Review of “Blue Roses” by Francis Hwang
Published in “The New Yorker” November 1, 2010.
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Category: Thoughts about Writing
bookmark_borderAnalyzing writing
I was a music composition major in university and one of the things that my composition teacher required was score reading. Score reading means to take a bit of a string quartet or orchestral work and be able to play a reduction of it at the piano regardless whether you are a pianist or not. And in theory classes we analyzed music looking at the formal structure, root elements such as motives and their later development, harmonic structures, contrapuntal elements, and as many different ways as there were to analyze pieces of music.
bookmark_borderNaNoWriMo reflections
I want to take a few moments to reflect on this year’s NaNoWriMo event before I put it to bed for a while. I plan to come back and revise and edit, but I want some distance before I try.
bookmark_borderNaNoWriMo novel, done
Well, it’s done. I only hit just over 45,000 words, but it’s done. I’ve hit the story targets; the characters had their representative scenes, the plot had its required scenes, the story is told.
bookmark_borderEnd of writing class
As of last night I finished the beginner writing night course that I had been taking, and I feel a sense of relief.
bookmark_borderNaNoWriMo at the half way point
This year has been tough. For my first NaNoWriMo I came up with a characteristic that I wanted to investigate (creativity), applied different versions to have three different characters (recombining, unorthodox, people skills) and then figured out a way that the three would have some connection to each other (famous artist returning to birth city, daughter of gallery owner, son of gallery owner) and then let my protagonist work her way through developing relationships with each of these three in turn. Just let my characters interact.
bookmark_borderNaNoWriMo
As of late my writing has been shaped by 1) the basic writing class that I’m taking, and 2) now the start of NaNoWriMo.
bookmark_borderWriting assingment: Differing opinions at a wake
George took the smallest broccoli from his plate, covered it’s head with dip, and popped it into his mouth. Once he had something for his mouth to do he turned to view the room. It was full; all wall spots were taken and the more active people were chatting in small groups in the center of the room. Not all the lights were on, out of respect for the situation, and combined with the dark clothes, the hushed voices, and the low lighting it could have been an opportunity for intimate, even romantic conversations.
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bookmark_borderCharacterization exercise: Mother of a murderer
Carol sits at her dining room table, her right forearm resting on the table, hand wrapped around a tumbler half full of merlot. She’s leaning forward, elbows supporting her, almost oblivious to the cigarette in her left hand. Her expression is fixed, and she moves only to take another sip of wine, or a breath of her cigarette, or to tap ashes into the crystal bowl that other people might use for candy. Her ex-mother-in-law probably intended it for candy, but Carol gets more use from it as a pretty ashtray.
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bookmark_borderBob (characterization excercise)
Bob had worked in sales for years. He and his three co-workers had kept the organization going, kept it moving. They were the ones who enabled the company to reach its goals, each and every time. The city was divided into four sections and together the four of them covered it all, out on the road, always working together. Sometimes they might rotate, to keep things fresh, but like pallbearers they relied on the others to each shoulder their share of the load.