Alas—I’m not especially knowledgeable about Ingmar Bergman or his films, but the occasion of his death inspired me to do a little bit of reading (and YouTube viewing—always an interesting challenge since due to lame laziness on my part, I have no sound on my computer). Thanks to Slate magazine, I found a 1964 interview with Playboy from 1964, which contained this fascinating insight into Bergman’s creative process:
“On the deepest level, of course, the ideas for my films come out of the pressures of the spirit; and these pressures vary. But most of my films begin with a specific image or feeling around which my imagination begins slowly to build an elaborate detail. I file each one away in my mind. Often I even write them down in note form. This way I have a whole series of handy files in my head. Of course, several years may go by before I get around to transforming these sensations into anything as concrete as a scenario. But when a project begins to take shape, then I dig into one of my mental files for a scene, into another for a character. Sometimes the character I pull out doesn't get on at all with the other ones in my script, so I have to send him back to his file and look elsewhere. My films grow like a snowball, very gradually from a single flake of snow. In the end, I often can't see the original flake that started it all.”
You can read the entire interview here.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Congratulations!
Congratulations to my friend C.M. Mayo for this wonderful review of her translation of the short story "An Avocado from Michoacán" by Agustín Cadena, part of the bilingual chapbook series she publishes through Tameme.
As you may recall, we were treated to Catherine’s notes on the translation in this previous post.
As you may recall, we were treated to Catherine’s notes on the translation in this previous post.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Writers at the Beach: Contest Guidelines
I've written several times about how much I enjoy my participation in the annual Writers at the Beach: Pure Sea Glass writing conference, held annually in March at the Delaware beach, so I’m delighted to post these submission guidelines for their recently announced writing contest:
Writers at the Beach Writing Contest
Deadline: October 22, 2007
Entry Fee: $10.00
Prizes: 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place, will be selected for Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry in each category. First place winners will be published in Delaware Beach Life magazine, which will also pay winner's registration fee to the 2008 Writers At the Beach: Pure Sea Glass Conference. First place winners in each category will also be invited to read at the conference.
Each story or essay must be 2000 words or less. Up to 3 poems per entry. Entries must, in some way, touch upon a coastal theme. This does not have to be the Delaware coast, nor does this "coastal element" need to be a significant part of the work.
Type the entry title on a separate cover sheet with your name, address, home phone number and email address. Indicate whether the entry is FICTION or CREATIVE NONFICTION or POETRY and the number of words.
All entries must be original, unpublished, and not submitted elsewhere until the winners are announced. No email entries.
Submit entry via regular mail. Entries will not be returned. All entries must be postmarked by October 22, 2007. Please send a self-addressed stamped postcard if you want acknowledgment that your entry has been received.
Winners will be notified by December 1, 2007. If you have not been contacted by this date, you may assume that your entry is not a finalist.
MAIL ENTRIES TO: Writers at the Beach Writing Contest , PO Box 1326, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971. For more information about this contest, email mbfischer1@verizon.net
Writers at the Beach Writing Contest
Deadline: October 22, 2007
Entry Fee: $10.00
Prizes: 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place, will be selected for Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry in each category. First place winners will be published in Delaware Beach Life magazine, which will also pay winner's registration fee to the 2008 Writers At the Beach: Pure Sea Glass Conference. First place winners in each category will also be invited to read at the conference.
Each story or essay must be 2000 words or less. Up to 3 poems per entry. Entries must, in some way, touch upon a coastal theme. This does not have to be the Delaware coast, nor does this "coastal element" need to be a significant part of the work.
Type the entry title on a separate cover sheet with your name, address, home phone number and email address. Indicate whether the entry is FICTION or CREATIVE NONFICTION or POETRY and the number of words.
All entries must be original, unpublished, and not submitted elsewhere until the winners are announced. No email entries.
Submit entry via regular mail. Entries will not be returned. All entries must be postmarked by October 22, 2007. Please send a self-addressed stamped postcard if you want acknowledgment that your entry has been received.
Winners will be notified by December 1, 2007. If you have not been contacted by this date, you may assume that your entry is not a finalist.
MAIL ENTRIES TO: Writers at the Beach Writing Contest , PO Box 1326, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971. For more information about this contest, email mbfischer1@verizon.net
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Guest in Progress: Jean Thompson
Okay, I’m from Iowa so maybe that explains it, but I still marvel at the Internet and how it makes the world simultaneously larger and smaller. One day I’m blogging in this post about a great new book I’m reading, and the next day the author of that book has graciously agreed to share a piece about her creative process with us.
