Vimeo teaches me something about writing
Block Tests 01 from Dylan Hayes on Vimeo.
This person has taken Street Fighter and broken it down to its simplest shapes.
So, this and fiction. I’m not just thinking about minimalism v. maximalism here. I’m curious about breaking a story down to a simple shape. I’m thinking about Stephen Dixon’s amazing story “Said,” in which the dialogue tags remain, but all the dialogue has been removed. A pair of lines from the story (which, sadly, I don’t have in front of me) can be as simple as:
He said.
She said.
The actions, free of dialogue, remain.
I’ve been writing a story in nothing but dialogue for the past couple of weeks, and trying to figure out what, when you strip away the other constituent parts of a story, needs to remain.
This is what I think needs to remain. I came up with this watching that video.
The story must, no matter what you take away, move. In the video, Blanka and Ken continue to contend, lacking arms, lacking faces. They continue to move. In Dixon’s story, he says, she says. We don’t have anything other than context to interpret what would happen before or after the dialogue tags.
So. Move. Maybe? Just a guess, I suppose.
TARGET: Shorts!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN35-NWUzWM
Spotted in attic where Gene goes to escape from “the kids” and “the wife,” probably: Target shorts. Pepsi Max in bottles?
Friday G-Funk Throwback For Ya’ll Bitches (With Flute)
Don’t never forget bout Nate Dogg:
I got love.
What’s Up, Rumpus?
Well, let’s see, shall we?
“A Faithful Grope in the Dark” – Joshua Mohr writes about trying–and failing–to place his first novel, Some Things that Meant the World to Me, with a major publisher, and then finding a happy home at Two Dollar Radio (publishers of Rudolph Wurlitzer and the new Gary Indiana).
I then spoke with a former editor at several major publishing houses and asked how she knew what would sell. “It’s a crapshoot,” she said. Her tone wasn’t smug or ambivalent; the calm way she conveyed this sentiment made it feel honest.
“The Last Book I Loved” is an ongoing Rumpus feature. Right now they’ve got David Ebershoff on City of Theives. Recently they also had friend-of-Giant (or is that Giant Friend?) Kevin Sampsell on Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Lincoln Michel on Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World, and person-who-is-me Justin Taylor on Bleak House.
Also, the latest installment of Peter Orner’s column devoted to the short story, The Lonely Voice, is about John Edgar Wideman.
Oh Also too, if you live in NYC, know that the Rumpus is coming. The NYC event, You Are Not Alone, is May 30. You can get more info about the event (Eugene Mirman, Anthony Swofford, Amy Tan, the list goes one…) here, or check back in with Giant early next week when we’ll be giving some tickets to it with some sort of contest that’s so simple and fun and right-on that I still haven’t figured out what it will be.
Infinite Summer
Sentimental. Happy to be.
You’ve been meaning to do it for over a decade. Now join endurance bibliophiles from around the web as we tackle and comment upon David Foster Wallace’s masterwork, June 21st to September 22nd. A thousand pages1 ÷ 93 days = 75 pages a week. No sweat.
Ladies and gentlemen, let us make the summer of 2009 David’s.
The Oblivion Seekers by Isabelle Eberhardt
I recently reread this tiny collection of stories by Isabelle Eberhardt, published by the great independent publisher, City Lights Books (click here to visit) . I originally read it in my mid-twenties when going through a massive Paul (primarily his short fiction) and Jane Bowles phase which culminated in my reading other authors Paul Bowles had translated, Eberhardt being one of them. READ MORE >
Used Bookstore Finds: ‘This pen is gorgeous!’
After the previous used bookstore finds post, Aaron Gilbreath emailed me to say that he was currently working on a project based on the many objects he had discovered during his time working at Powell’s Books in Portland. He offered to share a few of those objects with HTMLGIANT, and I told him to send in whatever he wanted. After the break are three found objects and the entries he has written about them:
Dispatches from Captain Maximus (guest posted by Michael Bible)
Michael Bible, a former student of Barry Hannah (and wearing one of the best names around), shares some of his Hannah light:
Zita, an odd and earnest woman in her 60’s, sat in on Barry Hannah’s workshop. She often reeked of gin. She hounded Barry so much about “rules” to writing (something he preached hard against) that he finally caved and wrote out a few things for her about her writing. She photocopied the handwritten “rules” and passed them out to everyone in the class the next week. So when reading this remember they are addressed to her.
1. [Your writing is] in the rut of adjectives and “Life Studies.” In the rut of people who aren’t there.
Sonora Review 55/56
The forthcoming new double issue of Sonora Review features, among other things, a massive tribute to my man David Foster Wallace, fiction by HTML Guru Ryan Call, local favorites Sean Lovelace and Keith Montesano, and if that’s not enough for you to want to buy it, well, just go back to one of our other recent threads arguing about who’s a dick and who isn’t… dick.
Look:
Seriously, this is an issue worth getting excited for. Get off yr butt and order it and whatnot. Here’s some more info:
The preorders for the latest Sonora Review issue, featuring an expansive in-addition-to-the-awesome-fiction/non-/poetry-lineup Wallace tribute section, including the uncollected Wallace story, Solomon Silverfish, essays and reflections from Sven Birkerts, Michael Sheehan interviewing Tom Bissell, Charles Bock, Marshall Boswell, Greg Carlisle, Jonathan Franzen, Dave Eggers, Ken Kalfus, Glenn Kenny, Lee Martin, Michael Martone, Rick Moody interviewing Michael Pietsch, and art and prose from Karen Green, will have shipped by (NOW!). We’ve had a wonderful response, and while issues are still for sale they’re no longer available through paypal: just follow the check mailing instructions below and you should be able to get your hands on this truly remarkable issue, which also includes new work by Aimee Bender, fantastic short-short contest winners, and interviews with Marilynne Robinson, Junot Diaz, Ron Hansen and Ben Marcus.
Uh, duh. Let’s go!
Uncategorized / 10 Comments
May 21st, 2009 / 1:52 am
May 21st, 2009 / 1:52 am