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.
3 comments:
Hello
Yes I have read Raymond Carver, very sparse and interesting.
Hi Suzanne, my goodness, I'm blown away by your media business - what cleversoxes you and your husband must be to achieve such a good work and life balance.
Carver's stories are some of the best you can read as potential models for short story writing - some people like to bemoan the fact that he never got around to publishing a novel, but I don't think it's what we needed from him at all.
I also love Tobias Wolff's stories, and have recently discovered John Cheever, who's pretty interesting - more of a 'fifties writer but his eye for detail and his pithy expressions are quite remarkable.
Nice post, I hope you continue to enjoy your journey into 'story'.
Thanks a lot Genevieve.
I will have a look at those other authors you mentioned!
Thanks for your comments, I love it when people put a comment on my blog and a fellow writer or reader too.
Cheers
suzanne
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