Amazing Things

Crucial Writing Tip: Don't Fall Out of the Fictive Dream

2011-07-29T22:02:51Z

As writers we often experience writer's block. We just don't know which way the plot should go next. Or we feel that an idea we were very enthusiastic about and envisioned clearly no longer excites us. Or a character that we felt we understood in a deep and truthful way is beginning to fade or stiffen. What has happened in these cases? I believe we have fallen out of the fictive dream.

John Gardner in his wonderful book on writing, The Art of Fiction, which I strongly recommend, describes the fictive dream beautifully:

"In the writing state--the state of inspiration--the fictive dream springs up fully alive: the writer forgets the words he has written on the page and sees, instead, his characters moving around their rooms, hunting through cupboards, glancing irritably through their mail, setting mousetraps, loading pistols. . . . When the writer writes down on paper what he has imagined, the words, however inadequate, do not distract his mind from the fictive dream but provide him with a fix on it, so that when the dream flags he can reread what he's written and find the dream starting up again. . . until reality, by comparison, seems cold, tedious, and dead."

We want to keep ourselves from falling out of this dream because, once we are out of it, it is difficult to re-enter. Sometimes we may never manage to find that magic space again. Coleridge's unfinished marvel of evocation, "Kubla Khan," is a cautionary tale for us all.

What then can we do to remain in the fictive dream? One of my suggestions to my students is to revisit the dream as often as we can, with as little a gap between visits as our lifestyle allows. This means we have to write--or at least contemplate our work-in-progress--regularly. My experience--with myself and my M.F.A. students--is that if you are away from the work for over three days, the intensity of the vision--and thus the intensity of the desire to capture it--begins to fade. I've seen this happen to extremely talented writers. They abandon one work and go on to start a new one, hoping to sustain the fictive dream. But unless they implement a plan to keep the new dream alive, it too will wither away.

The bottom line: create a writing schedule and stick to it. I suggest at least 3 times a week. Every day (at least the weekdays) would be preferable. At least an hour at a stretch. If it's possible to do it at the same time each day, it helps. (Once we develop the habit, it's almost as though we get hungry for writing at that time).

Some of you are thinking, I just don't have that much time. I have a lot of other responsibilities. How can I carve out all those hours from a life that's already hectic and over-scheduled?

I'll write about that soon. Stay tuned.

Different writers write differently--I'm very aware of that. I'd love to hear how you keep your fictive dream alive and well.

Guest Post: More books to Help Your Writing: Donald Maass, Shantaram and Chinua Achebe

2011-07-11T22:43:19Z

Friends, I'm starting a series of guest posts by talented young authors who have studied widely and thought deeply about the craft of writing.

Here is the first one, by Mike Kerlin.

"Tension on every page" is what literary agent Donald Maass reminds writers new and old when he signs their copies of his book Writing the Breakout Novel. As a non-fiction writer, I wasn't sure if his book was for me, but, the more I read Maass's book, the more I realized every reader loves tension and every writer can convey it. That's because every life, in fact or fiction, ripples with aspiration, conflict, and obstacles. To understand just how important tension is to the fiction author, Maass went through and analyzed years of fiction bestsellers. What he found was that the bestsellers had one big thing in common: they combined fine literary "voice" with good old fashioned storytelling that keeps readers on the edge of their seats.

How can writers crank up the tension in our books? First comes a breakout premise--what Maass describes as "a fictional world that exists convincingly, wholly and compellingly apart and unto itself." It's the "big idea" of your book that has four key ingredients: plausibility, inherent conflict, originality, and gut emotional appeal. Many new writers fall into the trap of relying on originality alone, but we need all four ingredients to make our premise work. Then we must make sure the stakes are as high as possible. That means mixing high personal stakes for the protagonist with high public stakes, something big that humanity as a whole stands to gain or lose. With strong premise and stakes in place, Maass moves on to time and place. Make them important, unique, and detailed, he says.

