Hypothetical-question time:
You’ve just been introduced to the classic visitor from outer space. He (or is it she?) is in a hurry — in fact, will be leaving in about 20 seconds, starting, say, now — but has a super-important question which needs answering. How you answer is to determine whether the saucers will (a) blow Earth up or (b) let her (or is it him?) continue on its stately course through the stars, through terrestrial history, and through the annals of intergalactic comedy.
Here’s the question:
We are very interested in this thing you call ‘fiction.’ But we do not understand it, and it is the last thing on my chop-chop must-do last-minute checklist before reporting back to Grand Inquisitor Xarg. I need to get going. Can you please give me one word so that I may understand it?
(Tip: “Uhhhh…” will not count as a valid reply. Nor will “Wait!”)
So what’s your answer? And if you yourself write novels or short stories, what’s the one word which is the key to understanding your fiction in particular?
Last week, I nominated my candidate for the single most amazing word in the English language, that is, “the [one] word whose weight is out of all proportion to its size and apparent significance.” That word won’t suffice for our alien visitor, alas, because it says nothing (or nothing interesting) about fiction.
In the comments to the post, though, regular RAMH visitor Marta dropped a note early today. (Marta’s the innkeeper at writing in the water, at the center of one of the more thought-provoking “stuff about writing” branches of the Web universe.) She drew my attention, with a link, to an interesting feature on The Guardian’s site, “Authors reveal their key words“:
Authors appearing at the Villa Gillet in Lyon at the International Forum have been asked to bring along a word which offers a way in to their work. Olivia Rosenthal, Dimitri Verhulst, Nelly Arcan, Arthur Japin and Anne Weber explain their choices.
Here’s the audio (about 18.5 minutes long) on that page:
If you’d prefer — or don’t have audio facilities available — you can also visit The Guardian’s page providing plain text versions of three other authors’ answers.
Note the choices made by these three authors: furniture, hedonism, identities, and (cheater! two words!) “novel/life.” Note, first, that some of these authors select a key word to understanding fiction in general, and some select one which points the way into their own fiction in particular.
So what’s the word you’ll offer? on fiction in general, your own, or both? Why that word?
Me? (No, damn it, that’s not my answer.) I’m gonna think about it for a while more. And I’ll post my choice in the comments when I’ve come up with something reasonable.
marta says
Tense. As in tension, not verb.
This captures the feel of the stories and my mood when I’m trying to get it right. It is also the state of my shoulders from too much time at a computer or pad of paper.
John says
This is a lot harder than I thought it would be… I think maybe I’ll go with, umm… “unexpectedness” maybe.
I don’t mean that necessarily as synonymous with “surprise.” Like many (most?) authors, I’m not crazy about the classic O. Henry ending which yanks the rug out from under the reader. And I don’t like deus ex machina plot resolutions that show up, conveniently, just when they’re needed but don’t follow the story’s own logic.
Guess what I mean is that my stories often take me (and I hope readers) in directions I never anticipated when writing the equivalent of “Once upon a time…” It might be a plot point. It might be a stylistic approach (POV, sentence structure, whatever) I haven’t tried before (and maybe won’t again, ever). Maybe it’s in a voice or genre which came out of left field. It might just be a comic element buried in an otherwise somber piece, or vice-versa.
But I’m not often satisfied if someone (myself, especially) can read something of mine and say, without irony or sarcasm, So what? I’ve seen this whole thing, lots of times before. Yuck.
@marta – For some reason, the last sentence of your comment made me believe that at the time you wrote it, you maybe just maybe had been spending too much time at a computer. :)
Is it reading too much into that last sentence, too, to guess that you write (often or always) in longhand?
[Aside to the universe: the two words which the little reCAPTCHA box below is asking me to type right now are “000” (three zeroes) and “always.” Is this supposed to be some kind of secret message?!?]
marta says
There are moments when I believe in messages from the universe–typically when they are in my favor. ooo always, indeed.
I do not, as it happens, write in longhand. But when I’m not writing, I’m drawing or in some fashion tormenting paper.
John says
tormenting paper
Ha!
I have looked at a few of the tortured dears which you’ve linked to from writing in the water‘s menu. I’ve worried about your eventually running out of photos, but I must say I’m looking forward to the blog posts you build around some of those things.
Julie says
The single word I would use to describe fiction. That is really hard. I suppose “imagination” would be it, but I was beckoned by “dreams” also.
Don’t make me think. It’s Saturday.
John says
@Julie – “Imagination” and “dreams” are excellent choices, especially for a writer of epic fantasy!