New Stories from the South - 2007

If you are serious about learning to write better short stories, you need to be reading these anthologies. There's no better way to keep track of what the best are writing and getting published.

Bad Week for Rejections

I go for months with no word on my submissions, and then the dam breaks and I get three rejections in a row. I can't lie and say it doesn't affect my mood. I sink into a funk and hate my own writing.

Here's my statistics at this point:

• 22 short story submissions.


• shortest response time: 5 days - Small Spiral Notebook


• longest response time: 217 days - storySouth


• rejections: 17


• still out: 4


• acceptances: 1


• acceptance/rejection ratio: 6%

The statistics for my first, fatally-flawed, never-to-be-published, novel are much worse, and I prefer to forget about it.

The statistics for my current novel, the one that I am modestly pleased with:

• queries: 7


• rejections: 1


• request for a partial: 1


• still not heard from: 6

The Half-Mammals of Dixie by George Singleton

A short story collection from a South Carolina author. Most of the stories are set in SC too. I'm headed to the SC Writer's Workshop in October, and Singleton is one of the faculty, so I'm doing my homework, so to speak.

Singleton is the master of the non-sequitur, in both dialog and narrative. That's his style, and you don't have to read far to encounter it. The stories challenge the reader to keep track of what is going on and what the characters are talking about, but that's part of their charm.

Southern topics, southern characters, and a creative imagination make these stories well worth a read.

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis

The story of Carol Kennicott, wife of a country doctor in a small town in Minnesota. Set around 1910-1920, Carol deals with the boredom, malicious gossip, and narrow-mindedness of the small town. Lewis later won the Nobel Prize for literature.

Carol is an exasperating character, at least by my more modern, middle-class values. Flighty, idealistic, and self-centered,  I just wanted to slap her and tell her to "snap out of it". I feel that you must have beauty within yourself in order to appreciate and find beauty in others and in nature. If you are bored with your life, look first at yourself for the solution to the problem, instead of demanding to be entertained and pleased by others.

Lewis did an excellent job of capturing the small-town culture though. I grew up in a small town of about 5000 people, larger than the Gopher Prairie of the novel, but small enough that everyone knew everyone else's business.  So many people spent so much time worrying about appearances. Lewis populates his town with a wide array of characters that exemplify all the problems of the small town, as well as the more noble characters, like the country doctor that Carol is married to.

Eventually Carol comes to terms with her problem, which is really a problem with her own personality more than anything else. I found her difficult to like, but the novel is exceptionally well written and worth the effort to read.

Agent Pitch - Elaine Spencer

On Saturday, two agents from the Knight Agency, Elaine Spencer and Deidre Knight, came to the Atlanta Writer's Club. I was one of the lucky ones to get to do an agent pitch. Basically I got eight minutes to interest the agent in my novel.

I was terrible, absolutely terrible. I tried to follow the advice of Miss Snark and  play it cool, engaging the agent in conversation instead of droning on and on about my novel. Didn't work, at least not for me. Maybe someone who is more outgoing could pull that off, but I was too intimidated. Elaine was as nice as she could be, and listened politely as I went on and on about my novel. Of course, I know the damn thing (The Church of Hooks and Lures) too well, so well that I cannot read it anymore and be surprised.

She did ask a couple of questions about a couple of the characters, and once again, I went on too long. I barely wrapped things up when time ran out. I fully expected her to say that it wasn't for her, or the agency - the usual polite way to say no to an author, and I would have understood. I certainly didn't think that I had made a good impression. But she surprised me by asking to read the first three chapters.

Later in the day, Deidre Knight gave a seminar on submitting to agents and her side of the business. Very informative. She is high-energy, engaging, and very funny. I could do a lot worse than to be represented by her agency.

But I refuse to get my hopes up.  Partials usually take nine to twelve weeks to work their way through the Knight Agency, so it will be Thanksgiving before I hear anything good, I'm sure. Of course, I could hear something bad much sooner than that. It only takes a few pages for me to decide if I don't like something - I'm sure they can do the same trick.

Watership Down by Richard Adams

An epic tale about ... rabbits. A small group of rabbits flees their warren based on a prediction of doom by a seer rabbit. They establish a new warren after a hazardous journey, fight a war over does, etc. etc. In short, everything that would be in a human epic is in this epic about - rabbits.

It's actually a lot of fun to read, although the first third is a little slow. The final scenes are as good as any human epic.

Book Count - 2007 (so far)

So far in 2007, I have read 61 books. Courtesy of the excellent database at librarything.

Book Count - 2006

I read 82 books in 2006 - at least those are the ones I kept track of. Courtesy of the database at librarything.

