Rothko's Rolodex

5 responses to “Finally”

1. 

   everydayispoetry

   April 1, 2025 at 7:21 pm

   Of the various praises and encouragements (along with the critiques) that I got when I was doing my MFA, the one that still sticks with me was a fellow student saying, after hearing a piece of mine, “I would read a book of that.” Not “interesting stuff” or “I like such and such a line” or “cool shit!” (or even laughter—though laughter is precious, let me tell you!), but “I would read that—if there were more of it.” Which continues to make me want to do just that: write more of it. He let me know (and I have never forgotten) that there was an audience of at least one out there besides myself—and if there’s one, there must be more.

   So I find myself wishing to say to you—not because you necessarily need the encouragement, but because it’s true: I would read a book of this. I hope it becomes available so I can do that someday.

   Reply
   1. 

      Rothko’s Rolodex

      April 2, 2025 at 2:47 pm

      Wow. Thank you so very much for this wonderful comment. It is especially sweet and needed, given the place I’m in right now with it. You’ve inspired me to post on where I find myself in this process.

      Reply
      1. 

         everydayispoetry

         April 2, 2025 at 7:49 pm

         This may have been clear, but just in case it wasn’t: by I would read a book of this, I meant your fiction. The missing of missing typewriter shops, the Jane who made everything, everything better and was eating then, the skin in jars.

         Though more writing about writing, or not writing, is always good too.

      2. 

         Rothko’s Rolodex

         April 2, 2025 at 9:30 pm

         Thank you, more than I can say. That italicized phrase means more than you probably know.

         Where I’m at right now, is this: There are a few versions of said book. I need to re-arrange the bolts of fabric. I may even change something very elemental. Bring a character back to life, use a plot device I normally would never consider. An agent suggested it, and now I think it would be fun. But would it be too much? Too many layers and flavors in the cake?
         Rhetorical questions. And to paraphrase another agent, I can’t plot for shit.

      3. 

         everydayispoetry

         April 3, 2025 at 7:50 pm

         Some thoughts on plot, in case you’re interested:

         Plot, schmot.

         In other words:  if your writing is rich, compelling, and alive on the level of the word, sentence, paragraph, then you don’t need a plot. And if it isn’t, a plot ain’t gonna fix it.

         Or, to give you my version of something I’ve heard G. Saunders say more than once:  You don’t need to get the reader to want to read the whole book.  You just need to get them to want to read the next sentence.

         I find myself wanting to read your next sentences.

         There are people who read mostly for plot, and people who read mostly for other things. I am one of the latter, and I tend to be suspicious of stuff that is too plotty—suspicious of the book, suspicious of the author, suspicious of myself.  When you said you couldn’t plot for shit, that made me more interested in your writing, not less.

         Keep in mind the caveat that I am someone who is writing a largely plotless (but not structureless) novel, and that my MFA was in poetry.  Oh, that explains a lot, I can hear someone saying.  Maybe, but it doesn’t make me wrong. 

         For me it’s structure that matters, on all scales of the work.  But of course there are so many things that can shape a book: time, space/place, the evolution and development of ideas, tone, repetition and variation, relation to the page, sometimes completely arbitrary things that the book makes meaning out of. (These are the things that I’m working with on my project, anyhow.)  And yeah, plot can structure things too, but it’s far from the only way. 

         All of that said, your playing around with plot and form and characters sounds like a lot of fun.