Students are to post reactions (minimum 250 words each) to the
assigned listening/reading linked below. Students are encouraged (but
not required) to additionally respond to other student reactions.
KELLY LINK Monster Librarian Interview: Kelly Link is the author of the young adult collection Pretty Monsters. She has written two other collections, Stranger Things Happen and Magic for Beginners. Her
novellas and short stories have won a variety of awards. Neil Gaiman
called her "the best short story writer out there, in any genre." She
co-founded Small Beer Press with her husband, Gavin Grant, and edits
the fantasy zine Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet. Click heading to read the interview.
KELLY LINK NPR Interview: Author
Kelly Link says her short stories are inspired by what she calls "night
time logic." In fiction that strives for realism, she says, everything
has a place. Everything makes sense. It's kind of like dream logic, she
tells NPR's Audie Cornish, "except that when you wake up from a dream,
you think, well, that didn't make sense. Night time logic in stories,
you think, I don't understand why that made sense, but I feel there was
a kind of emotional truth to it." Click heading to listen to NPR interview.
THE WEIRDEST STORY IDEAS COME FROM YOUR OWN OBSESSIONS by KELLY LINK: "One
of the most useful pieces of writing advice I've ever come across was
something Kate Wilhelm said. To roughly paraphrase, she suggests that
every writer indirectly collaborates with her subconscious — she calls
this collaborator your Silent Partner — who supplies you with ideas that
you then turn into stories."Click heading to read the rest of the essay.
THE SPECIALIST'S HAT by KELLY LINK:
"When you're Dead," Samantha says, "you don't have to brush your
teeth." "When you're Dead," Claire says, "you live in a box, and it's
always dark, but you're not ever afraid." Claire and Samantha are
identical twins. Their combined age is twenty years, four months, and
six days. Claire is better at being Dead than Samantha. Click heading to read the rest of the story.
16 comments:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BBsjIC7ws5SkvdpOxnUAZffq2Xtdtc0-rbgjJcQJzno/edit?usp=sharing
The biggest takeaway for me came from the "The weirdest ideas..." page, specifically the part about making a giant list of random topics you're interested in writing about. I find this to be a useful exercise for dumping my brain onto the page and seeing where I can go with completely different ideas, and even seeing if I can incorporate some of them together. I also considered the story catcher exercise we did in class, which is similar in the sense of writing out a bunch of topics and seeing which ones spark an idea or two. Referring to my own subconscious as my "Silent Partner" is another interesting point, as I never considered separating the ideas I generate from the ideas I physically write out.
Personally, my ideas tend to go in all sorts of directions, so being able to compose a list like this and seeing what I could do with each idea can be helpful for streamlining my thoughts into something more fitting to my story rather than a bunch of random stuff. Some of the other techniques mentioned also sound handy, such as the strategy of writing dialogue and seeing where you can take it with your characters. For this reason, I tend to get stuck in the planning phases more than actually writing because I feel like I'm always coming up with more ideas. Another exercise that helps me is when I make a list like this, and then I combine some of the things together and write about it. For example, combining random topics like corn, pickleball, and volcanoes could make for a killer story if I put my mind to it!
I think something that really interested me specifically from her librarian interview was how she mentioned she struggles to write sometimes, like sometimes she would rather do anything than write. She says how when she's in those moods she sometimes forces herself to write and that just leads her to just keep editing the beginning and barely writing anything new. The reason all that resonated with me is because I feel that exact same way, sometimes its so easy, the creative juices are just running and I am make progress, write really good things, and then other times I can barely get myself to write a new sentence, I just keep finding myself editing the beginning because that's all the energy I have to do. Seeing her as such a successful author and publicist and reading her other interviews at how inspiring she is, it truly does inspire and motivate me that its normal and human to just not want to do something and to just find a routine that works for you because no one author has the secret code for all authors. I also really liked how she says that she likes her endings leaving the readers saying what’s next, what happens now? And honestly I also love writing with no solid endings, but with endings that leave the character thinking about what they just read. Overall I really learned a lot and enjoyed reading her interviews.
I found Kelly Link’s methods for writing to be really interesting. Her idea of “night time logic”, where something happens in a story that the reader does not really understand but can still find emotional truth to it, is a great way to convey emotion and thoughtful thinking of a text for a reader. Additionally, “The Weirdest Story Ideas” article was helpful. Connecting with your silent partner, what links calls one’s subconscious, is where the best ideas come from that we are often afraid to do. Writing whatever comes to mind and not immediately rejecting it for being strange, can help with making original ideas. Sometimes when I am writing, thinking of something that is not cliche can be hard to do so this could help me in the future.
When I was reading “The Specialist Hat” the first thing I noticed about Link’s writing was her very blunt style. She tells the reader exactly who the characters are, what they are thinking, what happened to people in their lives, etc. She does not waste her breath on describing what she does not want to be the main focus. It makes her writing stand out but it is also very jarring at first. Personally, I am used to writers focusing on every little detail even in short stories where there is not much time to tell something grand. I like how she eventually describes the Eight Chimneys and the specialist hat in detail. She also has short poem-like excerpts throughout the story which is an interesting way to tie the plot.
