Category Archives: short stories

Shouting Into The BlackForest

A young child, at the edge of a vast forest, calls out
“is there anybody there?”
The silence echos back at him, as it has always done. But, sooner or later something may answer his call. Will it be a large, friendly Labrador, with it’s tail wagging furiously that comes rushing out of the forest’s black interior to greet him, or a pack of ravenous wolves. He knows not, yet he continues to call.

—

Is not the above, rather like our obsession with finding “aliens”? I don’t know whether they exist, but our obsession with shouting into the dark forest may, sooner or later result in us finding out. Perhaps the confirmation of the existence of aliens will be the last knowledge we, as humans gain …

Verbosity

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I have always been of the view,
That one should never write an essay,
When a sentence will do!

Don’t Major In Literature

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A highly provocative take on the value of studying literature, which can be summed up by the following quote from the post linked to below:

… “and if you want to learn about art, beauty, and literary value—read great writers and do nothing more than open yourself to them. Don’t pay
and don’t let your parents mortgage their home to have your aesthetic sensibilities ruined and replaced by a hodgepodge pseudo discipline”.

The article is, I believe full of sweeping generalisations (and I certainly don’t agree with the suggestion that literature departments should, perhaps be closed). I am sharing in the spirit of encouraging debate and my re-blogging should not necessarily be taken as signifying my agreement with the writer’s perspective.

To read the article please visit, http://quillette.com/2017/05/02/dont-major-literature/.

There Was A Young Man Called Holmes

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There was a young man called Holmes
Who investigated some missing gnomes.
But if one takes a look
In Watson’s enthralling book,
There is no case of “The Missing Gnomes!”

The creative writing debate continued

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On 4 April, I published a post entitled “Is there any benefit in studying creative writing?”, (https://newauthoronline.com/2017/04/04/is-there-any-benefit-in-studying-creative-writing/).

In that article I expressed scepticism as to whether studying creative writing can produce people who can, actually write poetry and prose. In my view creative writing courses may help to develop talent. They can not, however turn those who possess no talent for writing into people who can produce meaningful poetry or prose.

My previous post on this subject generated a very interesting debate which, at times got somewhat heated. The comments received caused me to carry out further research on the subject of creative writing. In the course of this research I came across the following article, in “The Guardian”, in which (the newspaper reports), creative writing Professor Hanif Kureishi questions the validity of creative writing. Unsurprisingly the article created considerable debate, both for and against the perspective attributed to Kureishi. Both the article (and the comments following on from it) are well worth reading. For the article please visit: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/04/creative-writing-courses-waste-of-time-hanif-kureishi.

I Loved You, Tom (copyright Annette Rochelle Aben)

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Many thanks to Annette Rochelle Aben for the below short story, which is copyright Annette Rochelle Aben.

—

I Loved You, Tom

So, like many a love affair, it really had no chance of happening. Oh, I noticed you, but the thought of TRYING to LIKE you was simply abhorrent! There was so much about you I couldn’t accept. You left a bad taste in my mouth and your natural scent, well let’s just say that I’d rather have smelled burnt popcorn. Yet my parents did everything from strongly suggesting to playing the “we know what’s best for you” card as though the guilt alone would get me to love you! They were, after all, completely befuddled that I was the only one in the family to NOT sing your praises. Over the years, I found I could take you in small quantities, and I began to find that I could enjoy you, given the right circumstances. Of course , I still had my issues getting to know the real you, the raw side of you, holding my ground for what seemed like forever, until something inside me shifted.

Can’t explain it, and I will never fully understand how, but one day I found myself out of my comfort zone and gave you an honest-to-goodness second chance. It was as though a whole new world opened for me. I was no longer that family member who rejected you, or tossed you aside. How could I have ever refused to enjoy myself when you were around? Eagerly, I began to include you in my daily life. People who had known me forever were confused. After all, I had been adamant about my feelings. Could it be possible that my tastes had changed? So many people told me this might happen.

