There are reasons for imposing creative limitations, such as word
counts and working within the established conventions of today's market
. First, let me make it clear that this seminar is to illustrate a point
and not necessarily a formula for writing fiction. Here are a
few reasons word limits and other restrictions might be imposed:
- Magazine publishers have space limitations.
- Publishers know what has sold in the past and tend to want more of
the same.
- It encourages the writer to be precise.
These are all good reasons, but I'd like to go another direction with
use of rules and constraints in creating fiction. The word inspiration
is the culprit in question here. Writers stare at empty pages and blank
screens waiting for inspiration to come. I don't need to tell you how
frustrating the wait can be; it is something we all confront. The Muses
are so few and writers so many. Inspiration does visit occasionally, and
many poets, writers and artists are waiting with nets to capture it and
put it on paper or canvas. The surrealist writers and artists thrived on
this method of creation, but there is another side of the story. Raymond
Queneua, the founder of Oulipo, (Workshop of Potential Literature),
writes:
"Another very wrong idea that is also going the rounds at the
moment is the equivalence that has been established between inspiration,
exploration of the subconscious, and liberation, between chance,
automatism, and freedom. Now this sort of inspiration, which consists in
blindly obeying every impulse, is in fact slavery. The classical author
who wrote his tragedy observing a certain number of known rules is freer
than the poet who writes down whatever comes into his head and is slave
to other rules of which he knows nothing."
Creativity can thrive with precision and impact within
self-imposed parameters. By setting boundaries and rules to
your invented reality, you are able to explore -- often finding
relationships, meanings and, occasionally, even a Muse in hiding. Most
of us walk through or by things all our lives without noticing them. By
limiting our area of exploration, we can discover many things that are
overlooked or taken for granted: this is great material for bringing our
fiction to life. Stories can rise from small places as illustrated by
Italo Calvino in the reading from Invisible
Cities.
The best way to see how self-imposed rules and constraints work is to
try it yourself. Write a 1000-word short story (yes, exactly 1000 words)
about a protagonist and an antagonist in a small enclosed area with only
seven objects in the room (not counting the room structure). Make a list
of rules and boundaries for your story. You may choose at least three of
the following rules and add three of your own. Don't make it too easy on
yourself because we are looking for the type of creativity that arises
from desperation and a heightened awareness:
- Use only interior thoughts.
- Use only dialogue and no tags (e.g., she said, Bill said, he
asked, etc.) The dialogue itself should distinguish the two
characters.
- Both characters are blindfolded during the scene.
- All object names must start with the same letter.
- Only one character can speak.
- No questions from either character.
- The words for all the objects must rhyme.
- A discovery that leads to a conflict between the two characters
must be made.
When you post your work, make sure the rules are included at the top
of the page.
When writing this assignment, remember voice, tone, emotional
triggers, the power of suggestion, precise ambiguity and most of all,
remember to be daring, break some rules and have fun.
Note: You only need to select 3 of the rules (unless you really
have a lot of free time). Dialogue can be a one-sided
conversation, a monologue with a target; the other person or object
could react in some way: a nod, a bite, a code, facial gestures, etc.
Using objects with the same first letter and having the words
rhyme could be a little difficult ... probably not a good
idea to use both rules at the same time. Of course, there are different
degrees of rhyme: bye, buy, bike, byte, bite, blight, bright;
Bohemian, Bavarian, Bulgarian, etc.
