Like the pages I’ve read before, I once again found today’s reading to be entertaining, upbeat, and informative all at once. I am still appreciating the author’s tone and pace, as it never slows down, introduces one thing after the next, and holds my attention throughout each chapter. One quote that stuck out to me was on page 37 of Bird By Bird, and that was, “Now, who knows if any of this is usable material? There’s no way to tell until you’ve got it all down, and then there might just be one sentence or one character or one theme that you end up using. But you get it all down. You just write.” This gave me motivation, because it had me thinking of the bottomless infinity of possibilities that I might happen to stumble upon if I decide to just sit down and write without stopping. It’s an exciting prospect. Another quote that also resonated with me, was on page 44, and that was, “Knowledge of your characters also emerges the way a Polaroid develops: it takes time for you to know them.” This line stuck with me, because it really spoke true to the amount of time and effort that goes into creating a well-rounded character, and the importance of patience. Without sticking with your idea, your characters, then you would never get the chance to know them. Overall, I am pleased with these chapters, and their relevance to how I often feel when procrastinating about the writing process. I am continuously reminded by the author, Anne Lamott, that these are completely normal feelings and to trust the process.
For the first chapter we had to read in bird by bird I really enjoyed the vessel of writing about a school lunch. This scenario then being connected to how someone writes is really interesting. After writing the shitty first draft of the school lunch scene you then need to tie it back to writing in some way, and figuring out those parallels is the most fun part. When reading the examples Anne gave I immediately thought of the fact that you don’t know what you’re writing until you look over the first draft. You ponder each sentence and decide why you wrote it, and if you don’t know why/dont care for the line you can simply throw it away.
For the second chapter we had to read on characters I really loved when Anne brought up why we should love our characters. We model our characters off of ourselves and other people we know whether they are seen as good or bad in the story. I’m really glad this was brought up because I felt weird basing characters off of myself! But, after writing both short stories now I realize that I can’t write as authentically about something that I don’t experience or have not experienced at all. I can have an idea of how to write about it but it’s not going to be nearly as good as someone who has thought, felt, and done the things the character is doing. I also need to remember that I can’t know exactly who the character is before I’ve written the story, you find out along the way who the character is, what they like and don’t like to do, what they eat, how they walk, how they dress and many other things. You simply can’t plan out all those things for a character you haven’t written about yet.
I always appreciate the teachings in Bird By Bird, as they always reassure me that even when I feel lost within my writing process, that it is completely normal and actually expected. I really enjoyed the Character section of this particular set of readings. I always struggle with character development, and this section really focused on the idea that you won’t fully know your characters, and that is completely fine. I always find myself getting stuck in the idea that I should know my characters better than I do, but I now know that it is more likely that I will not know what the character is thinking until the very moment in which they think it. I also really enjoyed School Lunches as it allowed me to think about detail in a whole different way. Rather than getting stuck and frustrated by the idea that you can’t figure out what to write or how to put something in words, just pick up the pen and write about something as minor as a school lunch, make it mean something. It is such a simple notion, but one that is definitely very beneficial and something that I see myself trying in the near future.
These readings were, as always, very thought-provoking. The first chapter, “School Lunches”, was mainly about just writing to get all your thoughts on one topic out. You never know what ideas might arise just from simply remembering or thinking about this topic. One thing I always struggle with is really developing characters. If I follow Lamott’s advice and just write about them, then perhaps I will somehow, maybe even mistakenly, find my character’s true voice and their own character arc. The notion that just writing with only the confines of a single topic may produce some of your best themes or characters or scenes is astounding to me.
The second chapter, “Character”, was also a great read. As I said before, fleshing out my characters is always one of my biggest struggles when I am writing, so this chapter was chock full of advice for me. I really liked the idea of an “emotional acre”. This helps one to envision the inner workings of a certain character. That way you can start to predict how they might realistically handle situations. Along those same lines, I think it was important that she talked about how you’re allowed to have bad things happen to good characters and you’re allowed to dislike characters. I find myself often wanting to write my characters as either extremely good and easy to love or like a heart-wrenching letdown but I wish I could expand on some more morally grey (a.k.a. realistic) characters.
