I don't have a copy of my yearbook but I have an issue of the Hartford Public High School Chronicle dated May 1986..........Ive got a story about suicide in there that's so awful and I did it to impress Dom, the ex I just lost to kidney disease. I was bringing his wife to read for you tonight (I guess he had a type lol) but the fucking snow......
On my birthday last year, I wrote a letter to myself that I plan to open when my birthday comes back around. That was a couple months ago and I already forgot what I wrote. Little new tradition that gives me something to look forward to.
I believe that’s not the number “80” but an infinity symbol balancing a rock upon itself which is symbolic of the eternal struggle that a burgeoning artist must go through in order to make himself/his art live forever.
That's cool. Years ago I wrote an note of inspiration to my future self and then forgot all about it. I found it one day looking through old files and decided to add to it. I forgot all about it and years later found that note again. Whenever I find it I keep adding to it. https://willmacphail.substack.com/p/anotetoyourselfdoc
No tears, but it shocked me a little. My artist friend, David Mack, always says, "Revisit the thing you loved to do when you were seven years old, and that will be your ideal career."
You've had a big goal early on. That's a headstart. You've made it too, and took millions of people with you on the ride. Thinking back, at 16 my only goal was to bang my crush. My simple mind couldn't grasp what dreams were, until much later.
Oh, Chuck, a question for you. Or maybe it's a concern, I don't know. But I vaguely remember you saying something like, "When you're reading a story, you want the emotion to land out there (in the audience)." And I took that to mean you don't want to be ever be emotional while reading.
My question is this...if the story is still fresh, is it a bad thing to get emotional while reading it? I don't mean a total break down but maybe just getting choked up momentarily but bouncing back.
Does it relate to the idea about how if a character in a story cries, the audience won't?
Exactly. Amy Hempel always forces the audience to carry the burden of emotion. I can't abide writers who laugh at their own jokes or cry at their own suffering. We should be of service to the audience, not dumping ourselves on them.
Also, Monica Drake. She never mugs for her laughs. She always creates the circumstances that make the reader laugh.
Your point about Monica Drake. Are you saying that she sets things up so that the reader naturally puts together what is funny, thus making them laugh? As opposed to trying too hard to force a laugh?
I also wanted to ask you this. If a reader cries, are they crying because of the characters in your story, or does your story trigger a memory in the listener and that memory makes them cry?
This is tricky stuff. To make people cry you need to make them fully aware of some fear they keep suppressed. In my story 'Zombies' a character looks in a mirror. His parents are dead, so his only comfort depends on looking at his own face and recognizing that his nose is his mother's nose. His brow is his father's. "They're dead except for in my face." And he knows that once he's lobotomized he'll forget this distinction. "I'll think my reflection is nothing but me."
Most people dread the death of their parents. By reinventing that fear I can trick people into feeling it. The passage with the mirror prompts many young people -- usually young men -- to weep. So the trick is to trick yourself, then do your weeping. Then get past the material and craft it to make your reader weep.
I don't have a copy of my yearbook but I have an issue of the Hartford Public High School Chronicle dated May 1986..........Ive got a story about suicide in there that's so awful and I did it to impress Dom, the ex I just lost to kidney disease. I was bringing his wife to read for you tonight (I guess he had a type lol) but the fucking snow......
How cool is that?? Past you would be happy to know that you did, in fact, make it. 😄
On my birthday last year, I wrote a letter to myself that I plan to open when my birthday comes back around. That was a couple months ago and I already forgot what I wrote. Little new tradition that gives me something to look forward to.
I’d say you made it.
Sweet!
Awwww
What is the significance of the "80"?
I believe that’s not the number “80” but an infinity symbol balancing a rock upon itself which is symbolic of the eternal struggle that a burgeoning artist must go through in order to make himself/his art live forever.
I knew this was you by the writing.
And I just realized he probably graduated in 1980
I’ll take that first part as a compliment.
I was the class of '80. My graduation year.
That's cool. Years ago I wrote an note of inspiration to my future self and then forgot all about it. I found it one day looking through old files and decided to add to it. I forgot all about it and years later found that note again. Whenever I find it I keep adding to it. https://willmacphail.substack.com/p/anotetoyourselfdoc
Absolutely inspiring!
Good for you - you indeed wrote your future. If I'd written something in my sophomore yearbook and succeeded I'd be in jail now perhaps.
I imagine Chuck reading that message from 16 year old Chuck while choking back tears, saying, "We did. We finally made it."
No tears, but it shocked me a little. My artist friend, David Mack, always says, "Revisit the thing you loved to do when you were seven years old, and that will be your ideal career."
Also I subscribed again. Consider it a belated birthday gift <3
Thank you!
You've had a big goal early on. That's a headstart. You've made it too, and took millions of people with you on the ride. Thinking back, at 16 my only goal was to bang my crush. My simple mind couldn't grasp what dreams were, until much later.
Oh, Chuck, a question for you. Or maybe it's a concern, I don't know. But I vaguely remember you saying something like, "When you're reading a story, you want the emotion to land out there (in the audience)." And I took that to mean you don't want to be ever be emotional while reading.
My question is this...if the story is still fresh, is it a bad thing to get emotional while reading it? I don't mean a total break down but maybe just getting choked up momentarily but bouncing back.
Does it relate to the idea about how if a character in a story cries, the audience won't?
Exactly. Amy Hempel always forces the audience to carry the burden of emotion. I can't abide writers who laugh at their own jokes or cry at their own suffering. We should be of service to the audience, not dumping ourselves on them.
Also, Monica Drake. She never mugs for her laughs. She always creates the circumstances that make the reader laugh.
Your point about Monica Drake. Are you saying that she sets things up so that the reader naturally puts together what is funny, thus making them laugh? As opposed to trying too hard to force a laugh?
I also wanted to ask you this. If a reader cries, are they crying because of the characters in your story, or does your story trigger a memory in the listener and that memory makes them cry?
This is tricky stuff. To make people cry you need to make them fully aware of some fear they keep suppressed. In my story 'Zombies' a character looks in a mirror. His parents are dead, so his only comfort depends on looking at his own face and recognizing that his nose is his mother's nose. His brow is his father's. "They're dead except for in my face." And he knows that once he's lobotomized he'll forget this distinction. "I'll think my reflection is nothing but me."
Most people dread the death of their parents. By reinventing that fear I can trick people into feeling it. The passage with the mirror prompts many young people -- usually young men -- to weep. So the trick is to trick yourself, then do your weeping. Then get past the material and craft it to make your reader weep.
RED ALERT:
The preorder link for Chuck’s latest book is live, people: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Not-Forever-But-for-Now-by-Chuck-Palahniuk/9781668021415
Not that long before my birthday, too. Chuck -- how did you know?
I know all.
Thanks for the link! And it has such a poetic title too. Like one of those fancy literary novels. Hope he wins the Pulitzer for this.
Preordered.
Chuck, do you plan to tour for this one? It’s already tough typing this comment with fingers crossed.
Bastards. I'll leak the cover art tomorrow.
I really like the message to your future self. Awesome!!!