Munro says in this
introduction and numerous essays that she doesn’t necessary start writing or
reading a story from beginning to end. She says that she often starts anywhere
and might read or write a story either backward or forward in an effort to see
the full experience from different perspectives. And while this might sound odd
to some readers and writers, I understand this search for perspective.
I
had an “Aha” moment when I first read this, because I do that too. I’ve
thought about it often and recently, I mentioned to a writer friend,
that I don’t necessarily start a story and work chronologically, whether I’m
reading it or writing it. I find the beginning, middle, and ending as the story unfolds in multiple readings and revisions. The center of a story burns like a white hot rock in my consciousness. I know that a story is there - just a bit out of direct sight, but I know that a story can be elusive, until I begin to put it on the page. I read that Flannery O'Connor said that she didn't know what she had to say until she saw it on the page.
 |
| One of My Favorites. |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alice Ann Munro is a Canadian short-story
writer, the winner of the 2009 Man Booker International Prize for her lifetime
body of work, a three-time winner of Canada's Governor General's Award for
fiction.
About Jan Bowman
Jan Bowman’s fiction has appeared in
numerous publications including, Roanoke Review, Big Muddy, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday, Minimus, Buffalo
Spree (97), Folio, The Potomac Review and others. Glimmer Train named a recent story as
Honorable Mention in the November 2012 Short Story Awards for New Writers.
Winner of 2011 Roanoke Review Fiction Award, and her stories have been
nominated for Pushcart Prizes, Best
American Short Stories, Pen/O’Henry Awards and a story was a finalist in
the “So
To Speak” Fiction Contest. Another story was a recent finalist (April 2013) in the Annual Phoebe Fiction Contest. She is working on two
collections of short stories while shopping for a publisher for a completed
story collection. Learn more at www.janbowmanwriter.com or
visit blog: http://janbowmanwriter.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment