Edith Mirielees' "Story Writing"

[Steerpike]

Mirielees was a well-known figure of days past; a professor at Stanford specializing in the short story. Among her students was John Steinbeck, who wrote the introductory remarks to this book, which I picked up on Amazon. The Saturday Review said of this book, in their review, "[t]his is a sensible book on writing with a remarkably sensible first chapter."

The book opens with what is possible and not possible from a book on writing. I am reproducing part of it here for comment. Mirielees writes:

First for the impossibilities: Between the arrival of the idea or feeling which is to grow into a story and the deposit in mind or on paper of its first rough draft, neither a book nor anything else can profitably intervene between the writer and his subject. The best way, even if not necessarily the only way, to write a first draft is to want to write it, to get continually more excited by the thought of it, and finally to sit down and write. How much lies in front of that "finally" differs from writer to writer, but one thing remains true for practically all. Interference in the early stages of a story's growth does harm oftener than good....Anything that interferes with the author's sense of having this time found the finest thing, of being this time about to capture the uncapturable, is injurious to him. That rush of rapture and certitude which comes with the inception of an idea and rarely comes again is among his most valuable writing helps. Those well-meant critical aids - "Wouldn't it be more interesting if you put a woman in the life-boat instead of a man." "I've thought of something that could happen to him right after he gets home" - may once in a hundred times improve one patchwork story, but they invariably weaken the writer of it. So, too, do the more formal assistances which urge the use of plot outlines and diagrams and other Procrustian stretchings. Writing can never be other than a lonely business. Only by repeated, unaided struggles to shape his yet unwritten material to his own purpose does a beginner grow into a writer. There are a few helps toward general improvement which it is feasible to offer, there are many specific helps in the work of revision, but help in the initial shaping of the story there is none. That is the writer's own affair.

Sound advice, and precisely why questions about "is this concept good" or "how is this for a plot" are counterproductive to the writer (and at worst lead to the writer writing someone else's story instead of their own.

Going on to talk about how to use a writing book, she writes that the best way to start with her book is to read the first chapter straight through, "marking passages likely to be useful to you, blocking off that that do not apply to your kind of writing...." She also says: "It should be remembered that not all of any set of suggestions made in any book is applicable to every writer."

Steinbeck echoes the idea that there is no single answer in his preface, saying about when he arrived in her class at Stanford: "I was bright-eyed and bushy-brained and prepared to absorb from you the secret formula for writing good short stories, even great short stories. You canceled this illusion very quickly."

A lot of books presented as How-To guides on writing take a more absolute tone in their language, but even then I think it is assumed that the intelligent reader realizes the advice given constitute suggestions and it is up to the writer to decide whether and when to follow them. For example, in The First Five Pages, Noah Lukeman gives what come across as rules for dealing with the opening of your book. But, in another book Lukeman himself says there are no "rules" for writing and to be suspicious of any book that tells you there are.

The thing I like about Mirielees is that she recognizes the beginning writers and the early stages of a story are susceptible to being harmed more than helped by intrusive commentary regarding rules, or even plot, and so on. It is an important thing for anyone to remember when they are trying to help a writer. Your help is best when it is suited toward aiding the writer in developing her own craft, finding her own voice, setting down her vision of a story in an effective manner. It is not helpful when you are trying to re-shape the beginning writer in your own image.

 

[Ankari]

It is not helpful when you are trying to re-shape the beginning writer in your own image.

I've been guilty of that. I'm learning, though. The Chopped Challenges and Showcase Forum showed me that not all stories have to be what I like. They just have to tell the author's story well. The important step is to find out what story the author is trying to tell. Once you pinpoint that, it becomes easy to aid rather than destroy the author's story.

 

[BWFoster78]

The thing I like about Mirielees is that she recognizes the beginning writers and the early stages of a story are susceptible to being harmed more than helped by intrusive commentary regarding rules

I'm interpreting this to be you using the above quoted section to back up your assertion that you shouldn't share "rules" of writing with new writers.

If I'm incorrect, please disregard the rest.

The author definitely states that "there are a few helps toward general improvement which it is feasible to offer" and limits her comments as to being against interference in the "initial shaping of the story."

I'm sorry. I just don't see what I'm getting out of your last paragraph reflected in the work quoted.

The piece starts with an admonishment to not let others interfere in your creation of a rough draft as it will sap your enthusiasm. I can see that.

I developed my concept over the course of a decade. If someone had come in and told me: this idea sucks. Try this. It would not have been good. To this day, I resist strongly any attempt to subvert me from my overall vision. Tell me that you're not liking a character. Tell me you have a problem with a plot device. Do not tell me to change the way two characters relate to each other.

What did happen for me, is that I took my writing to a group who tore it apart. From their critiques, I learned how to better express my ideas and where the holes in my characters and plot were. This is a very valuable function of the beta reader or anyone trying to help a beginning writer.

I would hate it if the people in my writing group had listened to what I take to be your advice. If I even continued writing at all because I was creating complete crap, I would have been years later in getting to where I am now.

 

[Devor]

What did happen for me, is that I took my writing to a group who tore it apart. From their critiques, I learned how to better express my ideas and where the holes in my characters and plot were. This is a very valuable function of the beta reader or anyone trying to help a beginning writer.

I would hate it if the people in my writing group had listened to what I take to be your advice. If I even continued writing at all because I was creating complete crap, I would have been years later in getting to where I am now.

I agree with Steerpike's advice, yet I'm pretty sure that I would still rip things apart in a critique. I think you may be reading too much into what people are saying and exaggerating the depth of the disagreement.

 

[Steerpike]

I'm interpreting this to be you using the above quoted section to back up your assertion that you shouldn't share "rules" of writing with new writers.

Your eagerness to misread in order to find a point of argument is more than a little disingenuous, don't you think? I'll take you up on your offer to disregard the bulk of your post, particularly in light of the exchange we had just this morning which is directly in contradiction to what you pretend I meant here.

 

[Steerpike]

I've been guilty of that. I'm learning, though. The Chopped Challenges and Showcase Forum showed me that not all stories have to be what I like. They just have to tell the author's story well. The important step is to find out what story the author is trying to tell. Once you pinpoint that, it becomes easy to aid rather than destroy the author's story.

I think that's true. I've always sort of balked at questions posted in forums where people are asking for help in their basic idea, before they've even put pen to paper, so to speak. But those are fairly popular posts to make. Often, they person making the post is just seeking affirmation, but it still boils down to asking others to come up with your story line for you (at least in many instances).

 

[BWFoster78]

Your eagerness to misread in order to find a point of argument is more than a little disingenuous, don't you think? I'll take you up on your offer to disregard the bulk of your post, particularly in light of the exchange we had just this morning which is directly in contradiction to what you pretend I meant here.

Sorry I misinterpreted you, but I was not being disingenuous. Really.

When I read the highlighted sentence, I rolled my eyes. If that was not your intent, great.