You mentioned earlier that Uptown Downtown, which I've just
barely started, was highly autobiographical, as I can see
from your above description. I was wondering how you deal
with autobiographal material while writing. How much is
truth, how much invention? I'm not so much asking what in the
book is true as about the writing process of using and
changing life into literature. I know that's kind of vague,
but any insight would be appreciated.
The key is to have a story to tell,
which, usually, has nothing to do with you personally. In
other words the "story" is imagined, abstracted, generalized,
made universal as Aristotle (WOW) said fiction must. Your
story is not what happened to you, nor is it about you. It
has been drawn from your experiences, but is not about you.
The facts of your life are used as they were, but bent to an
imaginative purpose. You select and extrapolate from your own
experience to make a story that can be meaningful to
anyone.
Dennis
As for autobiographical, though, I'm curious about how
immersed you were in the early '60s Village folk scene. You
mentioned knowing Leadbelly slightly. Did you know other
principals on the scene? Were you a spectator or did you
play, like your character? Were you actively involved in the
politics of the time?
Mark
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
--------------------~--> What would our lives be like
without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the
arts today at Network for Good!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/pkgkPB/SOnJAA/Zx0JAA/kqIolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email
to:
rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 30 May 2005 EDT