"Write what
you know." This advice leads to a
lot of writers scratching their heads: well,
I know about writing…I’ll write about a writer! Such works often turn out derivative or form meta-narratives,
where the work calls attention to the process of writing instead of the story
the author is trying to tell. I even
remember a unit on “Poems about Poetry” in Intro to Lit Studies. I try to avoid
this in my own work, but I did find one writer who takes a humorous and
original twist on this tactic.
Billy Collins,
one of the few modern poets I enjoy, has several poems about poetry. The
collections I borrowed had “The Trouble with Poetry” and “Workshop,” but I also
stumbled across “Introduction to Poetry” online. “Workshop” was my favorite, with lines like
And what’s an obbligato of snow?
Also, I roam the decaffeinated streets.
At that point I’m lost. I need help.
It makes me think of our workshops, how we have some nice things to say, but there are parts that just confuse us, and others that speak to us, along with the obligatory disclaimer that maybe the poet knows better than us. Likewise, “The Trouble with Poetry” admits the fear of running out of new illustrations and images.
One thing that makes these pieces work is the implication that the reader has experienced similar situations himself. I mean, my younger brother who prefers history would not understand “Workshop” at all, but the situation is immediately clear to any creative writer. Another technique the author uses is a straightforward tone, almost conversational. There’s no deep psychological musings about the process of inspiration or the author’s duty to readers—it demystifies the process by laughing at itself.
While I don’t have any poems like that, I think the techniques are useful for any topic with an internal focus. For example, my essay on letter-writing doesn’t have scenes in the sense a story about waterskiing or vacation would, so I should acknowledge that fact and use it to my advantage. Which of your pieces do you think would benefit from slight self-awareness?
ps. I have no idea what's up with the white box.
ps. I have no idea what's up with the white box.
I think one of the reason poems that are about writing are so effective is that writers make up much of the typical poetry-reading audience. It seems like that's why there are so many characters in novels that are dreamy introverts too--many writers and readers have personalities similar to that and appreciate a depiction of their own character. As far as how to apply the self-awareness that you're describing, I think it's difficult to know how to do that effectively. It can often serve more as a distraction than an asset, it seems, pulling the reader out of the story. So, I guess I don't really have any great ideas for that, but I'll be interested to hear how other people respond.
ReplyDeleteThis topic of self-awareness is so interesting to me because there are no real rules about it; either it works or it doesn't, and you can't really know whether you can get away with it until you put it on paper and get an objective reader's reaction. I agree with Elizabeth that, for me anyway, such self-awareness usually distracts from the fluidity of the piece and can even be annoying to read. However, sometimes it is used really well, as in Collins' poetry--though I think that he might be successful at it because the self-awareness is really the whole point of the poems, and he utilizes both brevity and humor to balance it out. It's interesting that you bring this up because (as you know) we just talked about metafiction in Adv. Writing of Fiction. I share McCann's mixed feelings about it; as she said, it's a highly intuitive tool that generally should only be used if it arises naturally in the writing of the piece. I'll be curious to see if you decide to employ it in your letter-writing essay--you might be able to pull it off! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry, Julie! How did I miss this? There must have been two posts in the same day and I had no idea.
ReplyDeleteAs far as self-awareness goes... most often I feel like I go overboard on that. I enjoy writing what I know most and inserting myself into the piece makes it easier to write - and I also tend to like it more. However, like Sarah said, it's hard to know if it's okay until you hear someone else's opinion on it. The pieces where I have noticed self-awareness as far as the writing process goes have been completely butchered by my professors and peers, so obviously it takes precision to make it work.
I think in your case it could add to the essay. It definitely doesn't hurt to try (well, if you have time for another draft, that is).
That's okay--you must have seen Elizabeth's post and thought that was all there was.
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