True tension springs to life in characters, though. Maass believes our protagonists should be sympathetic, strong, likeable people, but also complex. Antagonists must bring complex personalities to the conflict too. To convey our characters' complexity, we can try listing a bunch of their core motives and then writing a few scenes in which they pursue reverse motives. Conflicted characters are tense characters, so our readers read on. But our readers also need to see their newly beloved characters endure some compelling plot twists. Maass claims most writers shy away from the truly tense plot twists that readers crave most. To get there, we should ask ourselves, "What is the worst that can happen?" Then Maass tells us to make it even worse--kill our favorite supporting character, create major crises in the core plot and subplot, crank it up until we feel uncomfortable writing it.

Once our premise, setting, characters, and plot are pulsing with tension, we need to add Maass's beloved "tension on every page." First, that means cutting any slow piece of our story. Maass says, "How many coffee breaks does your protagonist take in your current story? Any? Cut them out?" Sounds easy, right? Just make our books big shoot-em-ups with one cliched cliffhanger after another. Not so fast! Maass has high standards for just what kind of tension sits on every page. He tells writers to make their most tense scenes more compelling by breaking them into pieces, like movie stills, and then describing, for each piece, the surprisingly ordinary sights or counter-intuitive thoughts that pass through our protagonist's eyes and minds. Even then, a reader may not love every page if they don't fall in love with the "voice," that elusive piece of writing craft that no one can define but everybody wants. Maass says, "Voice is more than style. It is infusing yourself in your story." He also tells us to "become impassioned about your story" and "express convictions through your characters."

How do all of Maass's tips come to life in a real book? Let's take Shantaram, the Bombay epic by Gregory David Roberts. The premise has us hooked immediately: an escaped convict from Australia trying to make a life for himself along the shadier edges of Mumbai. The stakes roll straight from the premise and easily keep us hooked: Will the protagonist turn his life around? More broadly, is redemption possible? We newer writers keep hearing that our characters need to go through a transformation. So we think Roberts has it easy. The protagonist will just go from bad to good. But, as if he went through Maass's "reverse motive" exercise, Roberts, early on, shows his protagonist healing slumdwellers in one scene and then selling drugs to tourists in the next. The tension escalates slowly, but we stick with Roberts because we are confident the payoff will be big. It is, but we'll avoid spoiling the fun for anyone who has yet to read Shantaram.

Does good tension always require drugs, organized crime, slums, knives, and guns? If we zip south and then ride the tenth parallel to West Africa, Chinua Achebe proves over and over the power of context and character to drive tension. My favorites among his books are Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, and Anthills of the Savannah. In all three books, the huge public stakes provide plenty of tension: creeping political and religious colonialism in Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God and then the long shadow of that colonialism in Anthills of the Savannah. Okonkwo, in Things Fall Apart, and Ezeulu, in Arrow of God, are both strong, likeable characters, and yet an inner weakness (pride, perhaps) escalates the tension. Chris Oriko, in Anthills of the Savannah, appears weaker sooner, on the other hand. As Achebe carries these characters through his books, he could teach a whole Donald Maass workshop on depicting "What is the worst that can happen?" Indeed, the reader eventually learns to read on, not for quick resolutions of each plot twist but rather to get to the next turn for the worst. Achebe could easily rely on contextual forces alone for this effect, but it is through his rich characters that he hooks us to the history lessons behind his work.

I finished How to Write the Breakout Novel and revisited Shantaram and Achebe's books determined to crank up the tension in my own writing. I also promised myself to pause and admire the power of good stories, in real life and imagined life.

Michael D. Kerlin is an international management consultant and freelance writer. He is a columnist for The Rio Times in Brazil. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Philadelphia Inquirer, and several other publications. Michael is currently at work on a book about Rio de Janeiro's favelas and a memoir about his father, a philosopher.

Creating Powerful Characters

2011-07-09T20:06:24Z

A while ago, a reader on my Facebook Author Page asked how one goes about creating effective characters. Here are some thoughts--and a few examples from books I've enjoyed.

1. The character should be dynamic and driven by a strong passion. So it's a good idea to give the character a powerful desire, something he or she wants so badly that it will drive the action. An example is Balaram, the protagonist in Adiga's The White Tiger. He wants power & money. He wants a taste of the life the rich are living all around him. A very different example is Scarlett O'Hara in Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. She wants to be loved by Ashley even after he marries another woman.

