novel musings

I've been reading Margaret Atwood's Curious pursuits for a second time. She ponders over what is the purpose of the novel. I say that the purpose of the novel is transformation. Either transformation within the novel or to transform the reader and take them elsewhere. I've also been reading Julia Cameron's Walking in the World and she makes an important point- that art as the business is seperate from art the creative process. It's so easy to mix up the two, especially when thinking about what you want to achieve and looking back at what you have achieved. I have had a long lull between books and I think I've needed it- I still have yet to conquer the novel form- I have been writing Digging up the bones in bits and pieces and maybe that is the way I work, to work in pieces or smaller stories and then tie them up into a whole. That's different from people who have larger capacities to tell stories I think- or more room in their minds!
I've also had a long supervision session with Kathleen Fallon about Bones. I have been struggling with the voice of the grandmother and she pointed out that it is harder to write about people that we know- they can come out two dimensional- it's easier to fictionalise. I have decided to try and fictionalise Bones more so it will be easier- never let the truth get in the way of a good story! Another thing that Brian Castro said in his masterclass was- just because it's true doesn't mean it's good. I think he may have a point there...