Rules of Writing

Chuck Palahniuk
Chuck Answers The April Workshop Questions!
Posted By: Dennis-04-27-2004 10:51 AM-Replies (19)
Hey everyone,
Chucky P. returns with another round of answers to all this month's Workshop que
stions. This month's distinction essay was my personal favorite so far: "Submerg
ing The 'I'"...and we had some very well-thought out and intelligent questions.
Let's see how Chuck did answering them:
April Workshop Questions/Answers:
1) From hereticblue:
Is there a point when writing a novel that it becomes okay to start using "I" a
bit more? Such as after the reader has already become well acquainted with the c
haracter? Or should "I" be reserved mainly for dialogue and excluded from narrat
ion throughout the entire novel?
Sorry, there is no set "point" where you can swim in the "I." You can do it anyt
ime, but you risk losing the reader if you do it too early, before you've proven
your narrator is interesting. In effect, before you've "set the hook" in your r
eader fish. First, consider establishing your authority-see the first essay in t
his series. Then, get that big machine of plot moving faster and faster. Then-ok
ay, you can have a little character hissy fit and say I, I, I. Again, the ultima
te goal is to let the reader become the "I" of the story. So the reader can be i
nteracting with the characters and situation. This doesn't mean "No I's"...it ju
st means being aware and not overusing that pronoun.
2) From JupiterFrost:
It's easier said than done to hide all the I's in a story that features a strong
leading character as a narrator. For example: in Craig Clevenger's 'The Contort
ionist's Handbook' the first chapter begins with the line: "I can count my overd
oses on one hand." There are countless I's in that story and yet it never seems
to lose focus or its grip on the reader.
Is it absolutely necessary to go to any lengths possible to hide the I's, and if
so then how does a narrator in such a story as Clevenger's cope with telling a
story centered solely on the narrator?
IMPORTANT: Nothing I suggest here is absolutely necessary. This isn't a blueprin
t or formula for "perfect" writing. These essays are about tricks or techniques
to consider, like the spectrum of colors you'd paint with. You never have to use
every color, all the time, but it's good to have the option and the skill when
you do want to use one. If your writing seems flat and loses even YOUR interest,
use these essays to help find ways to write in a more effective way.
About Craig's story, he writes with such well-researched authority that he holds
your attention. Most people who use the "I" a lot never achieve that kind of au
thority; they stay too obsessed with the narrator and forget to create the world
and characters around that central voice. In The Contortionist's Handbook, the
narrator has such a compelling Body of Knowledge, about forging and drugs and me
ntal health, that most of the time he's talking about the world instead of himse
lf.
As the "I Nazi", I would've said: "You could count my overdoses on one hand."
3) From Parkaboy:
I read your essay and absorbed it. I wrote a piece for the month, as I was doing
so it occurred to me that there is also the necessity, to one degree or another
, for the author to submerge his or her "I" as well. Let's call it submerging th
e Chuck for our purposes here. What I am getting at is whether or not you employ
specific techniques to do this. When writing in third person one can comfortabl
y reside in their own voice, yet when doing first person that voice must bend to
become the character who is serving as narrator. So that Shannon doesn't sound
like Tender doesn't sound like Victor. The "Chuck" still comes through but it is
diluted by the narration vehicle. Like acting to some degree. So when you sit d
own and "Submerge the Chuck" to be Victor or Misty or whomever, what do you do?
And how important do you feel it is that you do it to portray a distinct alter-e
go?
Okay Parkaboy, you might not want to hear this...Here's the Devil's Bargain of A
nything Celebrated...Once you get your work recognized, you're faced with the ba
lancing act of keeping the aspects your audience likes, yet changing aspects to
keep it interesting for yourself. If you change or not, you're still screwed. So
me people will gripe because they wanted a duplicate of the last thing they love
d. Some will gripe because they wanted something entirely different.
Imagine what it's like being Radiohead and having everyone shout: "Play Creep...
!" Think of those bands in Las Vegas condemned to playing their hits from thirty
years before-because that's what the audience wants. This is why the actor Geor
ge Saunders (All About Eve) killed himself-he was tired of playing nothing but g
reasy cads in every movie.
So, what do you do? Well, you can settle in and write Fight Club II, or you can
experiment and vary your storytelling-while still adhering to your core rules of
Minimalism. Me, I vary my topics. I vary the Body of knowledge that each charac
ter uses to portray their world. Since Choke, I've dicked around with third-pers
on and then second-person in Diary. Other style ticks, I've kept. Especially the
choruses, because most people like them-and because those "techniques" are base
d on the way people communicate in the real world. To lose those devices could e
ven make my work seem More artificial or mannered. Look for an up-coming essay o
n the choruses, and you'll see why they work.
Something else to consider, most people have very, VERY limited vocabularies. Mo
st of us begin your announcements with a few (usually just one) type of "bumper
music device." You'll say: "Listen everybody..." or "You will NOT believe this,
but..." So for each narrator, I create a limited list of these "throat-clearing"
phrases. What's more important than deciding the words a narrator will use is k
nowing the words a narrator WILL NOT ever use. Too often, stories where the writ
er sat with their Thesaurus open and used a million different words on every pag
e-those "writerly" stories showcase the writer without serving the story and the
reader.
