Blog Migration

You may have noticed that I haven't been posting much lately. That's partly because I've been swamped and partly because I've been developing a new integrated website and blog. Beginning today, Perpetual Folly can be found at a new location:

PerpetualFolly.com

That site, which is integrated with my website, CliffordGarstang.com, is still under construction, but is now functional. I need to do some organization in the new place, but I hope you will visit me there.

Tips for Writers: "Alright" is not all right.

I don't know where "alright" came from, but it's not standard and should not be used in writing. I see it in submissions and student work all the time, though, so I'm afraid that it has gained some level acceptance. Not with me, though.

According to Garner's Modern American Usage, "Alright" for "all right" has never been accepted as standard in American English (although Garner notes that Gertrude Stein used it--"not much of a recommendation," he says). Apparently it is more common in British English.

Garner says no to "alright," and so do I.

The New Yorker: "Referential" by Lorrie Moore

May 28, 2012: “Referential” by Lorrie Moore

If it weren’t for the Q&A with Lorrie Moore I would not have known that this story by Lorrie Moore is derivative (Moore uses the word “homage”) of “Signs and Symbols” by Vladimir Nabokov, a story published in the magazine in 1948. Although that story is a starting point, Moore seems to be going somewhere else with it, although I can’t say that for sure having not read the original. (This story is behind the paywall.)

Moore’s story is about a widow whose teenage son is institutionalized because he is a danger to himself, and has been for a long time. It isn’t always clear why kids are like that, and it’s not clear in this case, although his father died when he was young. For the past several years, the mother has been in a relationship with Peter, who is something of a step-father to the boy, but the boy’s deepening trouble appears to have been too much for Peter to handle and he’s been pulling away. In this story, the separation is nearly complete. And yet the mother wants to bring the boy home—an act, it seems to me, that could have only one result. And maybe that’s what she really wants.

The story is short and readable, but not, for me, as good as many other Moore stories I’ve read. If anyone has read the Nabokov, I’d love to hear comments about it.

Short Story Month: "Cousin Barnaby is Dead" in Joyland

Usually, I'm all over Short Story Month. Not this year, though, and I'm sorry about that. I've got a book coming out in the fall and I'm revising another book that will soon be shopped around to publishers (I hope), and I've been too busy.

But, a story of mine just appeared in a cool online magazine, Joyland. So that will have to be my contribution to the celebrations of short fiction: Cousin Barnaby is Dead. I hope you like it.

The New Yorker: "The Proxy Marriage" by Maile Meloy

May 21, 2012: “The Proxy Marriage” by Maile Meloy

I loved this story, except for the beginning and the ending. Regarding the ending, I suppose I shouldn’t stay too much, although (a) the story is online for free and I urge everyone to read it and (b) there is something of a spoiler in the Q&A with Maile Meloy. While I am not opposed to happy endings in general, when they are overly sentimental (sealed with a kiss!), they spoil the whole reading experience for me.

As for the beginning, I had just finished explaining to a student why she needed to reconsider the overabundance of the verb “to be” in her story. And by “just” I mean immediately before I read “The Proxy Marriage.” Count ’em. In the first paragraph, containing five sentences, “to be” is used six times. Ugh. Kids, don’t try this at hime.

So, none too promising, the beginning leads into a nice story about William and Bridey, high school pals. He loves her (but is shy), she’s oblivious. At some point they begin to serve as proxies for weddings, a strange thing that Montana law apparently allows. It kills William. Bridey still doesn’t get it. They go off to college and live their lives, occasionally coming back and doing more weddings. Until finally one of the couples is present by Skype and wants the wedding sealed with a proxy kiss. William kisses Bridey, instant chemistry, and their lives are changed forever.

There’s some great dialogue and William especially feels real. (I loved it when he goes from college in Ohio to graduate school in Indiana and his girlfriend at the time berates him: “You’re tired of Ohio, so you’re going to Indiana?” she says.)

So. It’s a nice story. She lost me with the ending. 

