Anna Vance HRS 345 4 Dec 2013 Reflection

Q&A WITH ANNA

The following scene takes place in a white room. It is an interview-type of setting, perhaps for acceptance into an MFA program, a class activity, the Paris Review, or...maybe in an entirely different world?

THE INTERVIEWER said: So, Anna, we are curious about how you see your writing process. Tell us about that. ANNA replied: Well, I think my writing really takes off when an image or concrete idea captures my attention. The image is usually never a physical image like a photograph or painting but is more of a mental snapshot of something I imagine. Typically it appears from the very start and acts as the impetus for the entire piece, but occasionally a stronger image will appear later on and change the pieces direction. The image or idea can be said in a simple sentence but also has questions and musings attached to it, some of which become the roots of the story. I get to figure out those answers as I think, write, and revise all at the same time. Im still figuring out my revision process, but Ive gotten better at it. INTERVIEWER How so? ANNA You know, I feel like my writing and writing process improves on its own, but in reality its probably just due to age and experience. The change is very subtle to me. I have great benchmarks to look back on though. I remember taking a creative writing class as a freshman and having no idea how to revise. I knew about techniques like cutting things up and experimenting with switching tenses or point of views, but I was never able to figure out what, where, and how to use themalso because I got too attached to my pieces as they were. Nowand this is a recent developmentI usually just feel it when a revision is good. Its more intuitive than conscious, which is good and bad. Good because rewriting feels natural instead of impossibe and overwhelming; bad because I have a hard time articulating my opinions about pieces in concrete terms. So despite my progress, I still have a ways to goand I still find that

my revisions are rather timid. Im looking forward to the first time I am able to completely take apart a piece, find its essence, and redo it all properly. Thatll be a great day. INTERVIEWER Earlier you were talking about starting stories with an image or idea. Can you talk about a recent example? ANNA Sure. I just wrote a creative non-fiction piece about a djinn named Simo and a female narrator visiting Petra. The idea propelling the story was simply, Simo in Petra. He was actually a character from a different story of mine, so pulling out tidbits about his personality that I hadnt seen before was fun. I just asked myself: what antics would Simo get up to in Petraa public place with lots of people, a place where he hasnt been before, and in the company of a human character? I was a bit surprised by what came out, and sometimes I wonder if Simo in Petra is a different djinn from my other Simo and they just happen to have the same name. INTERVIEWER Thats interestinghow are they different? ANNA Simo in Petra is mischievous and has a stronger trickster personality than my other Simo. My other Simo was soft-hearted, clumsy, and somewhat failed at fulfilling the mischievous djinn role. It was great actually, because I got the idea from my peer review group, when one of the members, Monica, mentioned how Simo seemed mischievous. I hadnt intended for him to be read that way, but that single word was all it took to change his character. I liked it a lot and jumped on the idea. Roedah, another member of the group, also helped develop Simos character by suggesting that he say, You take the meat, I take the bones when he and the narrator see the goats. Dialogue can be very effective at conveying a characters personality, so I appreciated the help a lot. Its amazing how simple comments can do so much. INTERVIEWER This review group sounds great. Where did you meet them? ANNA In a travel-writing class taught by Frances McCue. I highly INTERVIEWER

Sorry, no plugs. Ugh, and now we have to fact-check. With our budget right nowwell, nevermind. Anyway, you just took a travel-writing class. Do you think your writing process relates to travel? ANNA Thats an interesting question. I think my travel and writing mindsets are similar because I tend to be attracted to the everyday, boring details that people often overlook. When you take a deeper look into them, theres more going on than you first thought. For example, what makes one cultures grocery shopping different from or similar to another cultures might involve social customs, gender roles, or diets which often relate to religion. Some of these might be small details, but are interesting nevertheless. French merchants for instance, expect customers to put money down on a platter rather than handing it directly to the merchant. I think getting down to these types of details is what makes it possible to understand cultures and believe stories. Its hard to get all those nuances when you are a tourist though. You dont know if what youre seeing is normal and how much is catered to you because you are an outsider. This is one of my bigger frustrations of travel. But when I write, I can imagine and rationalize other places and people however I want. In that sense, writing is more freeing and more revelatory than travel. INTERVIEWER How have you revised one of your papers from class? ANNA Sorry? INTERVIEWER I know its random, but its part of the script I have to follow and we are running out of words. And possibly ink. ANNA Ah. I understand. How long do I have? INTERVIEWER Three to four hundred words. ANNA Okay, Id better get right into it then. So I expanded the fictional character assignment for the midterm and then expanded on that for my final. One of the biggest revisions included filling in the lunch scene with the Bedouin womanmy original description seems more like an outline of the events. The revision took up a significant amount of space and changed the sections tone to

be more factually informative of Jordanian history and culture and of the narrators interactions with Jordanians. I added details of setting, a more extensive conversation with Inan that I hope revealed more of her personality, and a little bit more of Inans friends. I think the first version left the reader thinking of Inan as a welcoming, selfless woman, while the final version (hopefully) leaves the reader in the same position as the narratora little wary of her intentions yet also wanting to like her. This is truer to what actually happened. Another change in the final version was that Inans friends acted more as plot devices. Samir for example, had one line of dialogue only because I couldnt fit it into Inans dialogue. I think I am satisfied with this for nowespecially given the length of the piecebut if I return to it later, I will want to work on this. I am still in the process of figuring out how to deal with plot devices and flat characters. The expansion of the lunch scene also made me rethink the purpose and focus of the piece. I had planned it to be more about Simo, even using the working title of Simo in Petra. However his absence in the scene was too noticeable for me to get away with that, and I had to change the title and my original plan. I am still not quite sure what effect his lack of presence has on the piece, but it seems to have a more even balance between the narrator and Simo. Structurally, another change to the piece was the concious addition of dialogue not set off by italics or quotation marks. It has a subdued effect on mood, helps to keep my writing from settling into boring patterns, and was a fun challenge for me to make as seemlesss as I could. INTERVIEWER Well, Anna. Thank you so much for your words. We wish you luck in your future writing! ANNA Thanks for having me herealthough I am still not exactly sure where here is...but now that the interviews over, how do I get out? INTERVIEWER Out...you want to leave the writing world?! For inks sake, why on paper would you want that? ANNA Oh, I didnt realize I was already there, silly meof course I want to stay! END