School Lunches:
I thought it was extremely cool that she could take something as simple as school lunches, and turn it into a good writing exercise that helps students not only keep writing and see where it takes them, but helps them to be able to find important bits in that writing. Writing about a school lunch seems like it would be boring and bring nothing to the table, but it can invoke memories you’ve forgotten about, which can then inspire characters in a story or other things you may want to write about. The whole point of this chapter wasn’t the school lunches themselves, it was the idea of just continuing to write and see where it takes you; what it can give you. The idea of lunches signifying your life outside of school? Something that feels common to all of us and can possibly inspire new ideas for future stories, I know it’s already given me some!
Characters:
The first thing I took note of in this chapter is the idea that you as the writer needs to know everything about your character, even if it doesn’t get written into the story. This helps you develop them and your plot. If you don’t know how your character acts when they’re faced with a tough dilemma, how will you write their emotions later on? If you don’t know that they’re allergic to shrimp, how can you have them shy away from the love of their life asking them to go to a seafood place? You need to know this information in order to shape your character and your story.
I also like the idea she mentions about how sometimes, a small chunk of dialogue followed by a short description of the characters thoughts can tell us all we need to know about the character, without using 3 pages of description. The reader will enjoy reading about the MC falling down the stairs and apologizing to the school janitor for it more than slogging through us trying to describe them being a klutz who feels like they disappoint everyone. That’s how you capture your reader’s attention and keep them reading.
All in all, our characters help shape us and are what shape our stories. If the reader doesn’t like the character or how they act or the way they talk, they’re not going to want to read our stories. The characters, as much as we want them to be as we see them, they have to be people that others will want to read about as well. They’re our children, our creation, but we also need to let them grow on their own and see where they take us.
What stuck out to me the most from School Lunches was the way Anne found the main character she decided to move forward with by using the technique she described. She used her process of writing all she could about her school lunches growing up to jog her memory of things, people, and moments from her past. This technique allowed her to remember the person standing by the fence as she described it which turned out to be such an essential part of her school lunches story. She had totally lost the memory of this person that would stand by the fence, by writing freely she was able to not only remember the person but also how she and everyone else felt and thought about them. This person that she had not thought about for years has now become her main focus and character in her writing thanks to the school lunches technique. Reading this made me think about all the people and moments from my past that I may have forgotten about that could provide intriguing characters and stories.
The idea of understanding my character’s emotional acres stood out and left an impression on me from the writing “Character.” Many of the questions that Anne used for examples of things a writer should think and know about their characters were things that I had not previously considered in my own writing. This was eye-opening for me because I realized just how much more work I could be doing when developing my characters, especially because characters drive all that is a short story. As a writer, Anne describes how you must know everything about a character’s way of life and thinking, even if it will never be explained or actually written about. If I as the writer do not fully understand my own characters then it will be immensely difficult for me to write about them.
While reading the School Lunches chapter I thought it was a very intestine approach to having writers block and not knowing what to write. With taking one word or object and focusing on that a lot of ideas you typically don’t think about come to mind. Going into so much detail it gives an inanimate object such liveliness and meaning. I really liked how she connected the lunch to us as people and its very true how you can read a person based off of what they bring for lunch and how its presented. Then she proceeded to connect it to writing where we are opening our insides to readers like a lunch box. In the Character chapter I have always struggled with character development and being consistent of where I’m going but this gave me some reassurance and tools to help me. I feel as I continue writing I will gain a better understanding and personality for my characters rather than being unsure.
The more I read this book, the more I appreciate the authors thought process and approach to writing, because she approaches writing like she approaches life. I really appreciated the chapter school lunches because it tells us to think about memories and what happened during these lunches, but it also involves the romanticized version and emotional attachment we assign to these memories as time goes on. Looking back on memories allows us to reflect on what we actually remember from those lunches, which is likely something impactful, although it may have seemed insignificant at the time. I really loved her sentiment, to “looking within your own heart” (46). It is extremely helpful for me because it helps lay out the characteristics of those people and norms that they followed, or did not follow, which can help to construct a composite character from multiple people and norms from my lived experience. That is MUCH easier than thinking a character into existence. I have a lot to say about school lunches, especially since I eventually stopped going to the cafeteria for them. I’d love to write about that.