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence

The classic "banned" novel. Lady Chatterley, even though Lord Chatterley is paralyzed from the waist down (or because he is), takes a lover. In my opinion, if it weren't for the frank depictions of sex, this novel would have faded into obscurity long ago.

If I had to stick this novel into a category, I would say that is really polemical, not a romance. Lawrence seems to be trying to make a point about the plight of the workers. He calls them Bolshevists, which we would probably call socialism or communism. And considering how Britain has turned out, he was probably perceptive. Even the couple, with Lady Chatterley in one class and her lover in another, reflect the polemical theme. Leave out the sex, or describe it in a more off-stage manner, and that is really what we are left with; a commentary on the social problems of the age.

The sex scenes are frank, probably shocking at the time they were written, but compare them now to, for instance, "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love" for a real shocker. And Lawrence really loves to use the exclamation point! But the  couple seems hopelessly self-centered by my own standards.

And the ending is particularly unsatisfying. Lawrence ends it with more petty allusions to sex, meant to shock it seems to me, but ultimately silly.

Horseman, Pass By by Larry McMurtry

An impressive short novel. I would be surprised if this is over 60k words. In that short span McMurtry tells a powerful story of the 1955 era Texas cattle country. Seventeen-year-old Lonnie tries to make sense of his relatives and friends as catastrophe grips his grandfather's farm.

This is the novel that the movie "Hud" was based on, although the novel and the movie are very different. There are more characters in the novel, and the figure of Hud is different. In the novel, Hud has no redeeming characteristics; he never tries to befriend Lonnie. The cinema Hud seems to be an amalgam of several of the characters from the novel. In addition, the cook in the novel is a black woman, and Hud accomplishes the rape that is only threatened in the movie. That's Hollywood.

Which is better? I think the movie gets the edge. In the novel Lonnie is coming to terms with everyone around him, in the movie the conflict is more clear, as is the contrast between Hud and the grandfather.

But they are both great - read the novel first, then see the movie.

Tipperary by Frank Delaney

Tipperary is historical fiction, with a little bit of a twist. The novel is wrapped by a modern narrator, who shares with the reader the life of Charles O'Brien, an Irishman who seems to have a talent for showing up wherever history is being made. He meets Oscar Wilde on his deathbed (and at the same time the woman who becomes the love of his life), the poet Yeats, James Joyce, various Irish politicians, is present during battles with the Irish Republican Army, and shelters IRA guerrillas. He restores Tipperary Castle while pursuing (sort of) the love of his life, who also happens to be the owner. It's an epic story, spanning decades, with the requisite ups and downs and twists and turns in the life of O'Brien.

But it is the use of the modern narrator to wrap the novel that I believe to be its principal fault. For the first two hundred pages the voice of that narrator is cold and indifferent, much like a non-fiction history book. Sections in the modern narrator's voice intrude on the story, offering little in the way of additional facts that I needed or even wanted. About halfway through the novel, the narrator steps out from behind the curtain and reveals a few facts about himself, but I never developed a real sense of who the character was, never felt a connection with him, and frequently wished that he would stop interrupting the flow of the novel. In the end, of course, the author ties together the narrator and O'Brien, in some revelations that are expected and somewhat trite. I wonder what the novel would have been like if the author had concentrated on the historical fiction, instead of using the device of the modern narrator?

There are also many historical "asides", and it is obvious that the author loves his subject; perhaps he loves it too much, since most of the asides have little to do with the story, and much to do with the history of Ireland.

I still think it is a good read, especially if you like the thrill of searching for hidden family secrets and the delayed gratification of a decades-long love affair.

Another Advance Reader's Edition

Received another ARE from Random House courtesy of Librarything.com. This one is a historical novel, "Tipperary" by Frank Delaney. In return I am to read and review, posting my review on Librarything and sending it to Random House.

So far I have only finished the first chapter. I've read plenty of historical fiction, of course. My favorite author in that genre is Geraldine Brooks. Well, Delaney is not in that class, but I am still very early in the novel. One thing that is puzzling is his use of a modern narrator (in third person) as a wrapper around the historical story. Puzzling and confusing. What is the purpose of that? The modern narrator doesn't seem to be contributing anything, and actually distracting me from the real story. Maybe things will improve as I get further into the book.

The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford

The first person chronicle of a deceived husband about his cheating wife, her lover, the lover's wife, and the lover's wife's ward. It has a nightmarish quality; the narrator is living a nightmare, so that's appropriate.

It's a little difficult for me to believe, since there are many mores and morals that have vanished from the culture and society I know. Of course now, no person is really ashamed of an affair, no one is ignorant of sex. So it takes some suspension of disbelief to be sympathetic with the narrator, to truly believe that he could be so easily fooled by his wife and her tale of a weak heart!

