http://www.hawaiireaders.com/blog/2009/09/22/morningside-heights-new-york-stories/ The Hawaii Readers site Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:32:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 http://www.hawaiireaders.com/blog/2009/09/22/morningside-heights-new-york-stories/comment-page-1/#comment-68 Michael Little Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:30:46 +0000 http://stage.hawaiireaders.com/?p=682#comment-68 I do agree that it would help to reread your own stories. Each has a very particular time and place, especially in the New York stories, which have street names and names of schools and bars, as well as historical references. I'm not sure what narrative strategies you're referring to. The fiction writer enjoys a healthy amount of freedom in how he tells his story, but you want to bring the reader along with you. Sharing a story with a reader you trust is one way to find out. I do agree that it would help to reread your own stories. Each has a very particular time and place, especially in the New York stories, which have street names and names of schools and bars, as well as historical references. I'm not sure what narrative strategies you're referring to. The fiction writer enjoys a healthy amount of freedom in how he tells his story, but you want to bring the reader along with you. Sharing a story with a reader you trust is one way to find out.

]]> http://www.hawaiireaders.com/blog/2009/09/22/morningside-heights-new-york-stories/comment-page-1/#comment-64 Joe Tsujimoto Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:20:59 +0000 http://stage.hawaiireaders.com/?p=682#comment-64 Thanks, Michael--"a strong sense of place" is probably what I lack (among other things) in my new writing. I'll remember that. Wonder if rereading my own stories will help. I know this is highly hypothetical, but do you think that there are narrative stragtegies found acceptable in a short work that (excepting James Joyce) would not be "endured," say, in a novel? Thanks, Michael--"a strong sense of place" is probably what I lack (among other things) in my new writing. I'll remember that. Wonder if rereading my own stories will help. I know this is highly hypothetical, but do you think that there are narrative stragtegies found acceptable in a short work that (excepting James Joyce) would not be "endured," say, in a novel?

]]> http://www.hawaiireaders.com/blog/2009/09/22/morningside-heights-new-york-stories/comment-page-1/#comment-56 Michael Little Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:11:09 +0000 http://stage.hawaiireaders.com/?p=682#comment-56 Joe, I was one of the last pre-publication readers of the book, since I had the opportunity to help proof for Bamboo Ridge. As I read the stories for the first time, and then a second time, I just lost myself in them, and the autobiographical question never truly mattered. It was the real world, and it was a fictional world, both at once, and that was just fine. I love stories that have a strong sense of place, and these stories have it. It's a book filled with passion and poetry. Joe, I was one of the last pre-publication readers of the book, since I had the opportunity to help proof for Bamboo Ridge. As I read the stories for the first time, and then a second time, I just lost myself in them, and the autobiographical question never truly mattered. It was the real world, and it was a fictional world, both at once, and that was just fine. I love stories that have a strong sense of place, and these stories have it. It's a book filled with passion and poetry.

]]> http://www.hawaiireaders.com/blog/2009/09/22/morningside-heights-new-york-stories/comment-page-1/#comment-52 Joe Tsujimoto Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:43:22 +0000 http://stage.hawaiireaders.com/?p=682#comment-52 I've often been asked how much of my writing in "Morningside Heights" is fiction and how much is autobiography. But they never tell me what parts or events, of which stories, they have in mind. Is this person real? did this actually take place? Maybe they wonder about certain "facts" or the "truth" behind certain racy parts. I don't quite know what they want. I call them all stories, meaning fictions, becasue of the way they have been rendered. Does this explanation help? I've often been asked how much of my writing in "Morningside Heights" is fiction and how much is autobiography. But they never tell me what parts or events, of which stories, they have in mind. Is this person real? did this actually take place? Maybe they wonder about certain "facts" or the "truth" behind certain racy parts. I don't quite know what they want. I call them all stories, meaning fictions, becasue of the way they have been rendered. Does this explanation help?

]]>