries at 7:00 p.m.

 

The Missouri Review Audio Competition

The Missouri Review is once again hosting its audio literary competition and invites all writers and writer/producers to submit recordings of original poetry or prose or an audio documentary on any subject by March 15, 2012.  

In an effort to expand the contest this year, TMR has opened submissions to a pay-by-donation entry fee.  Your contribution of any amount supports the production of The Missouri Review and its related programs and includes a one-year, digital subscription. 

Winners and select runners-up will have their work featured on the TMR website and as part of its iTunes podcast series.  Entries will be judged by editors of The Missouri Review in collaboration with guest judge Julie Shapiro of the Third Coast International Audio Festival. 

For more information and to submit, please visit the website at http://www.missourireview.com/audiovisual/submissions/.

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February

The cold grows colder, even as the days

grow longer, February’s mercury vapor light

buffing but not defrosting the bone-white

ground, crusty and treacherous underfoot.

This is the time of year that’s apt to put

a hammerlock on a healthy appetite,

old anxieties back into the night,

insomnia and nightmares into play;

when things in need of doing go undone

and things that can’t be undone come to call,

muttering recriminations at the door,

and buried ambitions rise up through the floor

and pin your wriggling shoulders to the wall;

and hope’s a reptile waiting for the sun.

 

~ Bill Christophersen

 

"The Magpie" by Claude Monet, 1869

An Evening with Dennis Palumbo

The Pen on Fire Writers Salon is pleased to present an evening with author and psychotherapist Dennis Palumbo on Tuesday, March 6, at 7:00 p.m.  In addition to celebrating the publication of Palumbo’s new novel, this special salon event will serve as a writing clinic for its literary audience.  

Palumbo’s novel Mirror Image (Poisoned Pen Press) is the first in a new series of crime thrillers, and its sequel, Fever Dream, has just been released.  His first novel, City Wars, is currently in development as a feature film.  He is also the author of Writing from the Inside Out (John Wiley) and From Crime to Crime (Tallfellow Press), a collection of mystery stories.  Palumbo’s short fiction has been published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, The Strand, and other journals.  In addition to blogging regularly for The Huffington Post and writing articles and reviews for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Lancet, Palumbo’s column, “The Writer’s Life,” appeared monthly for six years in Written By, the magazine of the Writers Guild of America.  Palumbo also conducts workshops throughout the country, and his work helping writers has been profiled in The New York Times, Premiere Magazine, Fade In, and The Los Angeles Times and on CNN. 

This monthly speaker series, hosted by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, features authors, literary agents, and others involved in the field of writing.  The events take place in the atmospheric Scape Gallery in Corona del Mar and entail readings, literary discussions, and book signings.  Advance tickets are required to guarantee a seat at this event, and Pen on Fire events sell out quickly.  

To read more about the speaker or the Pen on Fire Writers Salon and to purchase tickets, visit www.barbarademarcobarrett.com.

 

The Fair Jilt

But Love, who had hitherto but played with her heart, and given it naught but pleasing, wanton wounds, such as afforded only soft joys, and not pains, resolved, either out of revenge to those numbers she had abandoned and who had sighed so long in vain, or to try what power he had upon so fickle a heart, sent an arrow dipped in the most tormenting flames that rage in hearts most sensible!  He struck it home and deep, with all the malice of an angry god.

 

~ Aphra Behn, Oroonoko, The Rover, and Other Works (one of six texts on which Chapman University MA candidates will be tested this weekend on the comprehensive English literature exam)

 

"Cupid as Link Boy" by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1771-1777