Thank you for this substack, which has given me inspiration and confidence. You are an empowering teacher: I’m grateful for your writing here and for your fiction.
I wanted to ask about symbol, image systems, and metaphorical meaning. I can think of only two places where I’ve encountered this question from my teachers directly:
- Shirley Jackson writes in the New Yorker (“Garlic in Fiction”) about The Haunting of Hill House, how she used symbols to carry the meaning--and therefore the story;
- John Gardner describes an image patterning system where each image repetition evokes an ever widening set of associations. Like throwing pebbles in a pond to watch the ripples combine and recombine.
I imagine if I studied poetry, which I am only beginning to do, I might find more explicit discussion of image and symbol. (I believe Ocean Vuong has written well on metaphor).
But I’m wondering: is this fundamental to storytelling, or is it a mode certain writers work in? Do you consciously pay attention to symbols in your work? Is it better left to the unconscious?
I’m writing about a subject matter that I’m fairly confident will get me ostracized and canceled. I’ve come to some good conclusions on this, that art is supposed to be incendiary, that the ends justify the means, and that iif I get people to look where they refuse to it will all be worth it…and yet.. never knowing safety, rarely feeling belonging, comfortable with loss, I worry. How does one balance speaking about social change while depending on that very society for survival? How does one balance authenticity and revolutionary work with acceptance needed to keep up the fight. Or are we doomed to pen names, posthumous works of art and hermit-dom?
Here, he writes about potentially offensive and ostracizing content from the lens of Strategic Audience. If you're writing to "get people to look where they refuse", then it's a good idea to consider who exactly you want to do the looking. It can change how you write, and what topics you focus on. https://junot.substack.com/p/the-exploitionist-focuses-on-the
Finally, here, might be most relevant to your question. The focus on survival and acceptance -- and the worries about pen names and, perhaps in posthumous appreciation, only being appreciated by a future audience -- it all gets discussed here. https://junot.substack.com/p/write-for-the-future
I have a question about inserting actions in dialogues. I'm currently working on the publishing of my upcoming book, "The Fishes of Caracas", with my French editor. Here's the thing: I write in Spanish and read a lot in English, so that's the "style" I use, I guess. However, my manuscript got rejected by hundreds of editors in Spain, and my translation into English never got picked up by an agent. As luck would have it, I translated it into French (I live and work in Paris) and I found a great, small but serious publishing house, willing to work with me.
Here's my question: Since I translated it into French, I kept a Spanish/English dialogue presentation, but my editor says it looks confusing and "tires the eye". He questions my use of "-" to introduce actions in dialogue, but I've been reading this style all my life, in Auster, Roth, Franzen and even you. Here's an example of my manuscript:
-Well, comrades, here are the computers… What do you need, again? -we were standing in a room full of computer memory blocks stacked on shelves like books in a library.
-We’re looking for Dimas Pérez. This is his ID number.
Yulieski walked to a computer in the corner, turned it on and started typing.
-Let me see… Hmm. This is really fula, weird. See? I put in the ID number but we get no results. This looks fishy to me, comrades.
-You don’t have any info on the subject? -asked Miguel, leaning on the computer-. So what the fuck are these worthless Cubans doing in our country if they can’t even find someone with his ID Number? -he lashed out.
Yulieski stood up, visibly upset.
-What the fuck is wrong with your partner? -he asked me-. Keep on talking like that and you’ll get smacked, Cuban-style: a galleta on your face.
---
Do you find the use of "-" confusing or unhelpful? I'm pretty much inclined to follow the editor's advice -he's French-, but I'm dumbfounded by his comment. How would you introduce actions in the middle of a dialogue, like I did above? Do you have any tips?
Thanks in advance, your substack has been very, very, helpful!
first off congrats on the book! sorry to hear you had that much trouble landing it but nice to hear its found a supportive home.
forgive my ignorance: i'm most familiar with spanish and english speech marks. as far as using dashes, what ive seen is the use of long dashes to mark speech, not to mark action. so the following text
-What the fuck is wrong with your partner? -he asked me-. Keep on talking like that and you’ll get smacked, Cuban-style: a galleta on your face.
would, in my universe, read like:
--What the fuck is wrong with your partner? he asked me. --Keep on talking like that and you’ll get smacked, Cuban-style: a galleta on your face.
but again its your book and if you feel strongly about using your style you should talk to your editor about it. sometimes we don't care enough to push our editors; sometimes we do.
curiously enough the question of speech marks has been coming up a lot this week...
Oh boy had a few errors in that post--indispensable and Professor Duong's book title etc--fixed them but still.
Dear Professor Diaz,
Thank you for this substack, which has given me inspiration and confidence. You are an empowering teacher: I’m grateful for your writing here and for your fiction.
