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- Reading responses must be AT LEAST 250 words.
- Include your full name at the end of your comments. Unnamed comments will be deleted.
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- Reading responses are due by midnight on the night PRIOR to our discussion of the required reading.
This is my response
ReplyDeleteLearning to fail better was probably my favorite chapter thus far. In the chapter LaPlante covers a lot of information that was very helpful for me. On page 428 on Advice for Writers from Writers, it was interesting to see their perspectives on revisions and drafts. It was cool to see other authors talk about their own struggles when it comes to revision and drafts. I quote, Joyce Grenfell “ Progress does not seem to come so very heavily disguised as chaos.” There is no such thing as perfection and that really helps me keep at ease. Like every writer I struggle to get a story told it takes me some time to get what I really want in my writing. As mentioned in the chapter drafts are for learning what your story is about. The chapter also talks about the workshops, which is similar to what we do in class. I have found the workshops helpful, and the exercises provided in the chapter seem to be really good as well. What I most liked from the chapter was the three written examples the revision, first draft, and the final story. It was helpful to see the three different aspects.
The Bath was pretty confusing at first. I read it twice and kind of understood it a little more. In the beginning when the car hit Scotty I thought it was weird how he just got up and walked back home. So he was awake and conscious at that point in the story. Then it got a little more interesting when he was at the hospital and seemed to be in a coma, but they never really mention if he is or not. I made my assumption because he was asleep and had woken up in days. I felt like the story was good and had good conflicts, but nothing's really ever said to confirm what’s going on. There's like very little communication going on. They talk about Scotty issues without really saying much. Then the Baker keeps interrupting in the story because he wants them to pay the cake, but again in the phone call with the father the Baker doesn't really communicate exactly what he wants from the father. The baker just says it's ready. I actually really like how there's conflict but not much telling in the story. The end was good too, I knew it was the darn baker calling about Scotty’s cake again, but they don’t say who it is. The reader is pretty much assuming it’s the baker, but who really knows if they don't say in the reading. I like this type of endings.
Lizette Garcia
Isaac J McCoy
ReplyDeleteNote: I lost the book, so I could not read the Chapter by ten as I have an exam from 7pm-10pm. I did find the short story online.
I loved the short story. I thought it was a little confusing at first but then realized that some of the dialogue and character interactions were actually the wishes and dreams of the characters rather than the reality of what had occurred. This opened my understanding of who they were as characters a little bit more than if the author had only narrated what had happened instead. Though the baker added a bit more sadness in the story during the foundation of the story, I don’t think he was relevant as the end of the story. Furthermore, the font and spacing for the first word in the beginning paragraph of every scene drove me nuts as I thought they were improperly spaced.
The chapter was quite agreeable with, except the title, I don’t agree with “learning to fail better”, I mean, why fail? Why should anyone learn to fail? And why fail better? Anyhow, everything else I agreed with, for instance with the workshopping part mentioned and how it can either hurt or can help writers, this can depend on not only who is part of the workshop, such as other students, but who is leading it, such as the professor. In my own personal experience, I’ve come to have past instructors who were really bad in this aspect, and their feedback was rude (this was when I started 2-year college) and because of this, I’ve come to create random stories and submit them to classes, but I cannot make myself turn works of mine I’m passionate about because, well, it hurts to have one’s story criticized, but badly criticized, when someone doesn’t know, in this class it’s different. WAY different. As per the story, it was an interesting story, absolutely interesting, and I liked the fact that the story rarely calls the characters by names, but by labels such as “birthday boy” “girl” etc. that one as a reader forgets they even have names. Other than this, the story was pretty clever. The theme revolved around lack of communication, and well, not only is there lack of communication between one character and another, but there is a lack of communication between the reader and the story. I saw what you did there, Carver.
ReplyDelete-Lizbet Cantu
The chapter was pretty interesting, I learned about different perspectives of viewing revisions. One that caught my attention was Christopher Isherwood’s quote that he makes 2 or 3 drafts for a piece as a revision. I did something similar for the first time this semester in another class, instead of revising an essay I started from scratch and I got a way higher grade by retelling the story in a new and fresh way. The chapter talked about other different methods of revision, and they each require a different perspective into editing a writing piece. By looking at these different perspectives we might see things the way a new reader would, leaving us able to find and fill out little missing holes.
ReplyDeleteThe short story The Bath did have my attention, but I didn’t really have much to take away from it. There was a lot of helplessness in the story, and it also seems to play on mystery. The mother and father have nothing to rely on but waiting for the nurses and doctor to come and give updates, through the entire story there is nothing they are able to do to benefit their child. But also there’s several mysterious things in the story. From the mysterious car that hit the birthday boy to the father receiving “mysterious” calls from the Baker, and along with the doctor being vague about not calling Scotty’s sleep a coma, mystery tends to play several parts. Overall, it was a great way to show the result of fear in a helpless situation.
