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Emanuel
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Emanuel
Post Number: 244
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, September 08, 2006 - 03:04 pm: | 
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In the interview with Edward P. Jones on the following page, he says he doesn't have to use real life events because he can use his imagination to create stories (last paragraph). What do you think about that idea? Is it better for writers to create completely imagined stories? Or should writers use a bit of or lots of the truth to make stories zing?
http://www.bookpage.com/0609bp/edward_p_jones.html |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 6465
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, September 08, 2006 - 03:13 pm: |
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Don't the very best stories blend reality and fantasy?
I think they do.
I don't think a good story has to be empirically factual. But what it must do is seem to ring 'true' within the context of the author's tale AND within the mind and heart of the reader.
I think where an author will stumble is when he either makes things up and pretend them to be true OR pilfers and plagarizes the works and lives of others and then pretend he alone has created such. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 2725
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, September 08, 2006 - 03:25 pm: |
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I think that is fine but it will affect how one's work is categorized. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 5137
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, September 08, 2006 - 04:24 pm: |
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Well, y'all KNOW Edward P. Jones sounds like my kind of guy. All I'd require is that a writer be in sync with the era he writing about so as to make the story seem plausible, - unless he's writing in the sci-fi genre and the characters are time travelers. And, actually, all fiction writers make up their stories, don't they? Whatever. At this juncture in my reading sojourn I like anything that veers away from the old formulaic style of writing. And I have no problem with a writer telling me a story he's imagined instead of showing me his version of something that really happened - as long as his narrative is compellng! |
Jackie
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Jackie
Post Number: 215
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 09, 2006 - 02:27 am: |
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In 2004 @ Hurston/Wright, Edward P. Jones was one of our guests and Jones said the same thing about A Known World. The story was in head for years. I'd have to agree with Cynique though, as long as it's good story telling I could care less if it's based on factual events or not. |
Chrishayden
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 2737
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 09, 2006 - 11:36 am: |
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At this point I must respectfully disagree:
Suppose a writer created a totally made up story where, after a nuclear war the blacks took over and enslaved the whites. In addition to making eunuchs of all white men and mistresses of all white women, they practiced cannibalism on them from time to time.
I am not making this up. This is the plot of Farnhams Freehold by Robert Heinlein (for years one of the Big Three of Sci Fi, with Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke).
The Science was innovative. The story was good. And the whole thing nauseated me.
So there are obvious limits to how entertaining an author's invention can be. |
Always_lurking
Regular Poster
Username: Always_lurking
Post Number: 45
Registered: 02-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 13, 2006 - 11:09 am: |
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Chris, how could you disagree? Your example just proves that you didn't like that particular story. Someone can make up a completely different story based solely on his or her imagination and have a totally different affect. Although Jones' comments seem to insult writers that do use live events, I can't totally disagree with him. However, I myself can't imagine regurgitating someone else's life without imagining some crazy stuff happening. |
Emanuel
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Emanuel
Post Number: 245
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 13, 2006 - 12:35 pm: |
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I think the best fiction has some element of truth in it. To simply take a true story, change the names and change small details may not be all that creative and may require using "less of a brain" but it's done all the time. I imagine if someone didn't want to get involved in a lawsuit, they would change a memoir to a fictional account and change the names. It still requires skill to make fiction based on a true story a good read. However, I've been entertained by fiction based on fact and fiction that is totally imagined. |
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