2. The character should be interesting, so either this desire should be something out of the ordinary, or it should be something archetypal (like love or riches) that is made specific and striking because of the character's nature and his/her way of looking at the world. Again, in The White Tiger, as Balaram broods on the gulf between the rich & poor, it embitters him and leads him to violence. Scarlett's desire, heightened by obstacles and her own obstinate nature, leads her to unwise and risky actions, such as professing her love to Ashley even after he is married, and keeping him and his wife in her home.

3. The character should rouse the audience's sympathy or empathy--and also their admiration. This can be because of his/her challenging situation, or because he/she possesses special characteristics.
An example: Elizabeth, the heroine of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Her difficulty: she has a foolish mother who causes her much embarrassment. She has numerous sisters who need to be married off. Her father is not rich. Her talent: she is smart, brave, unaffected, humorous and knows her own mind.

4. The character should grow and change--mostly positively, though sometimes, in tragedies, this change can be negative and thus very powerful. Conflict is a major vehicle of such change. This conflict can be with another character, with the situation in which the character finds him/herself, with society, with internal values, etc. Conflict with Darcy changes Elizabeth as the novel progresses, making her angry and confrontational.

Character change also occurs as a result of maturity, or because of a sudden understanding of a truth. Again, Elizabeth learns certain things that cause her to fall in love with Darcy, whom she hated earlier. In Tolstoy's novella Master and Man, Vasili the landowner at first is completely insensitive to the needs of his servant Nikita. But by the end of the work--which only encompasses about 24 hours, his attitude has changed completely. It's a great story--so if you haven't read it, I don't want to give the ending away!

There's obviously a lot more to creating characters, which I believe lies at the heart of good fiction, but this is a start. Of course, good characters may be created in many different ways. It depends on the kind of book we want to write. These are traditional methods. If we're writing experimental fiction, we'll need a different approach.

I hope you find this useful. I would love to hear about your methods for creating characters, or fictional characters that you have enjoyed, so please do write in with comments.

Indian Rice Pudding: a Recipe from Sister of My Heart & a Tribute to Mom

2011-06-20T14:15:02Z

Friends,

Many of you have been discussing my novel Sister of My Heart on my Facebook page, and also telling me that you want more recipes, so I thought I'd combine them in this post! Additionally, it's a tribute to my mother, who passed away in 2010.

Do let me know if you like it, & if you have your own variations.

This recipe was published in a book titled Table of Contents: Recipes and Inspiration from Today's Top 50 Authors, eds. Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp. Check them out at www.bookclubcookbook.com

A Sister Of My Heart Special: Payesh (Bengali Rice Pudding)

In my novel Sister of My Heart, when Anju and Sudha, the two cousins who are the protagonists of the book, are still little, their aunt, Pishi, cooks several special desserts for them. This one, payesh, is very traditional in Bengal, the part of India where I come from and where Sister of My Heart is set. It is also a dish that my mother was famous for. But whereas hers used to take a half-day to make, I've given you a shortcut recipe.

Makes 8 servings

Note: The payesh consistency should be fairly thick, and it may take a little longer than indicated to achieve this thickness. Keep in mind that the payesh also thickens as it cools.

3 cups half-and-half (fat free or whole)

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup basmati rice, washed & soaked for 1/2 hour

1 cinnamon stick

4 cardamom pods--peel & crush the seeds. Discard peel.

1 cup granulated sugar or brown sugar (according to your taste). More if you have a sweet tooth

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped peeled almonds

Rose Petals (if desired)

1. In a non stick pan, bring half-and-half and milk to a boil. Add rice (drain it first), cinnamon stick, cardamom. Cook on low, stirring often to prevent sticking, until rice is soft and milk thickened. (30 to 45 min). Some friends do this in a large container in the microwave oven, but I haven't tried it that way myself. (I tend not to use microwaves for cooking).

2. Add sugar, raisins and almonds. Cook on low heat another 10-15 minutes until the mixture is thick. (Keep in mind it will thicken more when cooling).

