I watched BRIEF TENDER LIGHT (thank you for the reco). Omg. That brief scene where the (white) students running for student office were asked about diversity and they responded by saying one of them is a junior and another is a sophomore so they represent 50% of the student body. 💀 uh.
pablo, many of the ideas i talk about here will work for non-fiction / memoir as easily as they work for fiction. fiction has to convince the reader of its truth-ness; non-fiction begins with a de facto amount of truth-ness. my father or patriarch reading list is as idiosyncratic as anyone's would be but here it is, in no particular order. hope it helps!
This Substack is the only thing that keeps my writing going. Do you have any advice on writing second chapters? I find that I'm alright at first chapters, introducing the characters, their wants, the overall tone of the story. But when I start the second chapter, I'm completely lost. I write it, then decide it's not as great as the first chapter, even though I have a rough outline of the plot. And then I think that maybe I have to redo the whole story, and spiral from there. And forget about chapters 3 and beyond. I can't even wrap my mind around that yet.
Great. I’m thinking about the taboo in stories. A character or group doing a thing that is significantly beyond the pale. I don’t really know what my question is except that I’m finding it difficult, as I build this story idea, to hit on something “bad” enough, but not like evil-bad. How do you think about what constitutes a transgression?
speaking generally, what counts as a transgression will depend deeply on your audience (what's transgressive for one audience is super vanilla for another) and of course on the writer's own training / sensibility around this all important artistic function. im always less interested in what i think is transgressive and what my characters think is transgressive (though there's clearly a relationship). id probably create a protagonist and try to imagine what would be transgressive for THEM and see if there's a story there. because if the transgression's coming from you the writer, that's not necessary a story but if it's coming out of the character then it doesn't need to be "beyond the pale" on a relative scale. as long as it matters a lot to the character, that's all you need.
to put it differently: trying to concoct a transgression outside of a character seems less useful than creating a character and their transgression simultaneously (along with the reason they might think this is transgressive). with the right character even a small transgression could be the site of tremendous drama and endlessly human wildness.
ive written a little bit about this (see post below). when i was in university i was weary and wary of it but these days ive been re-thinking my stance and havent figured it out quite yet; I'm still acutely aware how historically messed up this practice has been but as for my position... work in progress.... https://junot.substack.com/p/the-exploitionist-focuses-on-the
I watched BRIEF TENDER LIGHT (thank you for the reco). Omg. That brief scene where the (white) students running for student office were asked about diversity and they responded by saying one of them is a junior and another is a sophomore so they represent 50% of the student body. 💀 uh.
Hi Junot,
I want to write about my father. What do you think of non-fiction and what are your favorite books about father and sons?
pablo, many of the ideas i talk about here will work for non-fiction / memoir as easily as they work for fiction. fiction has to convince the reader of its truth-ness; non-fiction begins with a de facto amount of truth-ness. my father or patriarch reading list is as idiosyncratic as anyone's would be but here it is, in no particular order. hope it helps!
Brother, I’m Dying, Edwidge Danticat
Fatheralong, John Edgar Wideman
The Return, Hisham Matar,
Father and Son, Jonathan Raban
Duke of Deception, Geoffrey Wolf
The Pigeon Tunnel, John Le Carré
Our House in the Last World, Oscar Hijuelos
Fun Home, Alison Bechdel
The Pale-Faced Lie: A True Story, David Crow
Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama
Thanks, Junot! I love lists
Hi Junot,
This Substack is the only thing that keeps my writing going. Do you have any advice on writing second chapters? I find that I'm alright at first chapters, introducing the characters, their wants, the overall tone of the story. But when I start the second chapter, I'm completely lost. I write it, then decide it's not as great as the first chapter, even though I have a rough outline of the plot. And then I think that maybe I have to redo the whole story, and spiral from there. And forget about chapters 3 and beyond. I can't even wrap my mind around that yet.
Thanks for all your wisdom and inspiration.
allen im going to make an attempt to answer you question in our next post. please forgive my vagueness.... and everything else for that matter...
Hi! Is this where we post questions for office hours?
exactly!
Great. I’m thinking about the taboo in stories. A character or group doing a thing that is significantly beyond the pale. I don’t really know what my question is except that I’m finding it difficult, as I build this story idea, to hit on something “bad” enough, but not like evil-bad. How do you think about what constitutes a transgression?
speaking generally, what counts as a transgression will depend deeply on your audience (what's transgressive for one audience is super vanilla for another) and of course on the writer's own training / sensibility around this all important artistic function. im always less interested in what i think is transgressive and what my characters think is transgressive (though there's clearly a relationship). id probably create a protagonist and try to imagine what would be transgressive for THEM and see if there's a story there. because if the transgression's coming from you the writer, that's not necessary a story but if it's coming out of the character then it doesn't need to be "beyond the pale" on a relative scale. as long as it matters a lot to the character, that's all you need.
to put it differently: trying to concoct a transgression outside of a character seems less useful than creating a character and their transgression simultaneously (along with the reason they might think this is transgressive). with the right character even a small transgression could be the site of tremendous drama and endlessly human wildness.
hope this helps. good luck!
Helps a lot. Thank you!
ive written a little bit about this (see post below). when i was in university i was weary and wary of it but these days ive been re-thinking my stance and havent figured it out quite yet; I'm still acutely aware how historically messed up this practice has been but as for my position... work in progress.... https://junot.substack.com/p/the-exploitionist-focuses-on-the