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You Have to Live to Write
I will never forget my poor classmate who, before even getting through the first sentence of her story, was harangued by the entire class.
“Whoa, whoa. Wait a minute! Have you ever made guacomole?!” members of the class asked her. No, she had not. She had just moved to the states from the Middle East and had written a character who chose a “rock hard” avocado at the supermarket. A blatantly false detail consumed my attention, and the audience was derailed. This writer had the disadvantage of being in Southern California where her readers are very familiar with Mexican food and know that a ripe avocado is soft, not “rock hard.” A good reader knows an artificial story when he reads one.
Inevitably a certain amount of time must be spent alone, in a quiet place, to get any writing done. But, if the stereotype that all writers are troubled, anti-social and nocturnal were true, we would have no stories! Well, we still could, but they would be as lifeless as the writer himself.
I recently read an article about angler fishing written by an authority on the topic. He wrote about the heaviness around the bottom of his boots created by the mud and the cold layer of sweat that forms under the synthetic fabric of the gloves. I have no experience with angler fishing (nor do I have much interest in it) but the writer made me feel his descriptions. That stuck with me, and I realized experience is a form of research.
As for my classmate, our professor told her to go home, make guacamole, and return with her story the following week. That was her research. My professor, Mona Simpson, taught us all about the importance of knowing what you are writing about. Otherwise, a poorly-researched article can land you a homework assignment like making guacamole.
For that, I’ll never forget what she told us that day, “You have to live to write.”
JenniferS
May 26, 9:45 AM
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Jeremy Reed
May 26, 10:00 AM
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