3. Payesh can be eaten warm or chilled. Sometimes I sprinkle rose petals on the chilled version just before serving. If refrigerated, it keeps for 5-6 days.But probably it will not last that long because it is terribly tempting!

Like I said, I'd love some feedback if you try it out.

More Books to Help Your Writing

2011-06-14T03:34:33Z

Friends who write poetry asked if I had a recommendation for them, and I do.

An excellent craft & ideas book for poets is The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry by Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux. They are both wonderful poets themselves.

I also recommend reading what's getting published and what's winning awards; I've always learned a great deal by analyzing actual texts, looking at themes, images, sentence lengths--everything I could think of.

Prizewinning anthologies that I've found valuable:

For fiction, Best American Short Stories and O. Henry Prize Stories
For poetry, Best American Poetry
For fiction and poetry: the Pushcart Prize Anthologies.

In my early writing years, I would buy these, read and re-read them and mark them up. I'd spend a long time with each story, looking at a different element each time, such as Setting or Dialogue.I'd mark these things up with different colored hi-liters.This made it easier for me to discern patterns.

Hope this is helpful. I'd love to know about your favorite craft books/ anthologies and your methods for learning from them.

Books to Help Your Writing

2011-06-12T14:49:27Z

Friends sometimes ask me to recommend books on Creative Writing to them. Below are 2 favorites--I like them for different reasons.

1. Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott. Pantheon Books.

This is a more general book, accessible to beginners, very personal, with many anecdotes from Lamott's life. It's also very funny & has many good practical pointers. (Shitty First Drafts, Dialogue, Broccoli). Part One deals with the building blocks of writing, such as Plot, Character, Set Design. Part Two, titled The Writing Frame of Mind, discusses habits that are helpful for a writer to develop, such as observation and learning to turn off the critical voice inside one's head (Radio KFKD). Part Three, Help Along the Way, is about getting outside support. From index cards to writing groups, there's a lot here. Finally, she has a section on publication. I found this book very useful when I was starting off being a writer & often felt alone and worried that my writing was no good.

2. The Half-Known World, by Robert Boswell. Graywolf Press.

This book is also very accessible and filled with wonderful stories from the author's life, but it is, additionally, deep and complex. It gives you some unique ways to think about your writing. Boswell explains why some stories fail (he offers 5 categories of failure, such as the Bastard and the Hipper than thou story) and asks wonderful questions that will help you go deep into the character you are creating (What stupid thing kept her awake last night?). He makes you aware of patterns and designs in texts & teaches you how to look for them in your own fiction.The chapter on Omniscience is excellent. I particularly appreciated the list of fictional works that appears at the head of each chapter. These are works he refers to in that chapter--so he's giving you a valuable reading list as well. This book will help a range of writers--all the way up to Creative Writing MFA students.

Hope this is helpful. I've been inspired by my own post--I think I'm going to re-read both these amazing books!

Vegetarian Stuffed Green Peppers: A Fusion Dish, with Variations

2011-03-16T02:43:19Z

I was feeling creative the other day and put together the following dish. The family gave it a thumbs up, so I thought I would share it with you. It's pretty quick & easy, which is the kind of recipe I like.

Stem & core 6 large green peppers. Rub salt & oil on them, outside and inside. Microwave on high about 8 minutes, more if you want them softer. While this is happening, you can make the filling.

Heat oven to 400 F.

Filling: In large bowl, mash together: 1 can black beans (with the liquid) and 6 slices of whole wheat bread. (In my house. no one likes to eat the end slices, so I used them for this). Add 1/2 cup salsa (or more or less, depending on how spicy you want it). Optional: Add 1/2 t of cumin powder. Add salt to taste.

Stuff peppers with filling; top with grated cheese. (I use a Mexican blend cheese). Bake for 25 minutes until cheese is melted & golden.

It's a pretty complete balanced meal in itself, but if you want you can serve it with your favorite rice or pasta casserole, a green salad and fruit-topped flavored yogurt.

Variation: The boys devoured these & wanted more, and I was out of green peppers, so I made stuffed zucchini with the same filling. I sliced 4 zucchinis lengthwise, rubbed oil & salt all over them, and microwaved them for about 15 minutes. I scraped out the insides of the zucchinis, mashed and added them into the filling recipe above, added a bit of salt & black pepper, stuffed the hollowed-out zucchini halves, topped them with cheese as above, and baked at 400F for 35 minutes.

