Choose My Words Better
Dear Reader, I start with an apology and a disclaimer to you. Like my life, which is filled with new possibilities right now, my (should-be-weekly) newsletter will also be about all the trivial topics that occupy my mind at the time of each writing. This place is no longer just about the life of a single woman, with being single as the primary focus. Sorry, this might not be what you subscribed to, but I hope you are up for a ride with me on this journey called Encore Life.
My summer literature class, The Rise of the Novel, is over, and it's clear: I need to be more precise about my word choices and to read more carefully.
I called Elizabeth Bennet's family inferior in my term paper after having read a few other early novels about the nobility and upper class at the same time.
Professor: “Inferior” isn’t quite right. The Bennets are comfortably placed in the middle class, and Mr. Bennet inherited enough money not to need a profession, let alone a job. It’s true, however, that there won’t be anything for the five daughters to inherit, which is why they are expected to make advantageous marriages. That’s due to the “entail”: his inheritance stipulates that at his death, the fortune must go to the nearest male heir.
I have read Pride and Prejudice n times in my life, thought I knew it well, and I must confess, I didn’t know anything about entail. The professor seemed to get so much out of each novel than I did, the period, the author’s background, culture, and religious context, etc. I’m again reminded of the technique of close reading - really look at each word. Taking a literature class makes me want to read faster and more, at the same time, to read slower and more deeply. Having to pick a side, I will forgo the GoodReads reading challenge of reading 24 books in 2025. More is not better if it’s at the expense of absorption into long-term memory.
The number one lesson after reading early English and French novels from this class is that a writer has the absolute freedom to create anything. These authors were not educated like modern (professional) writers, but had created new forms of storytelling: a novel. It’s quite freeing to read the first novels; someone had made that up.
Being a graduate student in creative writing and literature is opening up my eyes and changing my mind.
I was never able to appreciate short stories until I read A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders. It’s a fantastic craft book, but I won’t delve into it here except to say that I highly recommend it for both writers and readers interested in the technique of writing.
In the fall, I’m taking a class on George Saunders. Saunders said, “the story form is ruthlessly efficient” (P41, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain). I wonder if I should consider writing short stories. It would be a smaller project than a novel, though not necessarily easier. I can’t wait for the class to start.
For an earlier writing class, we were assigned to read book X. Another student writer said that this was a horrible book for him. He didn’t like any of the characters, and nothing good happened. He was disgusted. I had felt the same darkness, but didn’t know how to articulate it.
Around the same time, I watched a few Ghibli movies and was struck by how no character represented permanent evil, unlike some American superhero movies. That’s been on my mind.
This week, I read The Vegetarian by Han Kang, and was reminded of what the student writer said about book X.
What story is mine? What kind of characters do I want to create? In what world? Do I believe humans are inherently good? What are the values of my writing? What is my voice?
Saunders had modeled his early writing after Hemingway and realized his voice was something else. Saunders said, Let the voice guide you, writer.
So much to think about.