New Update for Prime Number

The latest update of Prime Number Magazine has gone live! 19.2 features flash fiction by Brian Conlon, Robert Kaye, and John Duncan Talbird, a short essay by Alice Lowe, and poetry by Michael Kriesel, and Ira Sukrungruang.

Please take a look! The magazine is always looking for good work, so please submit.

The New Yorker: "Sweet Dreams" by Peter Stamm

May 14, 2012: “Sweet Dreams” by Peter Stamm

It’s a little difficult to discuss this story, which is translated from the German, without revealing its ending, although the author does in the Q&A with Peter Stamm, which I recommend that you wait to read until after you’ve read the story. Likewise, don’t read this discussion until you’ve read the story (which, unfortunately, is behind the pay wall).

Lara and Simon are a young couple living together in a Swiss village. Lara is somewhat unsure of herself, and wonders if her relationship with Simon will last. Simon declares his love, but also seems unsure. On their way home from the city where they work, Lara sees a man on the bus who looks familiar. Later, in the restaurant below their flat, she catches a glimpse of the man on television. Lara and Peter get a little drunk and make love, twice, on the floor of their Ikea-furnished apartment. Peter goes to bed, but Lara gets up and watches television, where she sees the man again.

All very conventional, but not very interesting. What’s interesting is that the conversation on the talk show, between the host and a writer, is about an idea he’s had for a story after seeing a young couple on the bus. The suggestion, at the end, is that Lara and Simon are the characters he has invented.

This twist at the end is fun, but personally I felt the story should have prepared us for the possibility that the characters are just characters. Still, the open-endedness of the young couple's lives, the sense that anything could happen--not only because they have their lives ahead of them but also because the writer has not yet written their story--is appealing.  

Tips for Writers: Which vs. That

Let’s try to untangle a knot that some writers find themselves in: how to know when to use “which” and when to use “that.” The question arises today because of a story I’m editing. 

The story, which consists mostly of one wonderfully long sentence, necessarily contains a lot of relative clauses in order to get from beginning to end. Both “which” and “that” are relative pronouns, so it’s no surprise that both appear frequently in this piece.

Using “which” when “that” is called for is a common error, but grasping the difference isn’t that hard.

Take a look at Chicago Manual of Style 5.202 (I’m using CMOS 15) on Word Usage:

That; which. These are both relative pronouns. In polished American prose, that is used restrictively to narrow a category or identify a particular item being talked about; which is used nonrestrictively—not to narrow a class or identify a particular item but to add something about an item already identified. Which should be used restrictively only when it is preceded by a preposition. Otherwise it is almost always preceded by a comma, a parenthesis, or a dash. In British English, writers and editors seldom observe the distinction between the words.

This is reasonably clear, I think. But Bryan Garner in Garner’s Modern American Usage, explains further.

The simplest statement of [the rule] is this: if you see a which without a comma (or preposition) before it, nine times out of ten it needs to be a that. The one other time, it needs a comma. Your choice, then, is between comma-which and that. Use that whenever you can. . . A restrictive clause [using that] is essential to the grammatical and logical completeness of a sentence. A nonrestrictive clause [using which], by contrast, is so loosely connected with the essential meaning of the sentence that it could be omitted without changing the meaning.

5/3: It's National Press 53 Day!

Today, May 3, is National Press 53 Day. (5/3 -- get it?). I love Press 53, publisher of my 2009 linked story collection In an Uncharted Country as well as my forthcoming novel in stories, What the Zhang Boys Know.

It's a great small press that specializes in short story collections and poetry.

Help me celebrate! There are lots of ways. If you already have my book, take a picture of it and post it on Facebook. (Seriously!) If you don't yet own my book, please consider buying it from Amazon, your local Independent Bookseller, or directly from Press 53. (You can even order it from me at CliffordGarstang.com, which will get you an autographed copy.) And while we're celebrating, visit Press 53 and see all the great books they've published.

The New Yorker: "Nero" by Louise Erdrich

May 7, 2012: “Nero” by Louise Erdrich

See the Q&A with Louise Erdrich.