If you try these, do let me know how yours turned out.

The Greatest Literary Show on Earth: The Jaipur Literary Festival

2011-03-10T23:31:42Z

At the Jaipur Literature Festival 2011

This is an amazing festival, quite unlike any of the others I have ever been invited to participate in, in India or any other country. My friend Pico Iyer who had been there before told me it would be chaotic, vibrant, effervescent and memorable--and it was all of those things. It made me think of an Indian wedding, complete with elephants, camels (I rode one, a first for me. I was terrified and jubilant), milling crowds, flower garlands, great food, unexpected camaraderie, and lighted up centuries-old fortresses as backdrop. (Amer Fort, to be precise, where on the last night there was an Author Farewell dinner, complete with Qawaali singers and Sufi dancers). Add to the mix over two hundred writers that presented, and 60,000 (yes, that's right) lovers of literature and music that attended.

As a writer, it was wonderful for me to speak to a bursting-at-the seams crowd in the historic Durbar Hall of Diggi Palace, a venue I liked very much. (With my webmaster's help, I hope to put up photos soon). Diggi is a fairly old palace that isn't afraid to show its age. It hasn't been made over into a 5 star hotel like its more affluent cousins, but perhaps for that reason, it is more charming with its plain, whitewashed walls, its overgrown climbing vines and beat-up wooden furniture. And its famed peacocks (which, alas, we festival goers must have frightened away, because though I heard much about them, I didn't see any). Its substantial grounds were covered with tents for the six days, and in one corner of the compound (the stables, I believe) there were exciting and varied music festivals each night, showcasing traditional Rajasthani and cutting-edge young Indian/ international talent.

It was heartening to see the range of attendees--from local schoolchildren to college students who had come to Jaipur by train and were sleeping on the platform to save money, to intelligensia and socialites and housewives from major cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru) as well as a plethora of smaller towns (Agra, Jamshedpur, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar), to a roster of who's who in the publishing industry, to scores of journalists from both India and abroad.The book sales tent was so crowded, I could barely get in there. Reading in India is indeed alive and well.

It was exciting to hear and meet writers whose work I admired, such as Ruskin Bond, Chimamanda Adichie and J.M. Coetzee. It was a pleasure to chat again with writers whom I knew and whose work I loved, such as Kiran Desai, Adam Zagajewski, Orhan Pamuk, Junot Diaz, John Ford, and Mohsin Hamid. It was mind-opening to be exposed to talented writers who were new to me, such as Sonia Faleiro, Arundhati Subramaniam and Rana Dasgupta. It was an overwhelming embarrassment of riches. After a while, I stopped trying to take notes and just enjoyed. But my niece Neela Banerjee, a writer and journalist who also attended, was more diligent. See her comments at http://neelanjanabanerjee.com/blog/ (the Feb 3 entry) to get a different angle on things.

I appreciated that the range of writers spanned several generations and countries, and that they wrote--and presented panels-- in several languages. I appreciated the excellent team, led by Sanjoy Roy, that worked very hard to keep things running smoothly and watched out for the needs of the writers and the attendees--and who were, quite miraculously, able to offer this grand extravaganza of a literary festival that Tina Brown titles "the greatest literary show on earth" for free to all who came to listen.

The high moment of the festival for me was, actually, not a literary one. It was getting my hand kissed by the 89 year old Syed Haider Raza, an artist whose work I have loved since my college days! He spoke generously and honestly to a spellbound throng of about a thousand people about his life, paintings and philosophy. It was truly an event to remember.

For more info on the festival, which runs each year from Jan 21-25, check out their site, http://jaipurliteraturefestival.org/

Chicken Yogurt Recipe

2010-05-14T00:25:01Z

Here is a recipe, to remember my mother (who recently passed away). Though I am vegetarian now, I remember how delicious it was when I ate it as a child. This is a relatively mild version of what we ate. Adventurous readers can increase the amount of spices.