-Jesus Pena
Out of all the quotes that are in this chapter, I felt the most connected to Joyce Grenfell’s words. The reason being, is the chase of perfection. Just like many of us, we want to be that writer who a “best-selling” novelists and critically acclaimed to the point where our name is memorable to the eyes of many. However, I sometimes can’t stand to look at my old work, it just serves as a reminder that I’m not at the level that I want to be at. On the other hand, it sometimes works in the manner in which I want to push myself and prove my own pessimistic mind wrong. In addition to the workshop process, I’ve only had one decent workshop that was for my Creative Non-Fiction class that I took a couple semesters ago. Asides from that, I’ve never gotten sufficient feedback from peers or even my friends who claimed that they support what I do, but I won’t get into that matter. The point is, I can relate to “The Workshop Method” portion in the chapter. Initially, what I am getting out of this chapter, is to surround yourself with other writers who share the same goals as you and are not “snakes in the garden” as stated on page 430. It is vital to surround yourself with others who won’t be biased and will actually take the time out of their day to read your work, as well as provide adequate feedback and not the “it’s good” comment that I have received many times. In my perspective, I believe that if I could surround myself with a positive faction of individuals, then maybe I would take my writing more seriously. As of now, it’s still up in the air if I wish to pursue this.
ReplyDeleteI might be digressing a bit, but I can’t help be reminded of the video game, “Heavy Rain”, when I read this story. In regards to the title, it seems the reference is in correspondence to the parents going to the house to clean up after elongated hours of worry for their son. Whenever I think of a bath, I correlate it with soaking in the tub, collecting your thoughts, and going through them one by one. The story sort of plays out in this manner. There is a sort of melancholy to it, and the jump cuts are executed as individual thoughts, in my opinion. In addition, the contradictory of the cake and the boy, does tug my strings a bit, since it’s supposed to be the boy’s day for celebration, yet he is spending it in the hospital. In addition, the story reads fairly quick and easy, and I wouldn’t say there is a lack of details, but it seems the author wants us to put the scenes together and create our own chronological sense of it. Overall, I enjoyed it, I’m wondering why this specific story is in this chapter though. Hmm, probably has to do with it probably being longer in the first draft, but then it was cut down to open up its many ways of interpretation.
Patricio Hernandez (P.J.)
Chapter thirteen deals with the most difficult part in the writing progress, revision. A lot of people are very self-conscious about their work, and so tips, aids and help given about their stories can sometimes be hard to process, sometimes we might even get offended. But, this chapter wants to make it clear that these critics and tips are only for the benefit of the writer. I liked that in this chapter LePlante spends a large part of it talking about workshops. She has tips and counters to the benefit of having such activities. I thought it was really interesting how she breaks apart everything we have been doing in the semester. I think this chapter would have been a great read earlier in the semester. In the beginning, I had no clue how to workshop other people’s stories, I learned through trial and error. I think this chapter would have been very useful back in the beginning when workshopping was still a relatively brand new idea to me. The exercises in this chapter were the most so far, but they all sound really useful. In the end, I found comfort in LePlantes words that this chapter wasn’t a guide, and that every writer does their revision differently, and that was perfectly fine. This week’s story, “The Bath”, was among the saddest ones we’ve read so far. It starts bright and cheerful, and ends with sadness, misery, and shock. What should have been one of the happiest days in Scotty and his parents’ life turned into a tragedy, one that the author, Raymond Carver, makes the reader feel.