4) From JKabol:
While Submerging the "I", one of the devises that we seem encouraged to use is t
o change the narrative stance; i.e. 1st person to 3rd person to 2nd. But isn't t
hat an easy way to lose the interest of the reader? I understand that the person
al references-I, me, my, etc.-detract interest, but at the same time does the "I
" not engage the reader on a personal level as well? I just re-read Diary (not m
y favorite your-book, but I think it is your best written yet) and you did this
quite a bit (changing the narrative). But your narrator was a book. Would you gi
ve a thought on a solid way to apply this to a 1st person work that is broader t
han short story?
The narrator was a book? What's that mean? That's not possible because a book al
ways has an author. No, the story was told in very-close third-person with enoug
h anger and judgments to imply a first-person narrator that's not revealed until
the last page. So, again, another experiment in submerging the "I."
After sitting with a barber, yesterday, who spent forty-five minutes blabbing "I
...I...I...stories" at me non-stop, I stand by my position that overuse of the "
I" will bore your reader.
As for a solid way...If I provided one, you'd still find a hole in it. Experimen
t and find your own.
5) From RWJ:
On "Submerging the I"
Should the "I" also be deleted from secondary characters who talk about themselv
es in a story? Such as: Gina said, "I got totally wasted last night."
For other characters, the "I" is fine. But again, you don't want any of your cha
racters to be boring and self-obsessed so just be aware. If anything seems flat,
look at that page, and count those I's. That's a good, quick way to move your f
ocus around and create a better story.
6) From vigorous puppy:
The notion of keeping the "I" behind the camera is nice. Unobtrusive. But to car
ry it off well in a direct style of narration??? This is perplexing. It seems to
me the only way to do so consistently is a style full of missing referents (per
plexing from whom?) that quickly becomes disembodied. Either that or a 2nd perso
n style with constant implicit or explicit reference to "you." The latter choice
stays particular and embodied, but the "you" can become just as grating as the
constant repetition of "I".
Any way around this?
Okay, Vigorous Puppy. Do it your way. I've made my case. This is about creating
a constantly varied voice-never settling in one tense too long-because that's ho
w we talk. (But take a look at Bright Lights, Big City, the entire book is writt
en in second person, and it works very well.) My point is, too often, we overuse
the "I" and never consider other ways to vary the story telling.
7) From dorireads:
Submerging the I seems to be most effective in stories with some setup at the be
ginning, like Guts, where you spend a good bit of time establishing your authori
ty before you start telling the actual story. Do you think it works differently,
more or less effectively, when you start the story in the middle of the action?
And especially if you start with dialog. Is the I acceptable if the narrator is
speaking to another character?
"Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler's pushing a gun in my mouth a
nd saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die..." Here's a story
where the action starts with the first sentence, yet the "I" is submerged. Again
, you want your reader to look away from the camera (the "I") and watch the acto
r (Tyler). If the story had started: "I stood still, the gun pressed into my mou
th, listening as Tyler told me..." would that work as well?
8) From Dena:
Chuck, Thank you for putting this workshop together. I appreciate all of the inf
ormation you have given so far, but I have a question about something you may no
t address in a workshop. I was wondering what do you think about using marijuana
to aid in writing. I kind of feel like its cheating, but I have a friend who sa
ys its a good tool because it helps you think of things you wouldn't normally th
ink about. He also says it makes you lose your inhibitions, thus your writing be
comes more honest. Do you agree or disagree?
Hello Dena. Ouch, I can't even keyboard when I'm high. Years ago-as a newspaper
reporter-I went to a political rally high and tried to write the story. It took
me hours longer than it should have, and the story sucked. No, for me writing is
about looking at my reaction to a personal crisis then re-creating that crisis
within a metaphor. It's never about just making up a story. Writing isn't about
being honest-not for me-it's about crafting your deep, personal crap into a stor
y so exploded that other people can enjoy it. I can't do that high. Still, for t
he tedium of file naming and sorting and nit-picky copyedit stuff, yeah I can en
joy a Percodan.
9) From bmk:
What are your top five resources you keep by your side while writing?
Music-the same type to create a consistent mood in a story or book, every day I
come back to it. Coffee-to keep my teeth a nice brown color. Pens-for line editi
ng my printed hardcopy at the gym, airport, or traffic. A Notebook-for scribblin
g ideas so I can move on without losing them. And usually an egg timer-for those
days I don't want to write because the sun is out; those days I promise myself
"Just 30 minutes, then you're free" and usually when the bell rings I'm happy to
write the rest of the day. Starting is the toughest part of most days.
10) From Malakaiii:
Hi Chuck,
How important is the title of a story/novel? Any tips on what interests/scares a
way readers as far as titles go?
You tell me. The only books of mine that I've named were Fight Club and Invisibl
e Monsters. What became Survivor was originally named Unnatural Disasters and Di
ary was first called Period Revival. Again, we compromised on Choke. Doubleday i
s invested in me using one-word titles, maybe to create a consistent "identity"
to my novels. Until this spring's essay collection, which they call Stranger Tha
n Fiction after I'd named it Nonfiction-its title in Great Britain. No, the titl
es are like the covers, I don't give them much thought. If a story is compelling
, a bad title won't kill it. And if a story is boring, a great title won't save
it.
Well, there you have it, folks.
Ohh, and before I go, I want to mention that author Hubert Selby Jr. passed away
on Monday due to a lung disease. He wrote such cult hits as "Requiem For A Drea
m" and "Last Exit To Brooklyn." He was 75. You can read more about his passing h
ere.
Rest in peace...