This isn't something that happens to me very often: I was browsing the "new arrivals" shelves at the library a couple of weeks ago while the kids had a snack in the cafe, and I pulled out this book by Susan Breen. I almost stuck it back on the shelf, thinking about the stack of to-be-read books already by my bed, but I was intrigued.
And then I was so happy when I finished reading the mentally taxing Jayber Crow and started in with The Fiction Class. What an excellent book this turned out to be! The story centers on Arabella, a struggling writer who teaches an evening writing class to adults; the writing class itself; and on Arabella and her mother. Each chapter focuses on an aspect of writing: character, plot, theme, etc. and how this relates to Arabella, her class, and her mother. Breen's writing is concise and matter-of-fact, and I like that. The characters are well-rounded and somehow quite familiar, and I like that. Sometimes, being a small-town girl, I find it difficult to relate to novels that feature New York City-types; but Breen's characters could have been transported to anywhere and still made sense to me. (And here I need to clarify that, although I did indeed grow up in New York, I grew up in a small town upstate, which has little if no similarity to New York City except perhaps in the abundance of excellent pizza and wings.)
I loved that the actual writing assignments are included at the end of each chapter. For example, the writing assignment for point of view:
Think about a family gathering: a holiday, a birthday, a funeral. Write about that gathering in the first person from the point of view of a child.I wished for chunks of time to do each assignment myself. Perhaps I will make that time soon. I did a little searching about the book because I wondered if somewhere in the blogosphere there might be a place where people are doing Breen's exercises on their blogs. I haven't found that yet, but I did find Susan Breen's blog and was inspired to see the tagline on her blog: "publishing a first novel after 25 years of marriage, 4 children, and hundreds of rejections." (Couldn't I at least turn out my poetry chapbook in the next 6 years?)
Turns out that Breen has a monthly contest at her website where she asks for submissions on a certain topic. For the April/May contest, she asks: Write a story using this as the first sentence: “Why are you wearing that?” The winner receives a free autographed copy of her book. Will I submit an entry to this or any future contests on Breen's website? Perhaps. And if a book can pull me out of my writing stupor and inspire me to actually write more than a daily blog, well. That says a lot.
But the books isn't just for writers or writing teachers. This is just a great book, and I hope to see more by Susan Breen.
Comments
Saturday, May 10, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Margaret
Sounds interesting! I just looked at our library database... and requested it. But just this morning I came home with a new stack to add to the old stack...
Your library has a cafe?! I want to move to your town.
Saturday, May 10, 2008 - hi
Posted by ridiculousmom
Hi, I am randomly checking out a different blog a day, and today it was you! I have books due back on Monday and am going to look for "Fiction Class" at the library. I am just finishing up "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn". Nice Blog, visit mine sometime. I have ten kids, nine at home. I am not overly conventional, to say the least. Yeah for originality!
Monday, May 12, 2008 - Thanks!
Posted by Susan Breen
Thanks so much for writing such a lovely review of my book, and please do submit to my writing exercise contest. Now or later. (The submission can be very short, if that helps!) All best, Susan