Okay, so there were a few days in-between: special thanks to independent literary publicist Lauren Cerand for facilitating the exchange.
As I noted previously, I picked up Jean Thompson's new book of short stories Throw Like a Girl about two days after reading this review in the New York Times Book Review (registration required). That’s not my usual book-buying pattern, but somehow I immediately knew that this was a book I would love…and I was right. They’re sharp, smart stories about women in difficult situations. Highly recommended!
And here’s Jean commenting on where her stories “come from”:
“So, where do you get your ideas for stories?"
Of all the well-meant, uninformed questions that come a writer's way, this is the one that is hardest either to respond to honestly, or evade gracefully. People are understandably curious. They want to get inside the secret, watch genius at work (or at least, something sweaty and earnest at work), they want some answers.
If only there were some. Stories, or novels, or poems, or any other kind of art, arrive, like baby dear, out of the everywhere into here. Genesis of any sort is a mystery that resists prodding. The only straightforward answer I ever heard to the query was Stanley Elkin's, who said that he came up with an occupation (debt collector, professional wrestler, etc.), and that turned into the impetus for a story.
That's fine as far as it goes, and I commend the vocational method to anyone who can make use of it. But where does that leave the rest of us who have to come with an answer, or for that matter, a story? Jayne Anne Phillips has said that she works "guided by whispers", and many of us would agree. Perhaps writers are people who develop particularly fine-tuned antennae, or, at our worst, go stumbling around listening to the voices in our heads.
For myself I suppose there is disquiet, or a curiosity that coalesces around something tangible. This might be as slight as an image, a physical detail, a line of speech in a distinctive voice. My story "Forever", about an unsolved murder, took shape around a quote from the mother of an actual murder victim: "Do you know how long it took me to use a knife again?" That sounds, and admittedly feels, rather exploitative, even though the resulting story diverged quickly from its origin. For "The Five Senses", another story that explores violence, my impetus was something vaguer: the notion of a young woman facing the unfamiliar ocean, and finding nothing there to comfort her. Some stories get swept up by the course of outside events, as when "Pie of the Month", which began as a kind of homage to idyllic pie baking, gained force and momentum as an anti-war tract. Sometimes one begins with a real person as a model for a character, or a real place, or real happenings. But how seldom, if ever, do stories arrive fully formed in the shape of entire narratives, so that one transcribes rather than invents? I suppose this leads into that other unfavorite question: Did this really happen? And the answer to that is something along the line of, No, I did not burn down that house (or commit this or that other transgression), but I did write the book all by myself.
No sure-fire method or never-fail technique presents itself. Different works come to us on different wavelengths, and with varying degrees of clear intent. The one thing that does seem constant is the writer's willingness for patient exploration, to see if one word, or scene, or speech, won't lead to the next. To examine the process too minutely is to risk taking all the art, and indeed the life from it, or, in the words of Emily Dickinson:
Split the Lark - and you'll find the Music -
Bulb after Bulb, in Silver rolled-
Scantily dealt to the Summer Morning
Saved for your Ear when Lutes be old.
Loose the Flood - you shall find it patent -
Gush after Gush, reserved for you -
Scarlet experiment! Skeptic Thomas!
Now, do you doubt your Bird was true?
~~Jean Thompson
About: Jean Thompson is the author of (among others) Throw Like a Girl (Simon & Schuster, June 2007) as well as the novel City Boy; the short story collection Who Do You Love, a 1999 National Book Award finalist for fiction; and the novel Wide Blue Yonder, a New York Times Notable Book and Chicago Tribune Best Fiction selection for 2002.
Her short fiction has been published in many magazines and journals, including The New Yorker, and been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories and Pushcart Prize. Jean's work has been praised by Elle Magazine as "bracing and wildly intelligent writing that explores the nature of love in all its hidden and manifest dimensions."
Jean has been the recipient of Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, among other accolades, and taught creative writing at the University of Illinois--Champaign/ Urbana, Reed College, Northwestern University, and many other colleges and universities.
For more information, check out Jean's web site.
Okay, so there were a few days in-between: special thanks to independent literary publicist Lauren Cerand for facilitating the exchange.
