Ron Carlson's "Story"

Ron Carlson's Story – Response

This was a very interesting take on the short story.  I actually read this book in one sitting.  The one major thing that I will take out of reading it is to "stay in the room".  To tell the truth, I hardly ever actually "stay in the room" when writing a story.  I usually get distracted by television or a phone call that comes in or some other part of everday life. 

I completely agree with the concept of "staying in the room", because it means finishing something you've begun and making sure you've finished it.  I find myself sometimes getting frustrated because I don't know what to say next or what the next event will be in a story, but I've gotten from the book that it's not important if you don't know.  What's important is to stay with it.  Something will eventually come if you're true to the characters and are in the story as them. I'm kind of excited to actually test the whole “stay in the room” concept out and actually write a whole story in one sitting because I've never actually done that before.

That's why I think his concept of the "outer story" is also important.  Because the outer story can lead you places you never considered going before.  He says on page 48, "The outer story is the world of the story, the real concrete elements and places of the story that is composed of all the sensory imagery."   I think when you've created a full outer story, your story will naturally begin to flow and go in directions that you never would have thought to take it before.

It was also interesting to see how the story was built from the first idea to its completion.  It was good to learn also that if an idea is important to you, then it's definitely worth writing about. Sometimes I have ideas and wonder which ones are worthy of being put down on paper. Carlson is clear in his opinion that if it's not something that is important to you, then you shouldn't write about, even if it's something that's important to someone else. You, as the writer, must be compelled by the idea and want to tell the story for yourself.

Sidenote: I thought his take on television writers was funny, because I had actually considered being a sit-com writer. But as he said, that would be writing for someone other than myself and I'd like to write about things that are important to me, not necessarily an audience.