It's like everyone tells a
story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story
makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.
~ Patrick Rothfuss
Tomorrow
marks the beginning of that madcap dash into the world of words and word
counts: National Novel Writing Month – affectionately known as NaNo. I didn’t sign up this year, but throughout
the month of November, I’ll be highlighting authors, their books, and the
writing process.
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W
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e all live in a story.
Some of us
just happen to narrate our own stories.
We are sometimes called crazy. Sometimes
we are.
We are writers.
And it is
both our gift and our curse to live in the midst of a jungle of words – poetry intermingled
with prose. Some of our stories have
tragic ends. A few have happily ever
afters.
But all
some have moments of happiness and joy.
Moments, that if they are gathered up, would shine a light on the
darkest dramas and mysteries.
Throughout
the month of NaNo November, I will highlight different authors and their books. Because you can’t become a good writer, if
you aren’t a good reader.
Today marks the launch of a new blog
series, The Happiness Plot by novelist, screenwriter,
children's author, playwright, Daniel McInerny. This
blog series focuses on storytelling and the quest for happiness and will be
available as an ebook by the end of the month.
Join us in
the La Belle library, where we’ve just sat down with a pot of Earl Grey.
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| Image: Google Images |
Why do
you write?
I write because I love to contemplate the human
predicament through the means of beautiful language.
Name two mentors who
influenced your writing.
My father, Ralph McInerny, and all my high
school English teachers, who as a group were exceptionally gifted at teaching
the fundamentals of writing.
Name five writers you
recommend (any genre).
Evelyn Waugh
P.G. Wodehouse
Flannery O’Connor
Muriel Spark
Walker Percy
What is the
toughest challenge you face as a writer?
I struggle to be a
more “seat-of-your-pants” writer, making up the story as I go along, line by
line. This is an important struggle for me because my entrenched analytical
habits (I hold a PhD in philosophy and taught in academia for many years),
while immensely valuable, can also be a hindrance to creative work. Thus I am
trying to learn not to plot and analyze too much ahead of the moment of actual
composition.
Describe your writing
process.
I tend to get an idea
for a story long before, sometimes years before, I actually begin writing a
first draft. The thing often begins as a series of scraps and influences and
vague possibilities that I collect in a notebook. It takes me a long time, and
more than one false start, before I have a firm sense of what I’m doing, which
is typically toward the end or even after the first draft.
What does your writing
space look like?
Dreary. Home
office in the basement. No windows. Rickety desk with a broken leg. Horribly
uncomfortable chair. Insufficient shelf space.
I can’t think of a more perfect place to write.
Your new series on
storytelling, The Happiness Plot, begins today.
What inspired you to write this?
And what can writers (and readers) learn from it?
I really love James
Wood’s little book, How Fiction Works, with its pithy 200-word sections.
It occurred to me that
these sections were just about the length of a blog post and that Wood’s book
provided a good model for a series of posts on storytelling structure. My
contribution to all the “how-to” material in this area concerns the link
between story structure and our human quest for happiness. I believe
understanding this link allows us to tell more emotionally moving,
intellectually satisfying, beautiful stories.
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| Daniel McInerny |
The series is
perfectly timed for those participating in National Novel Writing Month in November. As soon as the series is done at the end of
November, I’m going to collect the posts into an ebook, with the addition of
some bonus material I’m sending out to the folks on my email list. I further
plan on doing further blog series on other aspects of writing and the writing
life.
All this material is great for lovers of fiction as well.
Give 3 brief words of
advice for writers.
Sit. Now. Begin
Anything new in the works?
Currently I’m writing a novel for adults as well
as returning my play, The Actor, about the young Saint John Paul II’s
subversive theatrical activities during the Nazi occupation of Poland, back
into its original form as a musical. A producer has shown some interest in the
work and right now I’m doing a revision based upon his and another friend’s
notes.
Thanks for stopping by, Daniel!
To follow the storytelling adventure and to
subscribe to Daniel’s email list to receive cool bonus content and a free
storytelling consultation, go to The Happiness Plot.
For more info on the Kingdom of Patria series
for children, go to www.kingdomofpatria.com.
Oremus pro invicem,
~
Mikaela
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