After recommending Oscar Wao my sister has recently and quickly finished your works. She’s thirsting for more novels that tap into Dominican culture in a way that speaks to our experience. Looking forward to checking out the two works in this post, but I’ve got to ask: any other novels come to mind that might scratch that never-ending itch?
I always recommend Julia Alvarez, Cleyvis Natera, Angie Cruz, Nelly Rosario, Elizabeth Acevedo, Dan-el Padilla Peralta's memoir and for the cross-border perspective Edwidge Danticat...
More cross-border perspective & MUST READ : Évelyne Trouillot's The Infamous Rosalie. Prolific author, but so far, only 3 works in translation. (And yes, another brilliant member of familia Trouillot.)
I had a question for office hours. Solmaz Sharif once asked in an interview, "Why are writers afraid of the pedantic moment?" I have been thinking of that recently, especially as so many writers in the US run to the hills when it comes to issues like Palestine. My question is: do you know of any novels that are pedantic that are good? Of course this is all relative, as each person defines being pedantic in different ways, but I am curious how you think through these issues. Also, big fan of yours. Thanks! Zahir
zahir, thank you for your kind question. i agree A-- that pedantic means different things for different people and B --Palestine brings out negatives in a lot of folks, not just writers.
since im not exactly sure what you mean by pedantic im going to assume the standard dictionary definition -- excessively learned. i will add my own flourish: encyclopedic. plenty of writers draw upon the encyclopedic tradition that runs through literary history with folks like Melville and Hugo as prime practioners.
as for pedantic books that are good -- i mean, damn, books that are heavy on worldbuilding tend to be endlessly pedantic and some of these are also super awesome. Vinge's A Fire in the Deep. Neal Stephenson's novels, starting with Snow Crash. Mieville's Perdido Street Station. The Three-Body Problem. Rushdie's encyclopedic fusillades in Midnight's Children and Shame might also qualify.
But if you really want hardcore pedantic try William Vollmann's books. i for one love reading pedantic books but i dont write them. it happens.
I’ll have to read some of those other books, but I have to say Mantel’s A Place of Greater Safety is one of the most powerful novels I’ve read—exceeded only by her great trilogy about Thomas Cromwell.
How do you create an exposition that draws the reader into the story? I feel like I have an idea of how I want my story to begin, but when I go to write it, I’m not sure if I should start with inner dialogue, or an action the character is doing or what’s going on around the character or etc…).
I find this particularly difficult when writing in the third person POV limited. I hope I make sense ^^;;;.
How do you go about feeling out the voice of a new piece of fiction? In fact, how do you think about/define/talk about voice in general?
thank you very much for your question, sara. let me see if i can answer this one more formally....
After recommending Oscar Wao my sister has recently and quickly finished your works. She’s thirsting for more novels that tap into Dominican culture in a way that speaks to our experience. Looking forward to checking out the two works in this post, but I’ve got to ask: any other novels come to mind that might scratch that never-ending itch?
I always recommend Julia Alvarez, Cleyvis Natera, Angie Cruz, Nelly Rosario, Elizabeth Acevedo, Dan-el Padilla Peralta's memoir and for the cross-border perspective Edwidge Danticat...
More cross-border perspective & MUST READ : Évelyne Trouillot's The Infamous Rosalie. Prolific author, but so far, only 3 works in translation. (And yes, another brilliant member of familia Trouillot.)
I’ve read Alvarez and Danticat, excited to check out the others. Thank you for the response
I had a question for office hours. Solmaz Sharif once asked in an interview, "Why are writers afraid of the pedantic moment?" I have been thinking of that recently, especially as so many writers in the US run to the hills when it comes to issues like Palestine. My question is: do you know of any novels that are pedantic that are good? Of course this is all relative, as each person defines being pedantic in different ways, but I am curious how you think through these issues. Also, big fan of yours. Thanks! Zahir
zahir, thank you for your kind question. i agree A-- that pedantic means different things for different people and B --Palestine brings out negatives in a lot of folks, not just writers.
since im not exactly sure what you mean by pedantic im going to assume the standard dictionary definition -- excessively learned. i will add my own flourish: encyclopedic. plenty of writers draw upon the encyclopedic tradition that runs through literary history with folks like Melville and Hugo as prime practioners.
as for pedantic books that are good -- i mean, damn, books that are heavy on worldbuilding tend to be endlessly pedantic and some of these are also super awesome. Vinge's A Fire in the Deep. Neal Stephenson's novels, starting with Snow Crash. Mieville's Perdido Street Station. The Three-Body Problem. Rushdie's encyclopedic fusillades in Midnight's Children and Shame might also qualify.
But if you really want hardcore pedantic try William Vollmann's books. i for one love reading pedantic books but i dont write them. it happens.
Thanks Junot. I appreciate this generous response. Loving the substack. Keep it up!
I’ll have to read some of those other books, but I have to say Mantel’s A Place of Greater Safety is one of the most powerful novels I’ve read—exceeded only by her great trilogy about Thomas Cromwell.
When should a writer use a pronoun instead of a character’s name?
When the sentence rhythm and the blocking and memory of your imagined ideal reader demands it.
How do you create an exposition that draws the reader into the story? I feel like I have an idea of how I want my story to begin, but when I go to write it, I’m not sure if I should start with inner dialogue, or an action the character is doing or what’s going on around the character or etc…).
I find this particularly difficult when writing in the third person POV limited. I hope I make sense ^^;;;.
Thank you so much!