ReplyDeleteFlavio Hernandez
I liked that LaPlante was saying something unexpected again in this chapter because I’ve always felt that sometimes workshops aren’t helpful, as well. The developmental stages from initial generating to copyediting, with summaries of what each entail, are useful. Clarifying that stories in their beginning stages shouldn’t be workshopped is great because I know there were some stories we workshopped for class that were fresh, and I could feel that the feedback I was giving wasn’t helpful because the story was so obviously new and still be worked out, but our grade depends on whether we give feedback or not, so.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t read all of “A Small, Good Thing,” I just kind of glanced over it, but the first thing I noticed, of course, was that it was really long compared to “The Bath.” Obviously the original was cut down a lot in the revision process. And I also noticed, from the small bits that I read, that in “A Small Good Thing,” the dialogue was more believable and
Who am I to question a successful writer’s writing? But in reading “The Bath,” I definitely had LaPlante’s words echoing in the back of my mind, when she said that revision can sometimes be harmful… I thought even the skimmings I read of “A Small, Good Thing” were far more interesting than “The Bath” only because I find actual narrative-like stories more interesting than stories that are written with focus mostly on how they’re technically written, but that just comes down to personal preference…
-Nicole Hawke
This chapter is particularly interesting. I think it has it’s pros and cons. Mostly there is pros and one definitely being the exercises LaPlante offers the readers for the revision processes. I loved reading that section because it’s definitely one of the most helpful things LaPlante has done in the whole book. I really like the creative exercises only because I love to test/challege my creativity. I definitely agree with LaPlante that “perfection is our enemy”. When it was my turn to be workshopped, I wanted to write something amazing (just like she says all students do). I might be in the wrong business here because I am a sensitive person and I get discouraged really, really, really easy. After my workshop, I was discouraged not because of my peers but because I felt that a failed as a writer with a generic cliche story. However, LaPlante discusses this in the chapter as well and even points out how “it can be very discouraging to have each and every flaw pointed out– and not even pointed out, but eagerly discussed and denounced” (431). What I try to do with everyone’s workshop is to actually give comments but be mindful of their feelings, as well– and personally, I love the workshops. Which is the only con I have about this chapter since LaPlante seems not to like. Other than that, this is a great chapter for the people who already have been workshop (nearly everyone) and how to get an idea to take the direction of their short story. I started off absolutely embarrassed and unhappy about my work but now after my third revision of the same short story, I absolutely love it more. I can’t wait to try the exercises from this chapter.
ReplyDelete“The Bath” is such a strange story. Carver is such a confusing guy but in an amazing way. I swear, this short story felt like a mind game and it left me confused just like when I watched Christopher Nolan’s Memento for the first time (I realize I always reference Memento but seriously, it is such a masterpiece). Another thing, and this is completely out of topic, but the fact that the kids name is Scotty and the cake is a spaceship theme– Star Trek anybody? Nevertheless, I skimmed through the other short story “A Small, Good Thing” and obviously, besides the length, there is a difference. While “The Bath” has a lot of dialogue, there is a lack of communication that has the reader clueless at times that they need to reread the story. Of course the bath could represent something that distracts the parents from their painful reality, or maybe it doesn’t. That is the thing with Carver’s stories. Another way to look at it, it’s the baker who just wants to get paid. Just a really weird short story.
Emily D'Gyves
This chapter is definitely one of my favorites. I liked that what was written in it was very relatable. I am relatively new to creative writing and sometimes have to accept the fact that the first draft of a story is not going to be perfect and that there will probably be many revisions needed to be able to create a great story. This chapter helped me see that it is okay to not be perfect, that revision is enjoyable and that it takes time. I get distracted easily, but knowing that "the creative process is not linear," it's ok for me to go from here to there, taking time to revise my writing. I've been struggling coming up with a good ending for my story and enjoyed the types of exercises we can engage in to be creative and continue writing. I liked that LaPlante included various drafts of the same story, it really showed how the author progressed as each draft was continued, which is what I hope to achieve when writing my story.
ReplyDeleteThe short story for this chapter was not what I expected it to be. I was not expecting a story about a child who ends up in a hospital on his birthday. I enjoyed that it was simplistic and the significance of the shower. It did jump from here to there, to back here, but I feel that it works. It shows the highlights of these people's lives and how in an instant life is bound to change .
-Daniela Hernández
Learning to Fail Better, is by far the greatest title, ever. I like knowing that I’m a loser, but now I can be a better loser, it’s like a dream of mine. I’m not gonna lie, I dug this chapter. I have this anxiety when I want to write a story, because I know it’s going to a horrendous piece of steamy crap. I don’t know what other writers think but I feel like when I write my short story, I must get it right one the first try. That never happens. I always produce a polish turd and it leaves me feeling discouraged. With Learning to Fail Better, it helped me understand that what I produce, will always need revision. Writing is always rewriting and I’ve taken that advice with a grain of salt.
ReplyDeleteEven though this chapter was helpful, I felt the advice wonder off into tangents about the writer’s personal feelings about workshops. I kinda had the feeling that Laplante, came home after bad Workshop, and vented her frustration onto this chapter. I don’t think it was necessary to include the Workshop, because this chapter, for me, felt like it was aimed at the writer and how to self-edit or revise. I didn’t find it necessary to include the Workshop group.
In Raymond Carver, The Bath, I was happy to see a pro, like Carver to write such a bad first draft. Come on, it’s like finding out girl’s fart or the President takes dumped. It made me realize that no matter who the writer is, the first draft should never be the final draft. I thought this story was alright, but that’s me being nice. I found it super sloppy and hard to figure out who was who.
Mathew "fatmat" Betancourt