-
Writing a Novel
Walter Percy says that a novel, for all its length, is just an extremely long name for a complex, evolving emotion that has no name but that. Flannery O’Connor says, “A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is. You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate.” Even Jesus told stories. As the dust settles from my move to San Diego and I’m managing a somewhat regular daily routine of writing and otherwise fighting off boredom, it occurs ...
-
Creative Non Fiction Essay Concerning AIR GUITAR
Creative Non-fiction is a tough genre to pin down. I mean, the name indicates that it’s defined by what it is not: fiction. So here’s my valiant attempt at a creative piece of “not” fiction. Although, I must admit, that the things that I mention in this essay (my experiences in the realm of air guitar and the madness thereof) happened more than two years ago. So inevitably I’ve forgotten many crucial details. And as a result I fill in the gaps by simply making things up. If you were hoping for a detailed and factual account of my air ...
-
A Rare Device: Poetry
Often I equate poetry with fine paintings. Both seem to represent some ineffable part of our humanity, and both are, for me, completely unintelligible. I like the way a Picasso looks, the colors are often pleasing, the painting is usually hanging straight, Picasso’s are just great. But I feel exactly the same way about certain graffiti I see under bridges, or colorful labels on bottles of wine. My capacity for discrimination between good art and bad art is next to none. I have similar trouble distinguishing good poetry from bad poetry. I have a book of poems by Robert Frost, ...
-
Passers-by (a short story)
I’d received my acceptance letter in the mail, it was from my college of choice. That evening I decided to take a walk out on the beach. The beach is close no matter where you live in San Diego, but so is the military base. The draft numbers had been issued today. In order to celebrate properly I bought a fifth of Bushmills. The man behind the counter asked me when I was shipping out. I couldn’t help myself, I grinned. I said I’m not going to fight, that’s what this whisky is for. The man’s face was grim, and ...
-
The Book of Echoes
“Each of us, helplessly and forever, contains the other.” ~James Baldwin Click to read — The Book of Echoes
-
Press for Sould
Epilogue: Well, the final show went off well. I’ve come to a few conclusions about live performance. First, that they are exciting. Second, that I think I prefer the atemporality of written fiction to the actual stage. When your work is going on on a stage, anything can go wrong. Someone’s phone rings, someone forgets a line, and the show may suffer. Written work, if read under unfavorable circumstances, may be reread, given a second chance. I like that, I think. I don’t know how or why, but Sould has popped up in a few papers around Fresno. The Bee ...
-
The Year of the Pig: in three parts
Above is a collage of Don Quixote, a novel which is considered to be not only the first modern novel, but one of the most masterful. It contains every discernible fiction writing tactic seen in modern fiction today. It was published in two parts in 1605 and 1615. This painting, I think, is one of the most appropriate uses of the see-one-thing-then-you-see-another style of collage. (Moving on.) Let’s think, for a moment, about the power of the circle. Prompt: Why can’t we draw perfect circles? Let’s discuss. YOU: But I can’t even draw a straight line, why should I be ...
-
What’s so creative about creative non-fiction?
I’ve asked myself this question many times. And this is my conclusion: it’s not really a good question. The lines between fiction and creative non-fiction are so blurred that some authors write their memoirs, change the names, and call it a novel, while the non-fiction folks write their memoirs, change the names, and get screwed if anyone finds out that any information has been falsified in the ostensibly historically perfect “memoir.” Here’s my point: I’ve always considered non-fiction to be journalism, or transcription, or recording the course and outcome of circumstances, but this is simply not the case. I’ve come ...
-
California Queen
You may have already read this on the site, but it’s revised. For those of you who have not read it: it’s a bit more realistic than most of my stuff. Hardly my attempt at a war story, but probably the closest I will ever get: California Queen
-
Human Contact
“Is this true or only clever?” -Augustine Birrell Human Contact
-
The Center of the Universe
“Acting in ‘Star Wars’ I felt like a raisin in a giant fruit salad, and I didn’t even know who the cantaloupes were.“ -Mark Hamill Tagline: involves citrus, Plum Brandy, and a typical Kafka kind of guy. Center of the Universe
-
Moonlight
“In this world, full often, our joys are only the tender shadows which our sorrows cast.“ -Henry Ward Beecher Moonlight