One thing I found interesting was the advice Kelly Link gives for generating ideas. Kelly mentions writing down a list of things she enjoys in other people’s works, which generated ideas she could incorporate into her own work. This technique reminded me of the story catcher we created in class, since it has a similar idea of writing down a list of things to incorporate into your writing. The difference is the ideas from the story catcher come from our own lives, whereas Kelly’s ideas come from other people’s work. While I do like her approach, I believe the story catcher is more effective in creating story ideas, since the concepts are from something familiar, meaning writing that comes from the story catcher will come naturally and be easy to write. Combining our real life experiences with something supernatural can make an overdone creature more interesting and also grounded in realism. When writing down a list of concepts from another person’s work, it may be more unnatural since it could be drawn from things we are unfamiliar with and have to do research on. It’s not wrong to write about something familiar, but it is a lot more work. Also, the ideas coming from this may be a lot more broad and difficult to create a story out of. However, I often take inspiration from other works of fiction in my own writing, so I do believe that Link’s technique for finding story ideas has a lot of merit for writers, as does the story catcher.
I started off simply curious about the readings, but I became much more interested as I read further into them. A lot of the writing techniques Link talked about were actually ones I have found myself using while writing my own stories, and it made me happy to see that these are actual methods rather than just things I randomly practiced on my own. I especially liked her revision process. I would think that working from the beginning onward each time you go back to write can be tedious, though I can also see how it is super effective in revising as you go, and might even help lessen how much you need to revise after you're finished writing it all. I was also fascinated by her idea of "night-time logic," which excited me because it's something I notice in my own stories. Something doesn't have to make sense in every aspect if its emotional logic is compelling enough to make it understandable. This also makes sense with another thing she talked about: the "Silent Partner" / obsessions she mentions and how our stories can sometimes become ways of communicating with our subconscious. I tend to use stories to process things, especially when I can't quite understand them myself, and somehow that can make a fictional story feel much more real. Another idea I really liked was her discussion of stories that make readers feel as though they're peeking through the window of an already-existing world, something we've also talked about in class. If the reader stumbles into a world where things were happening before they came in and will continue happening even after they're gone, there doesn't technically need to be a concrete "ending," as long as the story itself has enough meat and potatoes behind it.
One technique I found interesting, though, was metafiction. Personally, I think reminding readers that a story is fictional can work well in horror or particularly intense stories, but I think it can sometimes dampen it for me, since I would rather get lost in the world a writer creates! :)
It was really interesting reading about Link's experience with writing and the mindset that comes with it. For the librarian interview I liked hearing about her routine because I relate to wanting background noise whenever I'm working on anything in general, particularly with drawing or writing I always like to listen to music while I do my thing. And sometimes I'll even have specific playlists to try and match the tone of whatever I'm working on, might just be a placebo effect but I find that it helps me out somewhat. Besides that I especially liked that bit about having a few hours to myself to just settle in after a day of work; I feel like there's just a precedent where it's just expected to be 24/7 productive but whenever I tried I just couldn't get it to be sustainable long term.
As an aside I looove writing about supernatural elements, not necessarily in a horror setting but things like werewolves and other creatures always appeal to me. The Gizmodo article also caught my attention because I have a bit of a problem with writer's block, I can have a bunch of ideas in my head but I tend to struggle with actually putting words on a page. What they talk about in the article with just writing one sentence after another without much further thought just to see where it takes you feels like something that'd help me with writing my own stories. I think having one big over-arching story in my head might be making it too overwhelming for me to progress on but if I focus on smaller stories that could help me get into a proper rhythm, similar to me making a bunch of smaller sketches before getting back into a drawing that's more of a long-term commitment.
After reading the Specialist’s hat, I like the fact that Ms Link does not dumb down the meaning of the story for younger readers. It leads them to come to their own conclusions and doesn't hide that death is a part of life. She respects her audience. The ever so slight bit of dry humor reminds me of Edward Gorey’s book on a to z, The Gashlycrumb Tinies. Each letter of the alphabet corresponds to a way that someone dies. I do find it quite surprising when Ms Link mentioned she lived in a college town. And she does have a point. Living in a place that could be considered transient and fleeting makes you notice things that the average person won’t about a place like that. With places built for transience, it makes the place feel less like a home and more like a waiting room in my eyes.
overall, it was quite the peak behind the curtain and it was quite nice to read about.
I decided to read the Kelly Link NPR Interview. My thoughts are all over the place, but my main takeaway was the part where she talks about the stories she grew up reading. My parents were both massive supporters of my passion towards literature growing, but they did have one rule. One of the rules however was that I couldn't read any horror novels books. Ironically my favorite genre of books growing up was horror as my favorite book series were the Goosebumps series written by the well-known R.L Stine. These novels used to genuinely scare me, hence why these books were called Goosebumps. I recall from one of the previous lectures that Alex also explained that he loved reading the "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" book series by Alvin Schwartz because they were forbidden. When we're children it's common for us to be curious and unfortunately go against our parent's wishes. Even though these books would keep me up at night, they were a big part of my childhood.