Cut into pieces 2 lb boneless skinless chicken thigh or breast.
Marinade for 2-4 hours in 1 cup yogurt (with these spices mixed into the yogurt: 1/2 teaspoon each--turmeric, red chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, black pepper, salt to taste)

Chop fine: 1 large onion, 8 cloves garlic, 1 inch ginger

Fry in a saucepan in 6-8 tablespoons of oil: onion, ginger & garlic until light brown. Add the chicken pieces (not the marinade). Brown over medium heat.

Now add the marinade & 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Cook, covered, on low heat until chicken is fully cooked. (Maybe 15-20 minutes). Stir once in a while. If you want it creamier, you can add 2 T sour cream when chicken is half-done. Add more red chili powder if you want it hotter.

You can garnish this with toasted cashews.Serve with hot rice. (Basmati is a good option).Serves 4-6 people.

For a full meal, you can serve it with sliced cucumber, tomato and radish salad, the cauliflower curry recipe posted earlier, and mango ice cream, also posted earlier.

Enjoy!

Seduced by Facebook

2010-05-05T16:56:05Z

Since my novel One Amazing Thing was published a couple of months ago, I've been doing a lot of interviews. At some point, interviewers usually ask me about my use of social media--my blog, my twitter account, my Facebook author page. I cringe, because I know what's coming next. "You haven't been too regular about writing on your blog recently, have you?" I try to make excuses--travel, family emergencies, a new writing project, Ph.D. dissertations to read at the university. But I know they won't do. And indeed, canny interviewers see through them all. "I notice you've been pretty active on your Facebook page," they'll say. "You write there every day, sometimes even two or three times daily."

So I've decided to own up. Yes. I've been seduced by Facebook.

In trying to figure out why this is so (the blog, is after all, a creative, thoughtful medium where one can convey more meaningful meditations), I've come up with the following reasons.

I have a better sense of who's on my Facebook page. I admit that it's limited to a (perhaps photoshopped) image, a few questions or comments, or their answer to my discussion topic, "Who Are You, Dear Reader?" Still, it's better than the fake-name spammers that deluge my blog in the hopes that I will post their website. ("Wow cool I didn't knew this thanks." "My mate referred me here. Thank God he did. I will make a point to read your blog daily." "Intimately, the post is in reality the greatest on that notable topic." And my favorite, which I almost posted: "I can only cringe as I read this stuff. All I do is smile in disagreement.")

Since mine is a public author page, members are all there for some reason related to my books. They are readers. (Granted, some are forced to become readers by their teachers. But still). And so we have discussions about my books, which often broaden into discussions on literature. People list their favorite authors. People put up poems that have touched them. We discuss the philosophy behind the work. We discuss literacy nonprofits like Pratham, or Arts organizations like Writers in the Schools and Inprint Houston. Sometimes I quote lines and challenge people to tell me who the author is. (Alright, so people cheat and use google search. It's all part of the fun).

The responses are immediate. I confess, I'm part of our instant gratification culture, and it makes a difference that 5 seconds after I put up an entry, there are 4 likes on my page. In a few hours, there are comments and responses. It creates a sense of community, and in some cases, has given me deep comfort. When my mother was gravely ill in India, I asked for prayers on my facebook page before I boarded my flight. By the time I reached India, there were several scores of comments, offering prayers and wishing me luck and strength. When she passed away and I put that in an update, within a day, fifty or so Facebook friends had consoled me by sharing their stories of loss and their coping mechanisms. It was very helpful, and a lot easier to deal with than phone calls from friends and family, whose sympathy only made me break down each time. It was also very touching that all these people--who really, after all, had no reason to care for my sorrow--took time out of their busy lives to express that caring.

There are other great things about Facebook. Maybe I'll write about them in Seduced II. But I have to end now. I need to check on the responses to that writing tip I put up on my page (in between writing this article) 12 seconds ago.

Chitra's Facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/chitradivakaruni

A Favorite Holiday Dish from My Childhood: Pakoras

2009-12-05T01:05:33Z

What is it about favorite childhood foods? Somehow they live deep inside our minds and hearts. Foods we learn to eat as adults don't have the same kind of emotional hold on us, don't provide the same comfort. Perhaps this is because they are associated with that simpler time in our lives, those memories of being loved and protected and taken care of unconditionally, of diving headlong into life without worrying about consequences.

