Monday at the Writers’ Group

Posted on November 19, 2002 in Writing Groups

I presented for the first time last night at the writer’s group. Received a lot of positive criticism from most of the members and a stream of maddening questions from a new person, an elderly lawyer, who wanted to know what I was trying to accomplish — in detail. I didn’t enjoy answering those questions: does one have to know what every symbol means? Does it have to be a symbol in the first place or can it be set decoration that tells you something subtle about the character’s priorities? I drew a parallel to my photography for him. “But every picture tells a story doesn’t it?” I mentioned that many of my photographs were simply pictures of the place where waves hit the beach. I didn’t see a story in that, yet they were some of my best pictures. A friend who paints said they were like Rohrscharch tests: you could project what you wanted onto them.

And yes, I am trying to tell a story in the book I am writing. But I am also striving to carry it through with style. I introduce elements into my story whose significance I don’t fully understand. That’s OK.

This fellow made me feel hounded. He’d spent maybe five minutes engaging with the manuscript and then launched into his comments. He reminded me of family members who told me what to do with my website without having done more than glance at it for a few minutes five years ago.

Though there were specks of truth here and there, I found his generalizations unhelpful.

When you criticize writing or a work of art, friends, point to a specific after you’ve lived with it for awhile.

How easy should a writer make his writing? Easy enough that if he uses self-indulgent words, the reader can skip over them and still enjoy the story. I strive for that.