I enjoyed reading the librarian's interview because it helped me relate to an old-time author through her writing journey. She seems like an interesting person. Even as a kid, she was "weird" and had an insatiable curiosity about finding and observing things. To me, that seems like she has an insider's eye for being the weird kid at school and for being perceived as different from everyone else. That kind of experience can definitely give someone an edge while writing about children or for children. I also loved that she often experiences a tough case of writer's block, and that things don't always work out when she forces herself to write. Seeing that an accomplished writer like her is also unable to force herself to write gives me some courage as someone who struggles with the same phenomenon. Sometimes I would leave stories unfinished, ideas that I never penned down, and other times I would force myself to finish those stories and then be unsatisfied with what I had written. It is reassuring to know that this is something many people, even professionals, struggle with, and, as a result, it's not something to be discouraged by.
I honestly really appreciated the interview that Kelly Link provided for us. She is a very respected writer and uses her experiences from her childhood and natural curiosity to make her writing interesting and her short stories have been very acclaimed, seeing that she was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for "Get in Trouble" in 2016. I also really admired how she was open about her inspirations and even her experiences with writers block because I feel like a lot of respected authors and artists tend to keep their inspirations close to the vest as a means to gatekeep and I think that is counterintuitive to pushing thr art forward. Also, it must take a level of humility and self-awareness to be that successful as an author and to still be open about the challenges that may come with it, such as writers block. Overall, these were all things I really enjoyed about her interview and learning about Kelly Link, even if I never heard of her before this past week. Now that I've learned more about her, I am looking forward to reading her stuff on my own time.
Something that really stuck with me while reading Link's Monster Librarian interview was the way she talked about how she wrote. As someone who only started taking writing seriously within the past couple years on top of being a perfectionist, I've felt for a long time that I had to perfect my writing process; it's always been something that's loomed over me. But reading about Link openly admitting that she hasn't written in so long, not even something as quick and easy as an email, was almost refreshing to see. For someone with such respectable writing (especially "The Specialist's Hat," I enjoyed that *extremely*), she doesn't seem to pay much mind to it at all. She writes when she wants to, changes her process when she wants to. Some stories take longer than others, and that's okay! Of course, those were things always hovering in the back of my mind, but to see someone with a little more age and experience admit it makes me feel very understood. At the same time, it reminds me that all writers have the common goal to write, and it really doesn't matter how it gets done as long as it does.
Night time logic is an essential piece of fantastical storytelling. The idea that mystical things can occur in a way that appears normal to the rules of the story and its characters, or in a way that appears extremely frightening to them, can shape the way the reader reacts is very intriguing. Link's discussion of the way that the reader discovers things and feels more immersed in a story through the way that the characters feel about the fantastical highlights this idea by providing examples of wild scenarios like a character discovering their partner is a werewolf. If that character were to react with no surprise or emotion then the delivery would fall flat to the reader and likely be seen as comedic. Night time logic however, allows the reader to sink into the unnatural elements of the story with its characters. For example, if that same scenario were to occur and the character reacted with surprise and awe to their partners transformation but readily accepted the fantastical shift all the same, the reader would be invited to react similarly, and thus immerse themselves into what was originally a comedic or overdone moment.
I thought "The Specialist's Hat" was really interesting because it mixes childhood imagination with death and grief. I found Caire and Samantha's dead game especially interesting because, at first, it seems like a normal game they created to make death less scary, but it slowly becomes connected to the supernatural events happening in the house. I also liked how the story makes it difficult to tell what is real and what is part of the twins' imagination. The setting of Eight Chimneys add to this feeling because everything about the house feels unsettling. I think the story is about how the twins are trying to cope with losing their mother, and their game becomes a way for them to escape fear, sadness, and growing up.
After reading Kelly Link's Monster Librarian interview, something that stood out to me was when she talks about her process of writing. She states that at the time of the interview, she hasn't written anything in about a year, and that when she writes she continuously revises here work. I'm kinda in the same boat when it comes to writing whereas I always have this urge to write about a particular idea or topic that I've been thinking about for a while and I'm so busy thinking about how crappy it will be instead of just starting on a project. This has led me to only come up with ideas instead of actually bringing at the very least a small snippet of a story together. When I used to write in the past, I feel like I was so concerned with perfection that it took a majority of my motivation and enjoyment in writing. I think that personally I should instead focus on bringing my ideas to life in a story and being okay with the fact that it won't be perfect in the first take, and that it's okay to constantly revise and make changes in order to better improve as a writer.
This story was very interesting to me because it speaks to how kids understand death and the grief of losing a family member. I can relate to the feeling of wondering what happens after death at such a young age. I actually lost my mother around the same time that the characters did which I thought was an interesting reading experience. I liked the portion where the babysitter is talking about how you can't feel much in death and one of the twins is wondering if she would like living or being dead more. There is a bit about how Samantha is scared of being stuck but scared of getting older at the same time. There is a sort of bittersweetness she has about turning 11. She doesn't want to be stuck between 10 and 11. She has curiosity about what will happen in future years. I wonder if the author intended this but it looks like Samantha is dealing with some existentialism and fear of death because it looks like she is scared of/wonders if she would die before she turns 11.
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