on writing

[thrihyrne]

I'm reading this very-interestingly-written novel by Fiona Maazel titled Last Last Chance, and on page 176 I stumbled across this truism that really hit home for me, as spoken by a recently-deceased character:

I once heard a writer say that though it's hard to get characters to perform basic functions without feeling like a jackass, it must be done. As he put it, "Even Proust had to open the window."

I've quite consciously in the latter years of my writing made sure that the characters did normal things like eat, go to the bathroom, be aware of time, pick up and put down pens/cigarettes/glasses. I just loved how this character in this novel phrased that.

Just wanted to share! Oh, and the book is quite the read. Maazel's style is quite unlike anything I've read before. Vivid and unexpected turns of phrase and descriptors. A lot of fun to read.

Comments

[grrlpup]

That book sounds delightful! I just requested it at the library; thanks for the tip. :)

One of my favorite bits of Beverly Cleary's Ramona the Pest is when her kindergarten teacher is reading Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel to the class and a discussion starts of how Mike Mulligan went to the bathroom if he was digging the basement of the town hall all day without stopping, as the book said.

Miss Binney faced the twenty-nine earnest members of the kindergarten, all of whom wanted to know how Mike Mulligan went to the bathroom.

"Boys and girls," she began, and spoke in her clear, distinct way. "The reason the book does not tell us how Mike Mulligan went to the bathroom is that it is not an important part of the story. The story is about digging the basement of the town hall, and that is what the book tells us."

Miss Binney spoke as if this ended the matter, but the kindergarten was not convinced....Ramona could see there were something things she was not going to learn in school, and along with the rest of the class she stared reproachfully at Miss Binney.

I'm with Ramona!