This new-found appreciation, dare I say it, L-O-V-E, for you was bringing me great joy! As we are want to do with love, I felt the need to share my excitement. I even found a job where I could have you by my side more often. How proud I was to introduce you to others, putting you up on a pedestal. I was always meeting more people who had already known and loved you for most of their lives. Within the fold of their company, I felt proud and understood!

In the middle of this fun and frolic, something began to go terribly wrong. It wasn’t about the others. I knew I couldn’t keep you all to myself. You commanded world adulation, I accepted that as fact. This was me, not you and I lost sleep trying to come to grips with reality. It shook me to think that this might be the beginning of the end.

My body grew weak and it pained me to have you in my life. Those joy-filled times began to be followed by days of regret. There was something paining me and though I had an inkling, I was too proud to see the signs. It got to the point that I was advised by my doctor, to make a choice. Either pretend to be happy with you or live without you and be healthier! It was for my own good! Still, how could I walk away from that which had brought me such pleasure? To turn my back on the satisfaction, seemed impossible. I had become one of your most devoted fans. I loved you with all my heart!

Oh, the humanity!

I chose to give you up and I cut all ties. It wasn’t easy, for you were so much a part of my life. I cried for the loss, secretly hoping that I might soon waken from this bad dream. What if I did not feel better after this drastic change? Could we make a pact to find each other again? Then we’d slip away, go someplace where no one knew us, start over and live happily ever after!

Strange, but I began to feel better without you around. My body felt a resurgence of energy, my outlook brightened and I managed to find a zest for life. What a cruel joke! If what I felt was real love, how could I possibly be thriving with you gone? I finally had to admit that I couldn’t live on love alone. You were just no good for me and the truth was undeniable. We must have had something good at one time, but it wasn’t meant to last.

Yes, I have become stronger and you still have millions of others who adore you. We lost nothing and we will always have our memories. I see you from time to time. Quite knowingly, I smile but keep walking. See, I know that my life changed because of you, for the better. I no longer use my pet name for you, Tom. These days I refer to you more formally as Tomato!

http://www.annetterochelleaben.wordpress.com
http://www.amazon.com/author/annetterochelleaben

Is there any benefit in studying creative writing?

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Let me be blunt (a thing foreign to my character)! I do not believe that one can learn to be a writer by studying creative writing or by participating in creative writing events. I must, in fairness caveat the forgoing statement by making it clear that I have no background in creative writing (I neither studied the subject nor have I taken part in creative writing groups so, on this basis some may decide to take my opinion with a very large pinch of salt).

So what is my objection to creative writing courses and/or creative writing groups? I have no beef with like-minded people who wish to meet together either online or in the real world to discuss writing and bounce ideas off one another. I am sure such discussions can be highly stimulating and I know of people who have greatly enjoyed participating in them. No doubt ideas spawned in creative writing discussions have led to the composition of great literature. However observing a country scene, a conversation with a friend and many other experiences can (and have) led to the production of great art (I.E. there is, in my view nothing uniquely special about the creative writing process (by which I mean that which occurs in academic institutions)that ought to cause us to accord it particular privilege.

I stand to be corrected but, to my knowledge very few (if any) of the literary greats studied creative writing. Dickens, Tolstoy, Shakespeare and Blake (to name but a few) certainly did not. They perfected their craft through hard slog, trial and error which is, in my experience how the vast majority of writers improve their writing craft.

There are, in this world a multiplicity of individuals and organisations who promise (usually, but not always for financial recompense) to make us more beautiful, richer or yes (you guessed it) great writers. Some of these people do, no doubt mean well and are convinced that they can teach the art of writing. Perhaps, in some instances they kindle within the budding writer that spark which leds on to the production of a literary masterpiece. Perhaps? perhaps Not?

In conclusion, one can not (in my view) learn to write by studying creative writing. One perfects the ability to write by hard slog and burning the midnight oil. Beware of snake oil salesmen who say “sign up to this course” “, “buy my book on creative writing” etc “and you will learn how to write. I welcome comments from anyone irrespective of your point of view. If you have gained from attending a creative writing course do please comment. Likewise, if your experience has been mixed or negative do, please also input.