My mother used to make this snack on rainy monsoon afternoons in Kolkata, when the weather was just chilly enough to cuddle up under a quilt with my favorite book. She served it with mint-coriander chutney, and hot tea on the side. I've continued the tradition (adding spinach, which I love). I pass it on to you, my holiday gift.

Pakoras

1 cup besan flour (lentil flour--buy from an Indian grocery. You may substitute whole wheat flour, but the taste isn't the same)
1/2 c water
1/2 onion, chopped fine
1 t finely chopped ginger
1/2 t red chili powder (more or less, depending on how spicy you want it)
1/4 t each: coriander and cumin powder
1/4 t ajwain, crushed (optional; get from Indian store. Ajwain is a digestive spice)
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, defrosted, or 1 c chopped spinach leaves, fresh
salt to taste

Mix the besan and water to make a thick paste (similar to pancake batter--you might need to add a bit more water or besan). Add in all other ingredients.Mix well.

In a pan, heat vegetable or canola oil, enough to deep fry. (I know, I know, not the healthiest. But hey. We all have to live it up once in a while. Plus you'll be getting some spinach.) Drop the mix by spoonfuls into the hot oil. Turn over when one side is done. Remove when golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels & serve hot.

Chutney:
1 bunch cilantro or coriander leaf
a few sprigs mint leaf
a few T water
To taste: salt, green chilies (serrano or jalapeno), sugar, lime juice
Blend in food processor until it's a smooth paste, a little thinner than a dip.
Serve on the side with pakoras

If you're short on time, ketchup works almost as well as the chutney. (Sorry, Mom!)

A Conversation with Orhan, Part II

2009-11-29T20:51:59Z

Thanks to all of you who contacted me to say that you wanted more of my on-stage interview of Orhan Pamuk. Here are some more of his writing ideas/techniques.

Q: What would you say are some of the pros and cons of being a political writer?

To this, Pamuk responded by stating, quite firmly, that he doesn't consider himself a political writer. Only one of his novels, Snow, has overt political content. In the rest, we see the state of the country as it relates to the lives of the characters. Pamuk said that the problem with being a political writer is that immediately there are two sides, mine and the other's. My point of view becomes the right one. The other becomes wrong or harmful. But this is in conflict with the writer's enterprise, which is to try and understand all points of view, to try and treat all characters with compassion.

Q: You sometimes write the first sentence of your novel 50 or perhaps even 100 times. Could you comment on this?

To this, Pamuk responded, smiling, "Doesn't everyone? Well, then, they should!" He went on to explain that to him that first sentence sets the tone for the entire novel and once he gets it right, he can write the beginning chapter--and often the following chapters-- quite rapidly.

Pamuk brought out many of his ideas about fiction in the Norton lectures he gave earlier this year at Harvard. He told me they will be published in about a year, so watch for them.

My final question to Pamuk--which is often my last question during these onstage interviews, since many of my Creative Writing students are in the audience--was, What advice would you give to young writers?

To which Pamuk replied (the audience loved his answer), "Never listen to an old writer."

A Conversation with Orhan Pamuk

2009-11-21T21:31:45Z

The other night, Orhan Pamuk was in Houston, reading at Zilkha Hall, and I was asked by Inprint, the premiere arts organization of the city, to interview him onstage. A fascinating man, Pamuk had many unusual and thought-provoking things to say about writing. Below, I've paraphrased three of his answers.

I started by remarking on the fact that his novels--Snow, My Name is Red, Black Book, Museum of Innocence--are each very different. I asked if this is intentional, if he believes that it is important for a writer to do something new each time. Pamuk responded that yes, he believes this to be extremely important for a writer's growth, and also it enriches the reader's experience. Otherwise the reader's experience becomes formulaic--and this is what we see in commercial fiction. Pamuk doesn't want his readers to "know" ahead of time how to read his books. He wants them to "discover" it anew each time.