I also took a lot away from the second chapter we read, on Characters. I like how, on page 47, she said that one line of dialogue can tell more about a character than three pages of description can, if done correctly. This is something that I am working on my own writing. I also liked how she that “nothing is as important as a likable narrator” (49), and that a likable narrator is like having a great friend, one whose mind you like to pick. Furthermore, she said that “a persons faults are largely what make him or her likable” (50). When I was reading this, I thought of a friend who ticks all of these narrator likability boxes, and I started to think about what made me want to listen to them as much as I do. I learned a lot from this. [Unimportantly, I also liked how she said that French novels don’t really need to have hope… it made the French half of me chuckle] Finally, I also really loved the way she that “We all know we’re going to die; what’s important is the kind of men and women ew are in the face of this” (51). This really stuck out to me, because it’s true. Writing is about how different people deal with the, often painful, trial-and-error experience of existing with an unknown deadline. That is why we should let our characters write themselves in some ways, they should have the freedom to decide how they deal with it, even if we don’t have a set plan for them yet.
As always, I find myself fully engaged with these readings, fully enjoying every aspect of them. Every reading may be short and sweet, but they hold a large amount of meaning, and advice. I always find myself struggling to write, but the readings in Bird By Bird are there to reassure me that it’s perfectly normal to not know what to write, and that it’s all part of the process and the journey into creating a story. I enjoyed the chapter on School Lunches because it taught me if you ever get stuck, just think about something as minor as a school lunch and it will allow for memories to be thought about which can bring in details you would’ve never thought about. I also really enjoyed the chapter on Character. Especially because I find it difficult to come up with a character and who they should be. I really liked the line on page 50, “They shouldn’t be too perfect. Perfect means shallow and unreal and fatally uninteresting.” I’m such a perfectionist that everything needs to be perfect, or else I won’t be satisfied with the outcome. But, after reading this chapter, I came to the conclusion that it’s best when things aren’t perfect and some things are left messy, like a character, because not everyone can be perfect. If everyone was perfect, then there’d be no color and life would be bland.
I really enjoy reading the advice Lamott gives in Bird by Bird. In the first chapter I read for class, “School Lunches”, I appreciated how Lamott’s message was to just get something, anything, onto the page. Her Polaroid metaphor helped me understand just how important the act of writing for the sake of writing is. You can never find out the true focus of a story or an idea if you don’t write it out. It seems like obvious advice, but I think all writers struggle with a little bit of a god complex. We think we’ll have the answers to all of our problems when it concerns writing, but in actuality, we have to mess up and write page after page of shitty first drafts. The second chapter, “Character”, was really enjoyable for me. I also love coming up with characters. Beyond prose and description and plot devices, characterization is probably my favorite aspect of writing. Creating characters is, essentially, creating a person that may or may not exist. Lamott tells us that characters take on certain aspects of yourself or people that you know, and that you’ll either love or hate them for it. I understand that. In one of my current projects, I’m writing a first-person narrative, a character named “Abel”. Personally, I’ve grown to hate Abel. This could just be because I get frustrated with the idea of perfectionism and the crippling self-doubt in the project, but I find Abel to be selfish, rude, and deceitful at some points. However, I didn’t set out to write Abel as a selfish, rude, or deceitful person at all. He was supposed to be quiet, kind, a little self-deprecating at times, but overall, he was just a regular person. This, I feel, is what Lamott means when she writes, “Just don’t pretend you know more about your characters than they do, because you don’t. Stay open to them” (pg. 53). You’ll never truly know your characters without a first draft, and as much as I dislike Abel, he’s also funny, and mournful, and trying his best within circumstances out of his control. None of these characteristics would’ve been discovered without writing and spewing words out onto a page.