As I noted previously, I picked up Jean Thompson's new book of short stories Throw Like a Girl about two days after reading this review in the New York Times Book Review (registration required). That’s not my usual book-buying pattern, but somehow I immediately knew that this was a book I would love…and I was right. They’re sharp, smart stories about women in difficult situations. Highly recommended!
And here’s Jean commenting on where her stories “come from”:
“So, where do you get your ideas for stories?"
Of all the well-meant, uninformed questions that come a writer's way, this is the one that is hardest either to respond to honestly, or evade gracefully. People are understandably curious. They want to get inside the secret, watch genius at work (or at least, something sweaty and earnest at work), they want some answers.
If only there were some. Stories, or novels, or poems, or any other kind of art, arrive, like baby dear, out of the everywhere into here. Genesis of any sort is a mystery that resists prodding. The only straightforward answer I ever heard to the query was Stanley Elkin's, who said that he came up with an occupation (debt collector, professional wrestler, etc.), and that turned into the impetus for a story.
That's fine as far as it goes, and I commend the vocational method to anyone who can make use of it. But where does that leave the rest of us who have to come with an answer, or for that matter, a story? Jayne Anne Phillips has said that she works "guided by whispers", and many of us would agree. Perhaps writers are people who develop particularly fine-tuned antennae, or, at our worst, go stumbling around listening to the voices in our heads.
For myself I suppose there is disquiet, or a curiosity that coalesces around something tangible. This might be as slight as an image, a physical detail, a line of speech in a distinctive voice. My story "Forever", about an unsolved murder, took shape around a quote from the mother of an actual murder victim: "Do you know how long it took me to use a knife again?" That sounds, and admittedly feels, rather exploitative, even though the resulting story diverged quickly from its origin. For "The Five Senses", another story that explores violence, my impetus was something vaguer: the notion of a young woman facing the unfamiliar ocean, and finding nothing there to comfort her. Some stories get swept up by the course of outside events, as when "Pie of the Month", which began as a kind of homage to idyllic pie baking, gained force and momentum as an anti-war tract. Sometimes one begins with a real person as a model for a character, or a real place, or real happenings. But how seldom, if ever, do stories arrive fully formed in the shape of entire narratives, so that one transcribes rather than invents? I suppose this leads into that other unfavorite question: Did this really happen? And the answer to that is something along the line of, No, I did not burn down that house (or commit this or that other transgression), but I did write the book all by myself.
No sure-fire method or never-fail technique presents itself. Different works come to us on different wavelengths, and with varying degrees of clear intent. The one thing that does seem constant is the writer's willingness for patient exploration, to see if one word, or scene, or speech, won't lead to the next. To examine the process too minutely is to risk taking all the art, and indeed the life from it, or, in the words of Emily Dickinson:
Split the Lark - and you'll find the Music -
Bulb after Bulb, in Silver rolled-
Scantily dealt to the Summer Morning
Saved for your Ear when Lutes be old.
Loose the Flood - you shall find it patent -
Gush after Gush, reserved for you -
Scarlet experiment! Skeptic Thomas!
Now, do you doubt your Bird was true?
~~Jean Thompson
About: Jean Thompson is the author of (among others) Throw Like a Girl (Simon & Schuster, June 2007) as well as the novel City Boy; the short story collection Who Do You Love, a 1999 National Book Award finalist for fiction; and the novel Wide Blue Yonder, a New York Times Notable Book and Chicago Tribune Best Fiction selection for 2002.
Her short fiction has been published in many magazines and journals, including The New Yorker, and been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories and Pushcart Prize. Jean's work has been praised by Elle Magazine as "bracing and wildly intelligent writing that explores the nature of love in all its hidden and manifest dimensions."
Jean has been the recipient of Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, among other accolades, and taught creative writing at the University of Illinois--Champaign/ Urbana, Reed College, Northwestern University, and many other colleges and universities.
For more information, check out Jean's web site.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Mark Your Calendar: F. Scott Fitzgerald Conference
Here’s a heads-up for a cool conference I’ll be participating in this October. Make your plans accordingly!
The F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference, Inc.