In his Norton lectures, delivered at Harvard some time back, Pamuk spoke of the novel having a "secret center" that the readers must search for via clues in the narrative. When I asked him to explain, he said that a good book deepens and changes as it goes along and becomes, in some way, about something more than what we thought it to be at first. For example, Moby Dick might seem to be a social novel about whale hunters; but after a while, a reader realizes that it is more--it is a psychological novel about a particular, deeply obsessed character. Still later, he realizes that it is a cosmic novel--about humanity and our relationship with Nature and perhaps God.

I asked him about the part Istanbul plays in his works--it is central to each of his novels, though it may be portrayed as a contemporary, historical, or magical city, depending on the text. Pamuk replied that the city is important to him because he grew up in it and it is part of him. He writes of it as an insider, and therefore to him it is a city filled with memory, association & the attendant emotions. (He pointed out that one can also write effectively about a city as an outsider, in which case one focuses on the things that are different--& thus strange or exotic--from one's home.) He also pointed out that there are two kinds of writers, primarily visual and primarily verbal. (He classifies himself as the first). The books of the former -think Proust & Tolstoy--are filled with details and colors and gestures the reader remembers vividly. The books of the latter--Pamuk places Dostoevsky in this group--are filled with ideas, tone and emotions that remain with us.

Pamuk had many other valuable things to say, of interest to not only writers but readers as well. Let me know if you would like another entry on this subject.

Beginning All Over Again

2009-08-26T14:11:35Z

The new semester started this week at the University of Houston, where I teach, and yesterday I met my first class, a Master Fiction Workshop. Often, the Master Workshop is the final class that our graduate students take before they do their thesis/dissertation defense, and by this point most of them are mature writers with a draft of their novel or short story collection. This year all the students have novels, so we will also be reading, side by side, published novels that I have assigned them based on their interests and their projects. We will start with Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Hesse's Siddhartha, novels that I love for different reasons, and analyze the way in which the writers have structured chapters. Along with the students, I know I will learn a great deal from this re-examination.

I feel very fortunate to be teaching. Teaching certainly has its challenges, but there is such a sense of renewal to it. Each semester I begin all over again. Each semester I have the opportunity to touch the lives of young writers and learn from them. At the end of the semester, there is a sense of closure as I turn in grades and the students go on to the next stage of their lives. It is a unique relationship. I am very fond of my students. We have (I think!) a lot of fun together as we learn. We are in a great enterprise together, the creation of art, and through it, the examination of humanity and this amazing universe we live in. Yet at the end of the semester I can let them go without a pang--because that's the way it's supposed to be. (But often I'm surprised and delighted by students who come back--maybe years later-- to let me know of their achievements).

I wish I could achieve this equanimity in other areas of my life!

P.S. I'm very interested in how people feel about their jobs, the challenges and satisfactions. Please do write your thoughts about what you do.

Driving Lessons

2009-07-09T18:16:31Z

One of my favorite quotes is from the movie The Journey, directed by Harish Saluja: Life Gets in the Way of Art. Every year I warn my graduate students in the Creative Writing program at the University of Houston to be prepared for unexpected busyness that will sabotage our writing. Well, humblingly, that's what has been happening to me this summer, with a son getting ready to leave for college, and another one learning to drive, and one of them joining a breakdance group, and both of them deciding to play the guitar . . . . You get the idea.

Anyway, as I've been helping my son practice driving (a character-building experience for us both), I've been musing on the similarities between being a good driver and living a spiritual life.

In Chapter 12 of the Bhagavat Gita, Krishna says, (my loose translation from the Sanskrit), "a person who does not make others anxious, nor allows anyone to cause anxiety in him, is a true devotee, dear to me." Isn't that at the heart of good driving?

How about the realization that if I hurt you, I can't escape getting hurt myself? That my good is bound up in your good? "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." (Matthew 7:12)

And when I remind my son to not go too fast on the freeway, nor too slow, and to stay in one of the lanes in the center, I'm reminded, literally, of the Buddhist practice of majjhimā paṭipadā, following the middle path.

I've been noticing a number of parallels between good writing practices and living the spiritual life, too. I'll discuss those another time.

Meanwhile, comments, anyone?