Wednesday, June 20: Tune It Or Die!
THE HARSHEST CRITIC
by Robert Lopresti
I recently finished judging short stories for an award and that process got me thinking about our ability — or inability — to judge our own work.
Stanley Ellin said it best (and if you haven’t read his stuff, get thee to a library; he was one of the all-time great authors of mystery shorts). He argued an artist judges his work not by how good it is, but by how closely it resembles his original vision.
That’s brilliant. It explains why a writer can be more satisfied with a mediocre work than with one that other people think is his masterpiece. He knows that the mediocre one was as good as it could be, but the other, ah, it should have been even better.
Inspiration strikes.
A few years ago I attended a folk festival and, during a rather disappointing concert, I got an idea for a story. I loved the idea and for the rest of the day as I attended show after show I remained in a daze, tweaking away at characters, motives and opportunities.
When the last piece of the puzzle slipped into place — how would the old man kill the younger man and get away with it? — I thought I was probably ready to write the best story I had ever written. And, oddly enough, I felt a strange sense of disappointment.
Why disappointment? Because I knew that at that moment the story was as good as it would ever be. As soon as I put the first word to paper it would be less perfect. No written version could ever match the one in my head.
A word from Alfred Hitchcock
The Master used to say the same thing, by the way. Hitchcock used to storyboard his movies, which means that before he touched a camera he had a drawing of what each shot would look like. He said that when that part was finished the actual filming of the movie was always a letdown.
The artist, or even the writer of tales of crime, usually starts with a vision. Then he tries to turn the canvas, the marble, or the words into a close approximation of what was in his brain. If he thought he got it right, well, maybe he wouldn’t have to create another one.
Another thread from the web
Ever have to deal with a ridiculously long and complex URL or web address? You probably know what it is like to type in (or heaven forbid, recite over the phone) something that looks like this:
“http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0972370633/qid =1126845498/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-9698081-1564817â€
As a reference librarian I need to help people with this kind of mess three or four times a day. Fortunately I have found a secret weapon. Go to Tinyurl.com or Snipurl.com and you can reduce a mess like the one above to something more like this: tinyurl.com/26qau8. Believe it or not, that will get you to the same place as the long gibberish above. Both Tinyurl and Snipurl are free, quick, and calory free.
I’m glad you published those redirects. MASL.com had disappeared and I hadn’t realized it had been bought out by TinyURL.
I so identified with that moment where you’ve created your story in your head, and then that feeling of loss comes over you. No matter how could it is it won’t be as good on paper. That’s why we keep writing the next one and the next one.
Great observations, Rob. I do a fair amount of editing, but I quickly develop astigmatism when I try to edit my own work.
Your story about inspiration at the folk festival is also familiar. I’ve awoken from dreams, scrambling for a pen and notepad to write down the brilliant scene or story premise. But the next morning I see what useless and senseless dribble I’d written.
As a new fairly new writer I keep being surprised that the perfect story in my head isn’t quite as perfect once I write it down. Thanks for letting me know that this is quite normal. And a big thank you for the info on TinyURL and SnipURL. Terrie
Sorry to be slow responding, but I did want to say that I think I know the published story that must have resulted from the inspired moment you describe. If I’m thinking of the right story, the situation and characterizations were realistic and frank, but the theme was generous-hearted. The combination was unusual and very appealing, so I remembered. I also was interested in this explanation of tinyurl. I realized part of the long version must refer to an amazon addy, so I thought “hmmm.†I clicked. And smiled.
Thank you for the kind words, Cary. I’m sufre you guessed correctly: the story I had in mind was “Snake in the Sweetgrass.” In an early draft of this column I went into more detail about it but I decided to err on the side of brevity. That’s usually a good idea and in the case of a blog, what you leave out today may give you an fresh subject in the future
Steve, I hadn’t thought of the dream analogy. I like it. Need to unpack it a little.
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