There are a few things that stuck with me from todays readings. The first thing was her reasoning for asking students about school lunches when students can’t find the right words to put on a paper. She does this because everyone has had an experience with lunch at school, it was a universal experience from those that attending school. She wanted to have them focus on something else, and it would end up helping their creative juices flow onto the page when they looked at it again. I would’ve never thought that something as basic as school lunches could be helpful in the writing process. Another thing that stuck with me through the reading was her description of characters and what they mean to a story. I really appreciated the way she wanted us to understand our characters. And that they are more than just these people made up by words and imagination. She wants her students to give depth and meaning to these characters and to give them a reference person, from your own life. She was giving advice on how to connect with your characters and feel for your characters which I thought was really important to an overall writing process.
The section in Bird by Bird titled “School lunches” was a very interesting read. I really appreciated the advice that was present in this short section. That advice being to find anything and write about it, even school lunch. I remember talking in class about how short stories can be great at highlighting the beauty of the mundane, and there is nothing more mundane that I can think of than school lunches. Of course you aren’t going to write an entire 10 page story just about lunch, but it is a great jumping off point. There is a lot you can learn about someone based on the lunch that they are eating. It has been said in this book that the key to writing is to simply write then go from there, and I think this section perfectly encapsulates that mentality. The section titled “Character” resonated with me alot. Characters are the backbone of any story, short or long, and it is important to know how to flesh them out. The comparison of a character to an acre of crops was very interesting as well. Like crops, characters need time, space, and attention to grow. Lamott also mentions the importance of depth in character. She mentions how everyone is basically a walking advertisement of who they are, but underneath that veil of outward appearance, who are they? That is the question that should be answered for every character in a story, even the small ones, even the villain has more to them than what meets the eye. There is also mention of how your characters shouldn’t be perfect. In reality, no one is perfect, so why should your characters be? Everyone is greedy, selfish, or “bad” in one way or another and being able to explore those darker, more flawed sides of a character in a story will lead to an overall better story.
I really enjoyed this week’s reading. In School Lunches we revisit the topic of just getting some stuff on the page. The exercise Lamott mentions somewhat reminds me of freewrites and I appreciate the uniqueness of her question as school lunches seem to be a topic that can get people talking for a while. Under all of the charm and the differing opinions on food, we learn that sometimes just expressing yourself helps you find things you didn’t know you had. Lamott continues in Characters by letting us know that these people we are writing operate just like human beings who develop and change all the time. I appreciate her opinions on unlikeable narrators as I, too, think that perfect people are not real. And the advice, per usual, is helpful for storywriting.
These were interesting readings, and I especially enjoyed the one about characters. I’ve heard many times that characters contain facets of real people, especially the writer, and it’s something I have always understood to be true. I think it’s really helpful to be aware of this. I personally am able to work with characters more easily if there’s at least one way that I can empathize with them, and noticing traits we have in common can make that a lot easier.
One of my favorite parts of this reading was the quote “One line of dialogue that rings true reveals character in a way that pages of description can’t.” There have been times where I’ve heard, written, or read something a character said and it felt like I was grounded (for lack of a better word). It brought me into the moment and the character like nothing else in the story had until that point. It’s that moment, when a character says something in just the right way, that makes you *get* it.
These readings are always so fascinating and allow me to think deeper about the process of creating a short story. In “School Lunches” I liked how it approached such a simple topic but allowed us to visualize all the components of a short story when we look at it through the lens of school lunches and how that develops a whole topic of conversation. I really liked how she went in depth on how a lunch can really show who you are and where you came from it really made me look at the whole thing in a completely different way. The chapter on characters really stuck with me as well and I loved how deeply she discussed the purpose of characters and how they are truly portrayed as real people. The way she opened up the chapter was interesting when she was using the idea of each person having their own emotional acre that is entirely for them and forms who they are as an individual. There were so many questions she brought up about characters and their actions throughout a story, ones I had never even thought of before. Both chapters were very helpful and once again allowed me to look at this whole process in a different manner.
