Word After Word

Writing by hand is, for me, the best way to tell the truth, to get it right. My school is in the middle of a responsible drinking campaign and the theme is “dare to dance sober.” That is exactly what it is like to write by hand.  It’s so naked and real and strange and wrong-feeling; no one else is doing it that way. It feels not how it’s done. But it is.

In my advanced fiction class, I have the students create a collection of linked stories, a chapbook. What works so well is they pick a set of relationships (see Chuck Close, below) and stay with them, and the work gets more focused and complex; each students’ stories fertilize each other.  I think peer feedback is more astute, too–we have more to say because we know the field the person is working, their town has meaning and resonance.

So it finally hit me today. The problem in my multi genre course: no towns. Each piece is a one-off. We’re not feeling the depth and coherence we would in a typical workshop. I hate how all-over-the-place it feels. Next time I teach multi genre, we will each pick a site, a zone, a place, like our hometown, or boys. And write the heck out of it, and into it. The chapbooks at the end of the semester will be amazing focused scrapbooks; the genres will change but there will be this wonderful grounding.  I can’t wait to try it.