As part of our first homework assignment, we were to create this blog. We were given three questions to answer at some point in our first post, but I felt that this question deserved its own forum. What makes literature great? For me, it is the title of this blog. Verisimilitude, the quality of appearing real. No matter how fantastical your story is, if you can make it feel real, you have succeeded in creating a piece of great literature.
I have read countless books by popular young adult authors, and I would never call them literature. The stories are simply too unrealistic. The emotions, the settings - there was nothing for me to relate to, nothing I connected with. On the other hand, there are books I've read that were written hundreds of years ago that till touch my heartstrings. Shakespeare...mere lines from his works can soothe the soul or inflame the senses. Jane Austen...even over a hundred years later, and in a completely different culture, we can sympathize with her characters.
Moving into this century, we have authors like Louis L'Amour, one of the greatest Western writers of all times. His stories are particularly austere, no flowery speech, no flamboyant descriptions, just story. Yet he managed to make his tales real. I read one of his books for the first time at age sixteen and loved it. My older sister was twenty, and she loved it. My youngest sister was but thirteen, and she loved it. How is it that an author can write a book that related to all of us? He made the stories real. That's all it takes - verisimilitude. Give your story the appearance of reality, and you have succeeded. Make your stories believable, and you have triumphed. Make them connect with your audience, and you have accomplished your goal.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Beginnings
To say that I like words would be a grave understatement. To say that I am hopelessly in love with them, addicted to them, completely and wholeheartedly enraptured by them would be far more accurate. I've always adored words, ever since I was a child, and that is what inspired me to write, which, in a roundabout way, is why I signed up for ENG 121: The Short Story.
I didn't really know what to expect when I registered for it. I was one of those late-registers, the kids whose plans fall through and they find themselves registering for classes a week before they start. Needless to say, most of the classes I needed were full, you know, classes like College Writing. I was lucky, they made an exception and slipped me into this class, ENG 121: The Short Story. I was beyond excited. I love short stories, I always have, and now I get to take a class that's solely focused on them? I couldn't have been happier.
Of course, that's not to say that I wasn't apprehensive. I think every student has doubts before starting new classes. What if it's a horrible professor? What if I hate the class? What if they ruin the material for me? Luckily, none of that happened. Not to be cliched, but I have a really good feeling about it. The material we're going to cover seems fascinating, the professor seems to truly love the subject, and I can't wait to see what happens next.
There are so many things I'm hoping to get out of this class, from a better understanding of the mechanics of a short story, to the multitude of styles and authors out there today. I'm hoping to better develop my own skills as a writer, and expose myself to the many different cultural aspects of writing as well. I suppose I'm an overachiever, but there's so many things I'm hoping to do during the course of this class. Besides the classic "going to get good grades" and "going to make sure I don't procrastinate on my papers," I'd also like to rework my own stories...polish them up once I've learned more about short stories. I have so many little bits that I've written over the years, but not one of them is completely finished. The drafts are finished, but every one of them still needs work, be it a sentence here, or a paragraph there.
Hopefully someday I'll have them finished, but knowing me, I'll never be satisfied with them. I'll always think there's something that can be fixed, a word that can be changed. And who knows? Maybe no one is ever completely satisfied with what they write. I guess the only thing that truly matters is that you write what you love and love what you write.
I didn't really know what to expect when I registered for it. I was one of those late-registers, the kids whose plans fall through and they find themselves registering for classes a week before they start. Needless to say, most of the classes I needed were full, you know, classes like College Writing. I was lucky, they made an exception and slipped me into this class, ENG 121: The Short Story. I was beyond excited. I love short stories, I always have, and now I get to take a class that's solely focused on them? I couldn't have been happier.
Of course, that's not to say that I wasn't apprehensive. I think every student has doubts before starting new classes. What if it's a horrible professor? What if I hate the class? What if they ruin the material for me? Luckily, none of that happened. Not to be cliched, but I have a really good feeling about it. The material we're going to cover seems fascinating, the professor seems to truly love the subject, and I can't wait to see what happens next.
There are so many things I'm hoping to get out of this class, from a better understanding of the mechanics of a short story, to the multitude of styles and authors out there today. I'm hoping to better develop my own skills as a writer, and expose myself to the many different cultural aspects of writing as well. I suppose I'm an overachiever, but there's so many things I'm hoping to do during the course of this class. Besides the classic "going to get good grades" and "going to make sure I don't procrastinate on my papers," I'd also like to rework my own stories...polish them up once I've learned more about short stories. I have so many little bits that I've written over the years, but not one of them is completely finished. The drafts are finished, but every one of them still needs work, be it a sentence here, or a paragraph there.
Hopefully someday I'll have them finished, but knowing me, I'll never be satisfied with them. I'll always think there's something that can be fixed, a word that can be changed. And who knows? Maybe no one is ever completely satisfied with what they write. I guess the only thing that truly matters is that you write what you love and love what you write.
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