November is National Novel Writing Month – https://nanowrimo.org/ . That’s what helped me get started on my first novel in 2002. It launched in 1999 with a challenge to write a novel in one month. It took me two years to complete the first draft, but at least it got me going. It’s mission “believes in the transformational power of creativity. We provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people use their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page.” If you are interested in writing in any format, check it out!
Intoxicated by the euphoria of completing the draft of my first novel many years ago, I felt hopeful pitching it to literary agents. I brought copies to the office of two agents in Minneapolis, two thick stacks of copy paper printed on both sides. Gracious in receiving them, we chatted about our mutual writing ambitions.
At our meeting I described my early writing endeavors in my mid-twenties, which went nowhere and became derailed by the stuff of life. The two agents related similar experiences, and we concurred with the reason that when young you lack sufficient life experience to inform your writing. “You don’t (one doesn’t) know anything,” one said.
I no longer believe that. I now understand that creative writing is essential for discovery and learning, no matter what one’s age. “Anybody who has survived his (or her) childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days.” — Flannery O’Connor. A younger person may lack much life experience, but actively creating, writing, brings learning, discovery, and wisdom. Whether or not the substance of the writing is good doesn’t matter. The process will lead to that. Looking back, I wish that I had tried to do more creative writing earlier. Some say that it’s good therapy for the mind.
Wikipedia defines the human condition as life’s key events: Birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, morality, conflict, death. Another perspective that I’ve had categorizes the human condition in aspects of health: Physical, spiritual, financial, relationships, and mental (emotional and intellectual).
You could even say that creating is fundamental to the human condition, and even the meaning of life. And being creative is not limited to art and literature. House-cleaning is creative; it creates cleanliness. So is baking cookies. There is no limit. Every day we are creating something. Creating goodness, that is a large part of the meaning of life and the human condition.
All literature explores some aspect of the human condition, and contributes to the Great Conversation about philosophy and human existence. Many themes fall into two basic categories as we learn from Aristotle in his Poetics. In Tragedy the hero goes from ignorance to knowledge, a catharsis or reversal. Comedy mocks the powerful for vanity and foolishness, and helps cope with tragedy.
To repeat the quote from Karen Armstrong: The insights expressed in literature are “informed by intelligent knowledge and understanding of the human condition.” This is the purpose of all worthwhile literature, created with aesthetically pleasing prose, immersing you in a story that flows.
Looking back at my first novel, Good Ice, I relied more on intuition rather than literary experience or scholarship to generate themes and perspectives on the human condition. The basic theme is compassion. The late 1950s setting provides an interesting backdrop.
The idea arose from my truck driving days when I drove a tractor-trailer hauling freight in the north loop of Minneapolis, then filled with warehouses and factories. I often saw winos and homeless people in alleys and under bridges. It became the inspiration for the story in which a group of small town middle school kids befriend and help a local “bum.” I carried a small, spiral notebook in my pocket to scribble such thoughts and inspirations as they percolated in my brain.
Good Ice took 383 pages to simply say, be kind to others and help those in need. The power of story-telling comes from feeling it. I still feel a tragic wisdom from dialogue with the so-called bum – actually a war hero – when he says to a friend, “Dogs and horses are the only people you can really trust.” Except for the kids who helped him.
Thanks for your attention!
Forrest
