Hello everyone,
Has anyone read any Raymond Carver short stories? They are unbelievably simple, straight forward and plain. To the point where you wonder is he brilliant or something else? However, I think he earned his reputation rightly, for being completely understated and amazing.
For a writer like me (and I know Peter Carey told me, he writes short chapters because he has a short attention span) his stories are spot on. They are dramatically short! Only three or four pages long and they end in an abrupt manner. However after you have finished them, you realise his brilliance, and how he has achieved stunning characterisation without being obvious or overstated!
He reminds me of Hemmingway (a journalist), and it comes from my journalism background as well, that through his minimalistic style he still achieved some of the most powerful imagery ever created in short stories. That is in my opinion. Anyway, I feel as I read Raymond Carver further inspired to pursue what I think is becoming some kind of voice for me. A simple, straight forward, hopefully not overly flowery style that still makes people feel empathy and understanding for others as well as making them think about life in some way! I also just want to tell a compelling story...
You know when writers mention finding your voice, I think mine is slowly revealing itself to me. Becoming apparent!
Does anyone else have this experience?
Being on lulu.com as well has been very interesting and exciting as well. Good on all of those websites that support writers and their endeavours, of course I know they are making some money out of it, but still. I am glad there are sites that we can utilise.