What have we got here? A mean dog who likes gingersnaps and lives to escape, whose will to live is defeated when the possibility of escape is removed. You have to feel sorry for the dog, as the story’s narrator seems to, in a dispassionate, cool sort of way. 

And then you’ve got a neighbor who likes to beat up on suitors to his daughter, until the narrator’s uncle nearly kills him, and then his tune changes. The fight between the uncle and the neighbor is entirely predictable, and I kept hoping for a tornado or some other calamity to come and wipe out the town before we had to deal with it was obviously coming. (In fact, the outcome was so much expected that I was sure it couldn't turn out that way, so that when it DID turn out that way, it was almost a surprise.)

Seriously, the only thing interesting here was Nero, the dog, and what happened to him was tragic. Oh, the chaos at the school with the escaped snake and the tarantula was amusing. And because these animals come in cages but find themselves temporarily loose, which is what happens to Nero the dog and also the uncle’s girlfriend, presumably we’re supposed to see some theme about the tragedy of constraint. Maybe.

Erdrich is sometimes enjoyable to read, for me. This isn’t one of those times.

Writing the Short Story: Make Your Story Great! New class begins May 7

I teach a short story class through Writers.com and the next session begins in a little over a week, on May 7. In the past, students have found this course extremely beneficial. Not only does the class cover the fundamentals of fiction writing over the course of 10 weeks, but also every student has the opportunity to workshop a 20 page story with the class, PLUS share revisions of that story based on the feedback in the class. The combination of lectures and workshop is a great deal!

Topics covered in the class include beginnings (finding traction), character, plot, setting, dialogue, theme, time, symbolism, and endings. For the complete course description, go here.

Please consider signing up for the class or passing the information along to a friend.

Forthcoming Books: What the Zhang Boys Know, a novel in stories

It's been a busy week, so there hasn't been much time for blogging. And there still isn't, but I wanted to post this image of the cover of my new book, What the Zhang Boys Know, a novel in stories that will be published on September 1 by Press 53.

I'm excited about this release. The stories that make up the novel center on Nanking Mansion, a condominium building on the edge of Washington, DC's Chinatown. As the book begins, Zhang Feng-qi, an immigrant from Shanghai, has just lost his American wife in a Beltway automobile accident and is faced with the challenge of raising their two sons. He begins a search for a replacement wife while the boys are convinced that their mother will come back (because they learned in Sunday School that it could happen). Along the way, readers meet the other residents of the building, a diverse mix of artists, teachers, writers, and lawyers.

Stories from the book have appeared in Bellevue Literary Review, Blackbird, Valparaiso Fiction Review, Cream City Review, Wisconsin Review, Tampa Review, Prime Mincer, FRiGG and GSU Review (New South).


Stay tuned for information about pre-ordering and appearances.

The New Yorker: "Hand on the Shoulder" by Ian McEwan

April 30, 2012: “Hand on the Shoulder” by Ian McEwan

It seemed evident from reading this “story” (available for free online, by the way), that it is an excerpt from a novel, and this is confirmed in the Q&A with Ian McEwan (the novel is called Sweet Tooth, which I think is a horrible name, but maybe it works for that particular book).

While the prose here is beautiful, and the situation—a woman recruited during the Cold War to work for Britain’s MI5—interesting, as a short story this falls completely flat for me. I kept waiting for something surprising to happen, and it didn't. Everything about it seems trite. Although it has a nice narrative arc and good tension, a story about adultery that meets a bad end is just too stale. Yes, the MI5 angle is interesting, but that’s about it. As a piece of the novel I suspect it’s fine, and I might even read this book, but I wish The New Yorker wouldn’t do this to us.

