storytelling

Booksquare as a quote on writing that I'm going to have to memorize.

The paradox of writing fiction is that, at least for the author, it is reality. My characters are trapped in a situation that’s achingly plausible; I’ve got to help them through it to a credible resolution. This feels like decent, blue-collar work. And it has the small satisfaction of human-scale protest. A novel is a story, and stories have a kind of primitive power—they’re the weeds that grow in the sidewalk cracks, the campfire fables and telephone tales that can never be stamped out.

I say that words are men and when we spell
In alphabets we deal with living things;
With feet and thighs and breasts, fierce heads, strong wings;
Material Powers, great Bridals, Heaven and Hell.
There is a menace in the tales we tell.
From out the throne from which all language springs
Voices proceed and fires and thunderings.
Oh when we speak, Great God, let us speak well.
Beware of shapes, beware of letterings,
For in them lies such magic as alters dream,
Shakes cities down and moves the inward scheme.
Beware the magic of the coin that sings.
These coins are graved with supernatural powers
And magic wills that are more strong than ours.

Sonnets from a Lock Box

Anna Hempstead Branch, 1929

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Before I report on my word count (and let me say first, it's not what I hoped for), a request.

I was asked to come up with a list of historical novels that would lend themselves to being discussed by a bookclub. All women, all very smart and discerning. So I sat down and thought and thought and put titles on the list and took them off. My criteria: a novel that worked for me personally (it's my list, okay?), a variety of settings and subjects, voices/approaches, and my sense that there's a lot to talk about. And now I have fourteen titles, where I'm only supposed to have ten. I'm sure that I'll think of another ten that should be on the list, but really what I have to do right now is take off four.

So, what do you think of this list? What should go, and why? Personal preferences are perfectly fine, but please do tell me what it is that makes you turn away from a particular title -- whether you've read it or not.

The list is in alphabetic order, so I don't give away my own leanings.

• A Soldier of the Great War - Helprin (Italy, WWI)
• Aztec - Jennings (Mexico, Invasion/Conquest)
• Cuba Libre - Leonard (Cuba, Spanish-American war)
• Hearts and Bones - Lawrence (Maine, 1789)
• Julian - Vidal (Rome, 4th century)
• Lonesome Dove - McMurtry (the west, late 1800s)
• Niccolo Rising - Dunnett (Bruges, 15th century)
• Sacred Hunger - Unsworth (the Middle Passage, 17th century)
• The Dress Lodger - Holman (Victorian London)
• The English Patient - Ondaatje (northern Africa, Italy, WWII)
• The French Lieutenant's Woman - Fowles (Victorian England)
• The Physician - Gordon (London, Europe, Persia, 11th century)
• Thread of Grace - Russell (northern Italy, WWII)
• White Doves at Morning - Burke (Louisiana, Civil War)

I know what you're going to say. No Asia. I can't come up with anything I like enough to put on this list, but I'm sure I'm forgetting many titles. And if you're wondering why Byatt's Possession isn't on the list, I think it may just be too much for a bookclub to bite off.

Okay, so I'm still short 2,000 words this week -- but I've got until tomorrow evening. Never mind that I have to make crab cakes from scratch for twelve good, dear friends, all of whom will descend on us tomorrow evening at six. Never mind the weeding, the ironing, the quilt I'm desperately trying to piece, the fact that the girlchld has to be driven hither and yon, and the puppy boys who need my attention. 2,000 words, by tomorrow evening.

Posted by at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)