Honoring: William Kennedy, Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature
Saturday, October 13, 2007
8am-8:30pm
Rockville, MD
The F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference, Inc., is a non-profit organization that promotes appreciation of the literary arts. Every October, the organization hosts a day-long conference in Rockville where Fitzgerald summered with his family and where he worked on many of his manuscripts. This event is an opportunity for area writers to work with some of the best instructors, authors and professionals in writing today. This conference is open to the public and registration is required. The 12th Annual F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference writing workshops cover many genres and topics, and feature leaders who represent an international consortium:
Making Your Novel Sparkle with Leslie Pietrzyk
The Writing Life with Sharmila Chauhan
Young Adult Fiction with Margaret Blair
Poetry with Carly Sachs
Street to Page…Hip Hop to Poetry with Courttia Newland
Creative Non-Fiction and Sports Writing with Larry Moffi
Screenwriting with Kerric Harvey
Breaking That Block with Mimi Ghez
Clues for Mystery Writers with Donna Andrews
Short Fiction with Alix Ohlin
Special guests and panelists include Jay Parini, Jackson Bryer, Susan Coll, Richard Allan Davidson, Suzanne Fisher, and Judy Hruz, to name only a few. The conference culminates with the presentation of the Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature to Pulitzer Prize winner William Kennedy. William Kennedy has been awarded with a National Book Critics Circle Award, a MacArthur Foundation grant and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has written novels, non-fiction, plays and children's fiction.
Registration: $85 per person. (discounts available for seniors, students, early registration)
For more information, please contact: FSFConference@gmail.com
The F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference, Inc.
Honoring: William Kennedy, Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature
Saturday, October 13, 2007
8am-8:30pm
Rockville, MD
The F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference, Inc., is a non-profit organization that promotes appreciation of the literary arts. Every October, the organization hosts a day-long conference in Rockville where Fitzgerald summered with his family and where he worked on many of his manuscripts. This event is an opportunity for area writers to work with some of the best instructors, authors and professionals in writing today. This conference is open to the public and registration is required. The 12th Annual F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference writing workshops cover many genres and topics, and feature leaders who represent an international consortium:
Making Your Novel Sparkle with Leslie Pietrzyk
The Writing Life with Sharmila Chauhan
Young Adult Fiction with Margaret Blair
Poetry with Carly Sachs
Street to Page…Hip Hop to Poetry with Courttia Newland
Creative Non-Fiction and Sports Writing with Larry Moffi
Screenwriting with Kerric Harvey
Breaking That Block with Mimi Ghez
Clues for Mystery Writers with Donna Andrews
Short Fiction with Alix Ohlin
Special guests and panelists include Jay Parini, Jackson Bryer, Susan Coll, Richard Allan Davidson, Suzanne Fisher, and Judy Hruz, to name only a few. The conference culminates with the presentation of the Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature to Pulitzer Prize winner William Kennedy. William Kennedy has been awarded with a National Book Critics Circle Award, a MacArthur Foundation grant and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has written novels, non-fiction, plays and children's fiction.
Registration: $85 per person. (discounts available for seniors, students, early registration)
For more information, please contact: FSFConference@gmail.com
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Harry Potter...Whew! (NO Spoilers Here)
My wrists are sore and I've got a half-formed blister between my thumb and forefinger from holding up that gigantic book, but I soldiered on, finishing it last night around 2:30 a.m. She's an amazing story-teller (duh). My advice: When you get to the last 150 pages or so, you'll have to read them all in one full sweep, so plan accordingly unless you want massive bags under your eyes like mine!
No more Sopranos episodes, no more Harry Potter books...I'm in the market for new obsessions.
No more Sopranos episodes, no more Harry Potter books...I'm in the market for new obsessions.
New York, New York
With my obsession for all things New York, naturally this posting from GalleyCat caught my attention:
“If you've got a New York story that comes it at 2,500 words or less, Warren Adler wants to hear from you. The author of The War of the Roses, Random Hearts, and We Are Holding the President Hostage is sponsoring his second annual short story contest, which offers a $1,000 prize and a six-month contract for an Amazon Shorts deal. (Online readers will get to vote for a "People's Choice" story receiving a similar deal from Amazon.)”
“If you've got a New York story that comes it at 2,500 words or less, Warren Adler wants to hear from you. The author of The War of the Roses, Random Hearts, and We Are Holding the President Hostage is sponsoring his second annual short story contest, which offers a $1,000 prize and a six-month contract for an Amazon Shorts deal. (Online readers will get to vote for a "People's Choice" story receiving a similar deal from Amazon.)”
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