April 25 is End Malaria Day -- How You Can Help

April 25 is End Malaria Day. You can help. Watch the video. Then go to the website  and read about the book. Then buy the book. (I just bought the Kindle version so $20 will go toward the cause.) Here's the email I received about this project:

End Malaria, http://www.EndMalariaDay.com , is an astonishing new book by more than sixty best selling business authors and social thought leaders who joined together to share information in a book whose entire profits go to buy malaria bed nets. Malaria is a disease that causes more childhood death than HIV/AIDS.
Malaria bed nets are simple nets that hang over a window or a bed. They're treated with a chemical that mosquitoes hate. The mosquitoes fly away, they don't bite, people don't get malaria. 

Every single penny spent on the Kindle edition goes to Malaria No More, giving them enough money to buy one or two bednets and to deliver them and be sure they're used properly. Low overhead, no graft, no waste. Just effectiveness. None of the authors or anyone at the Domino Project receive money to be part of this project.  

Wait, there is one ulterior motive: We hope you are inspired. One of the sixty plus contributors might share a gem or spark an idea. The book is a collection of essays from 62 business and social thought leaders about the key drivers to live a life of meaning and impact. Contributors to the book (all of whom donated their work) include David Allen, Tom Peters and Keith Ferrazzi; TED speakers Brene Brown and Sir Ken Robinson; New York Times' best-sellers Jonah Lehrer, Gary Vaynerchuk and Dan Pink; Daymond John and Dave Ramsey; and leaders from organizations such as Google and GlaxoSmithKline.
There's a second motive: Stepping up feels right. It's a few clicks to buy a book and for the rest of the day, or even a week, you'll remember how it felt to save someone's life. 
END MALARIA was born out of a passion to save lives by author and Senior Partner of Box of Crayons Michael Bungay Stanier. Teaming up with marketing and publishing innovator and creator of Squidoo.com Seth Godin, they found a way to sell a book and give away all of the profit in the fight against malaria.

" This is the power of authors working together, the power of ebook distribution and most of all, the power of people who care to make a difference. Over and over, we're seeing that a new generation cares about business not just as a way to make money, but as a way to make a difference. These authors (and their readers) are making a difference at the same time they're saving lives." - Seth Godin.  

End Malaria Day is April 25, Twitter #EndMalariaDay , www.Facebook.com/endmalariaday 

Tips for Writers: Back up!

Usually in my Friday Tips for Writers I focus on some element of craft—how to make your work the best it can be. But today I’m going with something more mundane: on a regular basis, backup your work.

If you don’t, I promise someday you’ll be sorry. Your computer will crash or get zapped by a power surge (you do have a surge protector, don’t you?), or will mysteriously disappear from your hard drive (because a certain four year old has been pressing buttons he shouldn’t). Or your computer will be stolen, or you’ll lose your laptop on the redeye from LA to New York, or your house ill burn down, or . . . . And when that happens, your 900 page novel, or your collected poems, or your killer screenplay will be lost to the ages, unless you can recreate it.

Here are some good habits to get into:

•  Every now and then while you’re working, save your work. In Microsoft Word there is an autosave feature, and that’s nice, but if I’m stepping away from the desk for some reason, or stalling, I’ll hit ctrl+s in order to make sure the most recent work is locked into the file. It’s an “abundance of caution” that I don’t feel the least bit guilty about. I almost don’t think about it anymore.
•  Most days, when I close the file I’m working (my novel, for example), I will copy the file to my Dropbox.com account. Dropbox is one of many “storage units” you can find on the Internet. When you sign up for the service (which is free unless you need to backup huge amounts of data), you download an icon to your computer that functions basically like another drive, but one that you can access from other computers. This has the added benefit of allowing me to work on the same document from other computers. There are other ways of accomplishing the same thing, including using Google Docs. 
• Periodically, I also store work on a USB drive and put a copy on my laptop. Unless I’m traveling, my desktop computer is my primary workstation, so that’s where the most recent copies of my files should be, but the laptop and the USB drive are simply backups.    
• I don’t have an external hard drive, but I’ve considered getting one, and that would have both storage and backup help that I might one day want. (I do have an old Zip drive and of course my computer can write to CDs, so those are other backup options, especially for things like photos and videos.)

Whichever method you choose, be sure you do your backups on a regular basis. Starting right now.