Ford does an excellent job with it though. At times I thought he was using an unreliable narrator. Could the narrator really be that gullible? Surely he was lying about his real feelings. But Ford handles it very well. My edition had a "dedicatory letter" by Ford that was little more than bragging, but I suppose he had a right to be proud of his effort in writing this novel.

A Passage to India by E. M. Forster

Forster's novels are meticulously crafted and designed. This novel examines the relationship between the British occupiers of India and the Indian natives. I confess that I don't know much about the period; some of the vocabulary of Indian words is unknown to me and I didn't feel like carrying a dictionary around to read the book. I suppose I should have, but it really ruins the enjoyment for me to have to look up foreign words. I had a similar problem with "Lolita" and it's French phrases.

As usual in Forster novels, there are some dramatic twists that, in retrospect, don't seem as unexpected or dramatic as they did on first read. "Howard's End" was the same. Also, any real action takes place off stage. Mr's Moore dies off stage. Fielding gets married off stage. The supposed assault and escape of Adela happens off stage.  What is his aversion to actually narrating action? Instead we have reflection dominating the novel.

And the meticulous design is just a little suspect. I feel, as I am reading the novel, as if I am being manipulated. I know that ever scene, every description, ever decision by the author, has been calculated to steer me in a certain direction. The wires are a little too obvious, like watching an old science fiction movie and seeing the thread holding up the spaceship.

Still, you have to read this, and his "Aspects of the Novel." There is much to be learned and emulated here.

Novel Status - The Church of Hooks and Lures

I think I am "done" with revision three of this novel - if it's possible to say that about any novel. In a sense, I have been writing this novel for three and a half years. It didn't reach it's current form until January 2007, though. Some of the themes and characters have been present in my writing for awhile. One of my first attempts at one of the characters goes back to one of the first short stories I tried to write.

I'm happy with the form this version has taken. It's more complex, while at the same time more focussed, than any previous incarnation. From the first chapter, the reader knows what the major conflict for the protagonist is going to be. By the time we are 10% into the novel, all the characters (that matter) are in place and their problems defined and the plot is ready to go. The climax takes place at about 85-87% of the way in, after which it collapses to a wrap up that is satisfyingly symmetrical with the beginning.

Here's a log line:

Whit is a seventeen-year-old fatherless white boy caught in a struggle with his controlling, bigoted grandfather. It is 1970, and the public schools in South Carolina are finally being integrated. Whit must choose: attend the white-flight private school, or the racially integrated public school.

 Of course, there is more left out of that blurb than is included, but that is the purpose of a log line. How about some meaningless statistics:

• Words: 110514


• Characters: 481877


• Paragraphs: 2657


• Sentences: 8594


• Sentences per paragraph: 3.2


• Unique Words: over 7100


• Words per Sentence: 12.8


• Characters per Word: 4.1


• Passive Sentences: 0


• Flesch Reading Ease: 84.9


• Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level: 4.5

I'm a little worried about that grade level - it makes it look like a kid's book. It's not, believe me. The vocabulary helps make up for it, though - over 7100 unique words.

I have an agent pitch on August 18th - the first time I have ever looked for an agent for this novel, and the first time I have ever been to a pitch session. I'm thinking of it as good practice...

Charles Dickens by Jane Smiley

An excellent little book. Smiley brings her insight into character and her knowledge of the novelist's art to bear on the life and works of Charles Dickens. She is one of my favorite novelists, as well as one of the best writers about the novel ("Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel"). She has refreshing and remarkable insight into Dickens's characters and inner life. Reading this has inspired me to go back and re-read the Dickens's novels I have read, as well as reading some I missed.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I had a problem with this novel before it even got started, with the preface. Wilde makes some blanket statements that seem, a hundred and twenty-five years later, naive and short-sighted. Such as: "The artist is the creator of beautiful things" and "To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim." Wilde's novel is the most immediate contradiction to both these statements.

The novel is the story of Dorian Gray, a very pretty young man who has a portrait painted. He is subsequently corrupted by Lord Henry, who seems more than any other character to resemble Wilde himself. Lord Henry is a misogynist, an amoralist who takes great pleasure in corrupting others.

Dorian soon discovers, after causing the suicide of a young girl who loved him, that the portrait of himself reflects the changes in his soul while his physical appearance does not change. He embarks on a terrible lifestyle, corrupting and ruining others, eventually committing murder.

I don't think this novel has aged well, certainly not as well as Dickens or Austen. The parallel with Wilde's own life is uncanny, and I have to wonder why Wilde went down the path of self-destruction that he followed after writing this novel. Also, it must have taken a colossal ego to write this novel and then be a self-proclaimed pederast.