15 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 6”
Like the pages I’ve read before, I once again found today’s reading to be entertaining, upbeat, and informative all at once. I am still appreciating the author’s tone and pace, as it never slows down, introduces one thing after the next, and holds my attention throughout each chapter. One quote that stuck out to me was on page 37 of Bird By Bird, and that was, “Now, who knows if any of this is usable material? There’s no way to tell until you’ve got it all down, and then there might just be one sentence or one character or one theme that you end up using. But you get it all down. You just write.” This gave me motivation, because it had me thinking of the bottomless infinity of possibilities that I might happen to stumble upon if I decide to just sit down and write without stopping. It’s an exciting prospect. Another quote that also resonated with me, was on page 44, and that was, “Knowledge of your characters also emerges the way a Polaroid develops: it takes time for you to know them.” This line stuck with me, because it really spoke true to the amount of time and effort that goes into creating a well-rounded character, and the importance of patience. Without sticking with your idea, your characters, then you would never get the chance to know them. Overall, I am pleased with these chapters, and their relevance to how I often feel when procrastinating about the writing process. I am continuously reminded by the author, Anne Lamott, that these are completely normal feelings and to trust the process.
For the first chapter we had to read in bird by bird I really enjoyed the vessel of writing about a school lunch. This scenario then being connected to how someone writes is really interesting. After writing the shitty first draft of the school lunch scene you then need to tie it back to writing in some way, and figuring out those parallels is the most fun part. When reading the examples Anne gave I immediately thought of the fact that you don’t know what you’re writing until you look over the first draft. You ponder each sentence and decide why you wrote it, and if you don’t know why/dont care for the line you can simply throw it away.
For the second chapter we had to read on characters I really loved when Anne brought up why we should love our characters. We model our characters off of ourselves and other people we know whether they are seen as good or bad in the story. I’m really glad this was brought up because I felt weird basing characters off of myself! But, after writing both short stories now I realize that I can’t write as authentically about something that I don’t experience or have not experienced at all. I can have an idea of how to write about it but it’s not going to be nearly as good as someone who has thought, felt, and done the things the character is doing. I also need to remember that I can’t know exactly who the character is before I’ve written the story, you find out along the way who the character is, what they like and don’t like to do, what they eat, how they walk, how they dress and many other things. You simply can’t plan out all those things for a character you haven’t written about yet.
I always appreciate the teachings in Bird By Bird, as they always reassure me that even when I feel lost within my writing process, that it is completely normal and actually expected. I really enjoyed the Character section of this particular set of readings. I always struggle with character development, and this section really focused on the idea that you won’t fully know your characters, and that is completely fine. I always find myself getting stuck in the idea that I should know my characters better than I do, but I now know that it is more likely that I will not know what the character is thinking until the very moment in which they think it. I also really enjoyed School Lunches as it allowed me to think about detail in a whole different way. Rather than getting stuck and frustrated by the idea that you can’t figure out what to write or how to put something in words, just pick up the pen and write about something as minor as a school lunch, make it mean something. It is such a simple notion, but one that is definitely very beneficial and something that I see myself trying in the near future.
These readings were, as always, very thought-provoking. The first chapter, “School Lunches”, was mainly about just writing to get all your thoughts on one topic out. You never know what ideas might arise just from simply remembering or thinking about this topic. One thing I always struggle with is really developing characters. If I follow Lamott’s advice and just write about them, then perhaps I will somehow, maybe even mistakenly, find my character’s true voice and their own character arc. The notion that just writing with only the confines of a single topic may produce some of your best themes or characters or scenes is astounding to me.
The second chapter, “Character”, was also a great read. As I said before, fleshing out my characters is always one of my biggest struggles when I am writing, so this chapter was chock full of advice for me. I really liked the idea of an “emotional acre”. This helps one to envision the inner workings of a certain character. That way you can start to predict how they might realistically handle situations. Along those same lines, I think it was important that she talked about how you’re allowed to have bad things happen to good characters and you’re allowed to dislike characters. I find myself often wanting to write my characters as either extremely good and easy to love or like a heart-wrenching letdown but I wish I could expand on some more morally grey (a.k.a. realistic) characters.
