Ron Carlson Response

One of my biggest concerns about writing that I had was how close to reality you can bee without crossing the line into autobiography. I found that it was really helpful to see how the story evolved from a personal experience into a work of fiction. Reading this almost felt like I was getting permission to write from a more personal perspective. I had expected to write more sci-fi but I am tapping into something else.
I found myself taking note of the section on page 72 where he talks about the purpose of a scene. That you have to add a detail that distinguishes that setting, taking it from generic to special, not corny but real. In one of his examples Ron talks about a law office and he uses features like the small of mildew, a dying bonsai tree etc. I found that this passage helped me in understanding how a scene should be constructed as unique.
Another part of the book that I found helpful was a tiny passage on page 67. The passage reminds us as writers to always remind our readers what the story is about. We need to give them a sense of urgency, drama, conflict that can be expressed in many ways such as time running out, loss or emotional distress of the character. For the most part I found myself soaking up the author’s advice even though I found the way the story ended to be less then satisfactory, ending abruptly.
The three most important things I learned were:
1. Staying in the room is extremely important because if I leave then the temptation is to stop writing
2. The importance of setting a scene with something special but not over the top.
3. Not to edit while writing. That is a step to be done later.
I think that I can stay in the room if I enter with everything that I need to write with including a snack and a drink. If I can set the environment so that I am satisfied with my surroundings I won’t want to leave. I must try to form a habit for writing that allows me time to edit and refocus at given times. I enjoy a mindless game such as gems that allows me to a fresh look at things when I return to writing. I also like to look over what I just wrote so time is needed to do that as well.