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| Raymond Carver's Inspiration |
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| Short story writer Raymond Carver once said:
"For several days I'd been going around with this sentence in my head: "He was running the vacuum cleaner when the telephone rang." I knew a story was there and that it wanted telling. I felt it in my bones, that a story belonged with that beginning, if I could just have the time to write it. I found the time, an entire day -- twelve, fifteen hours even -- if I wanted to make use of it. I did, and I sat down in the morning and wrote the first sentence, and other sentences promptly began to attach themselves. I made the story just as I'd make a poem; one line and then the next, and the next. Pretty soon I could see a story, the one I'd been wanting to write. I have that opening line and then everything seems to radiate out from that line." That story eventually became "Put Yourself in My Shoes." Have you ever had a line that kept playing in your mind like a song stuck in your head you couldn't shake? Write down that line, if you haven't already done so. If you don't have anything in mind, freewrite for 15 minutes and see what comes up. Tuck it away. Now start a story or freewrite using Carver's line, "He was running the vacuum when the phone rang." As always...have fun with it! For more information on Raymond Carver check out these links: http://www.whitman.edu/english/carver/carver.cgi http://www.todayinliterature.com/biography/raymond.carver.asp |
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