There's been so much I have learned from these amazing authors. Most of these books I would never have picked up and read, and I would have missed out. Even those that I didn’t particularly like, I learned from.
The vast and equally important discussions from my fellow classmates have also provided a wealth of knowledge and insight. I have enjoyed reading other’s interpretations of these works and finding out whether they saw / felt the same as I did, or if they saw / felt something completely different.
These are the some of the things I will take and use:
Hemmingway – “Write the best story you can and write it as straight as you can” (138). Hemmingway taught me to finish what I started, but only when the story is ready. All those folders and story beginnings are such wonderful potential for me and are as equally important as the finished stories. Someday I might have an epiphany and finish them all!
McClure – “Mixing genres is something I have yet to tackle unless you count the fantasy romance.” McClure’s ability to combine so many genres into one memoir made me realize that most stories, including mine, combine parts of many types of genres. My series, The Ghost Hunters, combines action, adventure, horror, science fiction, and romance (what good YA book doesn’t have a little romance in it?).
Strout – “The careful separation of the personalities within the narrations shows the individuals, as well as, their influence on each other.” Strout allows the reader to experience many characters and their effect on each other. In my story The Ghost Hunters, I have seven characters and experiencing the interaction played out in Olive Kitteridge has given me great ideas!
Adiga – “I found his frankness and fortitude very appealing and refreshing.” Balram taught me that characters need to be truthful with the reader, whatever the consequence. If told the truth and with openness and grit, characters can be respected, if not liked. In my Cupid and Psyche retelling, readers are not supposed to like one of the main characters, but I want them to respect him and understand him.
Smyth – “Smyth’s descriptions are crisp and clear and provide a visual and emotion response from the reader.” Smyth’s settings influenced my writing greatly. I hope to make my settings as lush and beautiful, as hers, as well as, use precise words to create the complete picture in the reader’s head.
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A good and thoughtful post, Melissa. And I agree with you - I've loved and benefitted from other classmate's posts and interpretations of the books we've read. It's been kind of like an on-line book club!
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ReplyDeleteI have also learned a lot from reading our classmates interpretations and thoughts on the different books we've read. I like your comments on Smyth, her settings were very beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI almost appreciate reading the books I dislike as much as the ones I like because I enjoy examining why I didn't care for it. I definitely agree with you that I even learned from the books I didn't like!
ReplyDeleteMelissa, you made some good points here. Each author we read had a particular strength that could be applied to our own writing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post, Melissa. We've appreciated your insights as well. It has been a wonderful format to learn what "pinged" for each of us with each book. I appreciated in this post the specifics of how each book is literally impacting your current writing. Looking forward to reading more of your work in future classes.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we had a wonderful community in this class. Every week I would look forward to reading what people wrote and, as you said, seeing who thought similarly to me and who didn't. It was fun!
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