School Lunches:
I thought it was extremely cool that she could take something as simple as school lunches, and turn it into a good writing exercise that helps students not only keep writing and see where it takes them, but helps them to be able to find important bits in that writing. Writing about a school lunch seems like it would be boring and bring nothing to the table, but it can invoke memories you’ve forgotten about, which can then inspire characters in a story or other things you may want to write about. The whole point of this chapter wasn’t the school lunches themselves, it was the idea of just continuing to write and see where it takes you; what it can give you. The idea of lunches signifying your life outside of school? Something that feels common to all of us and can possibly inspire new ideas for future stories, I know it’s already given me some!
Characters:
The first thing I took note of in this chapter is the idea that you as the writer needs to know everything about your character, even if it doesn’t get written into the story. This helps you develop them and your plot. If you don’t know how your character acts when they’re faced with a tough dilemma, how will you write their emotions later on? If you don’t know that they’re allergic to shrimp, how can you have them shy away from the love of their life asking them to go to a seafood place? You need to know this information in order to shape your character and your story.
I also like the idea she mentions about how sometimes, a small chunk of dialogue followed by a short description of the characters thoughts can tell us all we need to know about the character, without using 3 pages of description. The reader will enjoy reading about the MC falling down the stairs and apologizing to the school janitor for it more than slogging through us trying to describe them being a klutz who feels like they disappoint everyone. That’s how you capture your reader’s attention and keep them reading.
All in all, our characters help shape us and are what shape our stories. If the reader doesn’t like the character or how they act or the way they talk, they’re not going to want to read our stories. The characters, as much as we want them to be as we see them, they have to be people that others will want to read about as well. They’re our children, our creation, but we also need to let them grow on their own and see where they take us.
What stuck out to me the most from School Lunches was the way Anne found the main character she decided to move forward with by using the technique she described. She used her process of writing all she could about her school lunches growing up to jog her memory of things, people, and moments from her past. This technique allowed her to remember the person standing by the fence as she described it which turned out to be such an essential part of her school lunches story. She had totally lost the memory of this person that would stand by the fence, by writing freely she was able to not only remember the person but also how she and everyone else felt and thought about them. This person that she had not thought about for years has now become her main focus and character in her writing thanks to the school lunches technique. Reading this made me think about all the people and moments from my past that I may have forgotten about that could provide intriguing characters and stories.
The idea of understanding my character’s emotional acres stood out and left an impression on me from the writing “Character.” Many of the questions that Anne used for examples of things a writer should think and know about their characters were things that I had not previously considered in my own writing. This was eye-opening for me because I realized just how much more work I could be doing when developing my characters, especially because characters drive all that is a short story. As a writer, Anne describes how you must know everything about a character’s way of life and thinking, even if it will never be explained or actually written about. If I as the writer do not fully understand my own characters then it will be immensely difficult for me to write about them.
While reading the School Lunches chapter I thought it was a very intestine approach to having writers block and not knowing what to write. With taking one word or object and focusing on that a lot of ideas you typically don’t think about come to mind. Going into so much detail it gives an inanimate object such liveliness and meaning. I really liked how she connected the lunch to us as people and its very true how you can read a person based off of what they bring for lunch and how its presented. Then she proceeded to connect it to writing where we are opening our insides to readers like a lunch box. In the Character chapter I have always struggled with character development and being consistent of where I’m going but this gave me some reassurance and tools to help me. I feel as I continue writing I will gain a better understanding and personality for my characters rather than being unsure.
The more I read this book, the more I appreciate the authors thought process and approach to writing, because she approaches writing like she approaches life. I really appreciated the chapter school lunches because it tells us to think about memories and what happened during these lunches, but it also involves the romanticized version and emotional attachment we assign to these memories as time goes on. Looking back on memories allows us to reflect on what we actually remember from those lunches, which is likely something impactful, although it may have seemed insignificant at the time. I really loved her sentiment, to “looking within your own heart” (46). It is extremely helpful for me because it helps lay out the characteristics of those people and norms that they followed, or did not follow, which can help to construct a composite character from multiple people and norms from my lived experience. That is MUCH easier than thinking a character into existence. I have a lot to say about school lunches, especially since I eventually stopped going to the cafeteria for them. I’d love to write about that.