K Morris reading his poem ‘There was a young man from Whitehall’.

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Poet Kevin Morris reading his poem ‘There was a young man from Whitehall’

The Sensation Book Is Here!

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I have been aware, for some considerable time now, that there is emerging a wholly new kind of book. I am not speaking here of ebooks for these are now “old hat”. Rather I am referring to the Sensation Book.

So what is the Sensation Book I hear you ask?

I was recently contacted by Sensation Books International with a request that I take a look at their forthcoming book, “The Traditional English Garden”. Being a lover of gardens and, in particular scented flowers I, of course jumped at the opportunity.

My experience of this book is rather painful! On turning to the first chapter “The Rose in the English Garden” I was blown away by the scent of the many roses which wafted up from the paper (the scent is, I understand kept fresh and ever changing by a series of tiny chips in the paper which keep the pages constantly refreshed with scents deriving from the Cloud, a kind of virtual reality). My pleasure was, however soon curtailed by a most painful sensation, that of being stung on the nose by an extremely large bumble bee.

The dratted thing was concealed smack bang in the middle of a gorgeous red rose which I had, until that moment been savouring.

Needless to say I closed the book immediately and have written a strong letter of complaint to the Director of Sensation Books International, one Ms J Ker expressing, in the strongest possible terms my dissatisfaction with the company’s offering.

In conclusion the idea of connecting books to the cloud and the utilisation of virtual reality to enhance the experience of the reader is, in theory a wonderful concept. However such projects should be handled with great care as my poor nose can testify!

Write Like You Talk – A Guest Post By Phillip T Stephens

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When I taught college writing, I told students to write like they talk.

I didn’t mean write like you really talk.

If we taped and transcribed our conversations, we’d quit reading after the first page. In everyday conversation we use filler language to give our brains precious seconds to catch up with our words, we backtrack to fill in details we previously forgot.

From time to time we expel word farts.

For example:

“Like, Carol and I were driving, you know what I mean? When this badass cop, I mean really badass, six foot tall in navy blue, nazi jackboots, you could tell he wanted to bust anyone to put another notch in his badge. Where was I? Oh, yeh, he pulls us over, we were driving seventy, like, I mean…we were in Dripping Springs which is about twenty miles south of Oak Hill, if you’ve never been out that way? No shitting? Man, I thought everyone knew about Oak Hill even if they never drove through. But anyway, the only other drivers are rednecks and blue haired ladies, I kid you not…”

Artifice vs. communication

I use the phrase “Write like you talk” as a metaphor for stripping the pretension from your writing, writing to communicate rather than impress. In non-fiction that means make sure to make your point clear. In fiction that means no distractions; keep the reader in the story.

“Write like you talk” doesn’t mean leave no room for art, tropes, themes and metaphor. In fact, writing without artistry can turn away readers as quickly as murky prose. It means that you shouldn’t front-load your prose to impress readers with your artistry, but to enhance the story. If it distracts the reader, if it draws attention to you and away from the story, then you might as well write poetry.

However, even should you turn to poetry, the best poets would advise you that art should never distract the reader from the poem. The only time you want the reader to dwell on the trope is when she reaches the last line, the image lingers in the corners of her consciousness and she thinks, “Wow.”

The artistry in your story should be like that. It should linger at the back of the reader’s consciousness. They might not even recognize it until another reader points it out. Readers want to ride in the passenger seat at full speed until you dump them at the destination. Ride over. Their response should be. “Ride over? No way. Let me back in the car.”

A Fine Line between clarity and art

Crafting a good story requires walking a fine balance between clarity and artistry. Hopefully the adage, “write like you talk,” will remind you that every story should carry a quality of ordinary conversation.

Compare the writing of Pynchon and Joyce to Hemingway and William Carlos Williams. Which impresses and which do you follow without wrestling with meaning?

You don’t want your readers (especially when you write non-fiction) to think, “He was a brilliant writer. I didn’t understand a word he said.”