I wanted to ask about symbol, image systems, and metaphorical meaning. I can think of only two places where I’ve encountered this question from my teachers directly:
- Shirley Jackson writes in the New Yorker (“Garlic in Fiction”) about The Haunting of Hill House, how she used symbols to carry the meaning--and therefore the story;
- John Gardner describes an image patterning system where each image repetition evokes an ever widening set of associations. Like throwing pebbles in a pond to watch the ripples combine and recombine.
I imagine if I studied poetry, which I am only beginning to do, I might find more explicit discussion of image and symbol. (I believe Ocean Vuong has written well on metaphor).
But I’m wondering: is this fundamental to storytelling, or is it a mode certain writers work in? Do you consciously pay attention to symbols in your work? Is it better left to the unconscious?
Thank you for your time!
Joshua
joshua, going to try to to answer this question. apologies for the broadness of it. more asap
I’m writing about a subject matter that I’m fairly confident will get me ostracized and canceled. I’ve come to some good conclusions on this, that art is supposed to be incendiary, that the ends justify the means, and that iif I get people to look where they refuse to it will all be worth it…and yet.. never knowing safety, rarely feeling belonging, comfortable with loss, I worry. How does one balance speaking about social change while depending on that very society for survival? How does one balance authenticity and revolutionary work with acceptance needed to keep up the fight. Or are we doomed to pen names, posthumous works of art and hermit-dom?
Junot has written about this subject in a couple places:
Here, he talks about fear and uncertainty -- how the mind finds endless reasons to avoid risk, and the very direct way to tackle that: https://junot.substack.com/p/how-to-stop-worrying-about-authenticity
Here, he writes about potentially offensive and ostracizing content from the lens of Strategic Audience. If you're writing to "get people to look where they refuse", then it's a good idea to consider who exactly you want to do the looking. It can change how you write, and what topics you focus on. https://junot.substack.com/p/the-exploitionist-focuses-on-the
Finally, here, might be most relevant to your question. The focus on survival and acceptance -- and the worries about pen names and, perhaps in posthumous appreciation, only being appreciated by a future audience -- it all gets discussed here. https://junot.substack.com/p/write-for-the-future
Amazing. Thank you both.
Thanks for the LATINOLAND rec. Ordered and can’t wait to dive in!
Hello, Junot:
I have a question about inserting actions in dialogues. I'm currently working on the publishing of my upcoming book, "The Fishes of Caracas", with my French editor. Here's the thing: I write in Spanish and read a lot in English, so that's the "style" I use, I guess. However, my manuscript got rejected by hundreds of editors in Spain, and my translation into English never got picked up by an agent. As luck would have it, I translated it into French (I live and work in Paris) and I found a great, small but serious publishing house, willing to work with me.
Here's my question: Since I translated it into French, I kept a Spanish/English dialogue presentation, but my editor says it looks confusing and "tires the eye". He questions my use of "-" to introduce actions in dialogue, but I've been reading this style all my life, in Auster, Roth, Franzen and even you. Here's an example of my manuscript:
-Well, comrades, here are the computers… What do you need, again? -we were standing in a room full of computer memory blocks stacked on shelves like books in a library.
-We’re looking for Dimas Pérez. This is his ID number.
Yulieski walked to a computer in the corner, turned it on and started typing.
-Let me see… Hmm. This is really fula, weird. See? I put in the ID number but we get no results. This looks fishy to me, comrades.
-You don’t have any info on the subject? -asked Miguel, leaning on the computer-. So what the fuck are these worthless Cubans doing in our country if they can’t even find someone with his ID Number? -he lashed out.
Yulieski stood up, visibly upset.
-What the fuck is wrong with your partner? -he asked me-. Keep on talking like that and you’ll get smacked, Cuban-style: a galleta on your face.
---
Do you find the use of "-" confusing or unhelpful? I'm pretty much inclined to follow the editor's advice -he's French-, but I'm dumbfounded by his comment. How would you introduce actions in the middle of a dialogue, like I did above? Do you have any tips?
Thanks in advance, your substack has been very, very, helpful!
first off congrats on the book! sorry to hear you had that much trouble landing it but nice to hear its found a supportive home.
forgive my ignorance: i'm most familiar with spanish and english speech marks. as far as using dashes, what ive seen is the use of long dashes to mark speech, not to mark action. so the following text
-What the fuck is wrong with your partner? -he asked me-. Keep on talking like that and you’ll get smacked, Cuban-style: a galleta on your face.
would, in my universe, read like:
--What the fuck is wrong with your partner? he asked me. --Keep on talking like that and you’ll get smacked, Cuban-style: a galleta on your face.
but again its your book and if you feel strongly about using your style you should talk to your editor about it. sometimes we don't care enough to push our editors; sometimes we do.
curiously enough the question of speech marks has been coming up a lot this week...
hope these few words are remotely useful...
Thanks, Mister Díaz! Very helpful. Really appreciate you taking the time. I think I going to try and push the editor a bit ;-)
Doldrums, schmoldrums - got some more reading to do. Thanks.
lololol!