I also took a lot away from the second chapter we read, on Characters. I like how, on page 47, she said that one line of dialogue can tell more about a character than three pages of description can, if done correctly. This is something that I am working on my own writing. I also liked how she that “nothing is as important as a likable narrator” (49), and that a likable narrator is like having a great friend, one whose mind you like to pick. Furthermore, she said that “a persons faults are largely what make him or her likable” (50). When I was reading this, I thought of a friend who ticks all of these narrator likability boxes, and I started to think about what made me want to listen to them as much as I do. I learned a lot from this. [Unimportantly, I also liked how she said that French novels don’t really need to have hope… it made the French half of me chuckle] Finally, I also really loved the way she that “We all know we’re going to die; what’s important is the kind of men and women ew are in the face of this” (51). This really stuck out to me, because it’s true. Writing is about how different people deal with the, often painful, trial-and-error experience of existing with an unknown deadline. That is why we should let our characters write themselves in some ways, they should have the freedom to decide how they deal with it, even if we don’t have a set plan for them yet.
As always, I find myself fully engaged with these readings, fully enjoying every aspect of them. Every reading may be short and sweet, but they hold a large amount of meaning, and advice. I always find myself struggling to write, but the readings in Bird By Bird are there to reassure me that it’s perfectly normal to not know what to write, and that it’s all part of the process and the journey into creating a story. I enjoyed the chapter on School Lunches because it taught me if you ever get stuck, just think about something as minor as a school lunch and it will allow for memories to be thought about which can bring in details you would’ve never thought about. I also really enjoyed the chapter on Character. Especially because I find it difficult to come up with a character and who they should be. I really liked the line on page 50, “They shouldn’t be too perfect. Perfect means shallow and unreal and fatally uninteresting.” I’m such a perfectionist that everything needs to be perfect, or else I won’t be satisfied with the outcome. But, after reading this chapter, I came to the conclusion that it’s best when things aren’t perfect and some things are left messy, like a character, because not everyone can be perfect. If everyone was perfect, then there’d be no color and life would be bland.
I really enjoy reading the advice Lamott gives in Bird by Bird. In the first chapter I read for class, “School Lunches”, I appreciated how Lamott’s message was to just get something, anything, onto the page. Her Polaroid metaphor helped me understand just how important the act of writing for the sake of writing is. You can never find out the true focus of a story or an idea if you don’t write it out. It seems like obvious advice, but I think all writers struggle with a little bit of a god complex. We think we’ll have the answers to all of our problems when it concerns writing, but in actuality, we have to mess up and write page after page of shitty first drafts. The second chapter, “Character”, was really enjoyable for me. I also love coming up with characters. Beyond prose and description and plot devices, characterization is probably my favorite aspect of writing. Creating characters is, essentially, creating a person that may or may not exist. Lamott tells us that characters take on certain aspects of yourself or people that you know, and that you’ll either love or hate them for it. I understand that. In one of my current projects, I’m writing a first-person narrative, a character named “Abel”. Personally, I’ve grown to hate Abel. This could just be because I get frustrated with the idea of perfectionism and the crippling self-doubt in the project, but I find Abel to be selfish, rude, and deceitful at some points. However, I didn’t set out to write Abel as a selfish, rude, or deceitful person at all. He was supposed to be quiet, kind, a little self-deprecating at times, but overall, he was just a regular person. This, I feel, is what Lamott means when she writes, “Just don’t pretend you know more about your characters than they do, because you don’t. Stay open to them” (pg. 53). You’ll never truly know your characters without a first draft, and as much as I dislike Abel, he’s also funny, and mournful, and trying his best within circumstances out of his control. None of these characteristics would’ve been discovered without writing and spewing words out onto a page.
