EXERCISE: testing, one, two, three...

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original posting 22 March 2010

Excerpted from the Tao of Writing by Ralph L. Walhstrom

Put your pen and paper away. Find a tape recorder and, in a quiet place where you won't be disturbed or feel self-conscious, talk about your essay, story, proposal or whatever writing task you've set for yourself. Record this monologue. Speak freely without concern for structure or correctness. Talk it out. Talk it over. Talk it through. Later you may wish to go back to listen for ideas or transcribe part or all of what you've said, or you may simply set it aside and begin writing.

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That's the suggestion. Sometimes putting things in conversation, talking to yourself on a tape recorder, is easier than writing it out on paper or keyboard. You may be surprised, listening to yourself talk, and that's good. Think about which parts make you excited. Imagine that you're telling a friend -- I hope you feel friendly with yourself -- anyway, imagine that you're telling a friend what you're doing, and get excited about it. Go ahead and dream a little, stretch, tell them why you think it's important, and what you'd like to have happen.

Then take that glow with you and go back and attack the writing.

EXERCISE: Re-Labeling Classic Lit

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Original posting 23 March 2010

Writers Digest, June 2006, page 12 has a short article by Jack Clemens with the title, "Re-labeling Classic Lit." It raises the question what if the classics had been lumped into catchy pseudo-genres? They suggest a few:

Pip Lit: any tale of troubled ragamuffins, orphans and otherwise downtrodden yet spirited children. Includes Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Hard Times.

Leisure Lit: tales concerning the leisure classes, high society lifestyles, and the tensions arising therein. Includes The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James, and the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Stink Lit: books that reveal, in graphic detail, the underbelly of a particular locale, time period, or culture. Poverty, dyspepsia, and general squalor are common elements. Books include A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell.

Liz Lit: any form of literature created in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, especially poetry and works written for the stage. Includes the works of William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe.

Twit Lit: any novel in which the main character (or characters) are foolish, ill-advised, or excessively silly. Includes A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain.

Quip Lit: works that feature fine language, sharp wit and wicked humor, presented in lines that are easily quotable. Includes The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, and Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward.

Critter Lit: any story that centers on a lovable, possibly ill-fated animal. Also known as "Lassie lit" or "sob lit," based on this genre's tendency to make readers, especially children, weep inconsolably. Includes Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight, Old Yeller by Fred Gipson, Charlotte's Web by EB White, Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, and Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.

Chin Lit: fiction written by and for exceptionally masculine personalities. Occasionally referred to as "swagger lit," this style of writing concerns stubborn, square-jawed men who struggle with, or destroy, themselves and their surroundings. Includes the works of Ernest Hemingway and Mickey Spillane.

Okay, that's the suggestions from Jack Clemens. We might argue a little about some of the characterizations -- I'm not so sure that these categories work all that well, but let's leave that aside. Instead, consider first of all how some of your favorite books might fit into these categories. Secondly, make up some categories of your own. What are the categories that enclose your favorites, or perhaps the categories that hold those books that you don't like?

For bonus points, go ahead and take either Jack's categories or your own and write a short story, a scene, or even a whole book in that genre! Hey, if Charles Dickens could do it, you can too, right?