What I worked on this week:
I finished a new short story! And by “finished,” I mean “drafted,” which as we all know is far from “finished.” But still! 5k is down on paper, and now I can take a more serious look at what I’ve got to work with. One of these days, I’m going to do a post-series here called “Whose Advice is It, Anyway?” in which I look at common writing advice and hash out the kind of writer that advice is actually MEANT for (and GOOD for), rather that assuming it’s for everyone equally.
I’m trying to remember where I read it, but I came across something talking about how not all advice is useful to every person equally. In its example, it pointed to advice to be selfish or selfless: for the person who gives and gives and gives of themselves and has nothing left for their own fulfillment, advice to be more selfish, to take time for themselves and see that as important, is excellent advice. But if someone who’s a selfish jerk reads that same advice, they won’t really benefit from it–they already do that! They need the advice to be more selfless, to give more of themselves, which might in fact make them happier in the long run. But that same advice to the person (let’s say it’s a mom who’s exhausted) reading that “be selfless” advice is going to feel dejected and worse than ever, because they already ARE giving everything they’ve got and they desperately need to refill their own cup.
It’s a rough paraphrase, that is, but it got me thinking about writing advice, like “write a shitty first draft,” and “kill your darlings,” and “put your character in a tree and throw rocks at them,” and “show don’t tell,” and “write drunk, edit sober”–all these pieces of advice we’ve run across at some point in our writing careers, especially when starting out, are good and true…for the right person. But not necessarily as universally as we might think. Short and pithy, yes! Universal? I wonder.
Anyway, that’s what my brain’s been on. I’ve also been watching Noir films from the 40s and 50s as part of my novel reworking/brainstorming. I watched The Maltese Falcon last weekend, which is one of my favorites, and this week I’ve watched Gilda and The Woman in the Window. They’re all great, and it’s a delight to see the different manifestations of the femme fatale–the crafty thief who can’t tell the truth to save her life, the woman scorned, the model with trouble written all over her–it’s been fun, too, taking notes on all these films for various plot-points and commonalities. Still have lots of thinking to do, but I’m feeling like there’s a lot of potential for me to lean into these tropes.
What’s inspired me this week:
Noir films, largely! Otherwise, I’ve been annotating a book (A *cough* Throne *cough* of *cough* and *cough*) for my bestie, which has proved challenging but pretty fun, too. (She gave it to me explicitly to get my snark-take, so there are many, many comments and *gasp! pearl clutch!*) Also some drawings, because, of course I have to draw things sometimes to get my snarky point across! It’s basically an illuminated manuscript, now. Once she gets it (it’s an Xmas gift), maybe I’ll post some pics of my favorite pages.
ANYWAY. Holidays are approaching fast, and with it, all the usual stressors! That said, I did get a Substack post up on the Oddscope (it’s a short, biweekly newsletter about all things odd, uncanny, weird, eerie, strange, and strangely funny), all about four surrealist artists I really admire. You can find out more here!
What I’m working on this week:
With Thanksgiving just around the bend and houseguests impending and turkey fixings to put together, and all that, I doubt I’ll get a huge amount done. I do have Monday and Tuesday for the office, so I’m hoping I’ll lock down an idea for an anthology I want to submit to, and maybe even dip my toes into the first draft of that. Either that, or I’ll be looking at the story I *just* finished and getting a feel for what the edit is going to be asking of me. I guess we’ll just have to see!
As a little finisher here, I just want to ask that if anyone feels like donating to a good cause this next week, in light of Thanksgiving, I’d highly recommend donating to the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe here in New England. For years, my family told stories about how our ancestors on the Mayflower only survived that first winter because of the Wampanoag Tribe, and looking back on all that’s happened since, we sure as hell didn’t pay them back in kind. Please consider giving them some support now, even if it’s a lot too late.
–Maggie