There are a few things that stuck with me from todays readings. The first thing was her reasoning for asking students about school lunches when students can’t find the right words to put on a paper. She does this because everyone has had an experience with lunch at school, it was a universal experience from those that attending school. She wanted to have them focus on something else, and it would end up helping their creative juices flow onto the page when they looked at it again. I would’ve never thought that something as basic as school lunches could be helpful in the writing process. Another thing that stuck with me through the reading was her description of characters and what they mean to a story. I really appreciated the way she wanted us to understand our characters. And that they are more than just these people made up by words and imagination. She wants her students to give depth and meaning to these characters and to give them a reference person, from your own life. She was giving advice on how to connect with your characters and feel for your characters which I thought was really important to an overall writing process.
The section in Bird by Bird titled “School lunches” was a very interesting read. I really appreciated the advice that was present in this short section. That advice being to find anything and write about it, even school lunch. I remember talking in class about how short stories can be great at highlighting the beauty of the mundane, and there is nothing more mundane that I can think of than school lunches. Of course you aren’t going to write an entire 10 page story just about lunch, but it is a great jumping off point. There is a lot you can learn about someone based on the lunch that they are eating. It has been said in this book that the key to writing is to simply write then go from there, and I think this section perfectly encapsulates that mentality. The section titled “Character” resonated with me alot. Characters are the backbone of any story, short or long, and it is important to know how to flesh them out. The comparison of a character to an acre of crops was very interesting as well. Like crops, characters need time, space, and attention to grow. Lamott also mentions the importance of depth in character. She mentions how everyone is basically a walking advertisement of who they are, but underneath that veil of outward appearance, who are they? That is the question that should be answered for every character in a story, even the small ones, even the villain has more to them than what meets the eye. There is also mention of how your characters shouldn’t be perfect. In reality, no one is perfect, so why should your characters be? Everyone is greedy, selfish, or “bad” in one way or another and being able to explore those darker, more flawed sides of a character in a story will lead to an overall better story.
I really enjoyed this week’s reading. In School Lunches we revisit the topic of just getting some stuff on the page. The exercise Lamott mentions somewhat reminds me of freewrites and I appreciate the uniqueness of her question as school lunches seem to be a topic that can get people talking for a while. Under all of the charm and the differing opinions on food, we learn that sometimes just expressing yourself helps you find things you didn’t know you had. Lamott continues in Characters by letting us know that these people we are writing operate just like human beings who develop and change all the time. I appreciate her opinions on unlikeable narrators as I, too, think that perfect people are not real. And the advice, per usual, is helpful for storywriting.
These were interesting readings, and I especially enjoyed the one about characters. I’ve heard many times that characters contain facets of real people, especially the writer, and it’s something I have always understood to be true. I think it’s really helpful to be aware of this. I personally am able to work with characters more easily if there’s at least one way that I can empathize with them, and noticing traits we have in common can make that a lot easier.
One of my favorite parts of this reading was the quote “One line of dialogue that rings true reveals character in a way that pages of description can’t.” There have been times where I’ve heard, written, or read something a character said and it felt like I was grounded (for lack of a better word). It brought me into the moment and the character like nothing else in the story had until that point. It’s that moment, when a character says something in just the right way, that makes you *get* it.
These readings are always so fascinating and allow me to think deeper about the process of creating a short story. In “School Lunches” I liked how it approached such a simple topic but allowed us to visualize all the components of a short story when we look at it through the lens of school lunches and how that develops a whole topic of conversation. I really liked how she went in depth on how a lunch can really show who you are and where you came from it really made me look at the whole thing in a completely different way. The chapter on characters really stuck with me as well and I loved how deeply she discussed the purpose of characters and how they are truly portrayed as real people. The way she opened up the chapter was interesting when she was using the idea of each person having their own emotional acre that is entirely for them and forms who they are as an individual. There were so many questions she brought up about characters and their actions throughout a story, ones I had never even thought of before. Both chapters were very helpful and once again allowed me to look at this whole process in a different manner.