Cold Mountain - Literature or History

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier is one of my all-time favorite books. Whether as literature or history, this book is a wealth of writing inspiration for all levels of creative writing courses . Writing students can learn from Frazier’s varying degrees of deprivation, attention to detail, and characterizations. I would love to talk to Mr. Frazier about some of the passages in Cold Mountain. If you know him, please direct him to this blog. (Mr. Frazier, if you read this, please comment.)

It may be unfair to point out symbolism in Cold Mountain. Some authors, Hemingway for one, preferred his audience read for enjoyment rather than pick and digest his work like a roasted chicken (my words not Hemingway's).

Still, I’m compelled to share my thoughts about this vivid story. I’ll start with the some chapter titles.

Chapter 1 – the shadow of a crow. Things are not as they appear. Look at these examples.

Inman sails his hat out the schoolroom window, and it settles near the edge of a field "black as the shadow of a crow squatted on the ground."

Pages further, Inman's friends say their goodbyes, when the army sends Inman to a hospital in his home state to die from a neck wound. The neck does not bring death.

From Inman’s perspective, the war is not as it appears, neither is Balis (another wounded soldier), or freedom from the army hospital.

Chapter 2 – the ground beneath her hands. Life is at its lowest for Ada. She's not prepared to cope with mountain life. The daughter of a preacher, she has no domestic skills, no money to get to back to Charleston, SC, and no social life. She even believes the flogging rooster wants to kill her. Ada touches the dry ground, full of chicken feathers and chicken poop.

Chapter 3 – the color of despair. This phrase is from a curse, “To Destroy Life,” taught to Inman by his Cherokee friend, Swimmer. Inman repeats the curse "aiming it out at the world at large, his enemies." He speaks it out for several miles until he thought "the words were just flying back to strike him alone." In the despair of this chapter, Inman finds a glimmer of hope (when do you see it) but can't bring it to fruition in his mind. He sinks low again.

Next time, a few more chapters. But, I am curious what inspires you as you read a book, any book?

If you haven't read Cold Mountain, consider reading it this year. Mark the passages that teach you creative writing. Learn to read like a writer. Any questions?

Priceless Writing Inspiration

A 500-sheet pack of paper, $12.00; a 1950's Royal typewriter at a yardsale, $5; two boxes of ribbon for the typewriter, $10; my mother's memoirs, priceless.

Mom was my best friend, and losing her in September was devastating. The dysfunctional family situation surrounding her funeral was traumatic and enough to send lesser women to a therapist for life. But I have my mother's strength, a fact that has crystallized as I've read the memoirs she left behind. Memoirs I encouraged her to finish. And she did. This alone is inspiration for me.

Though we shared a lasting closeness, Mom withheld some pleasant and surprising secrets throughout the years. She concealed these only to reveal them in her writings. And each revelation has brought tears of joy and sadness. There are lessons, truths, and wisdom in her words.

If you've ever considered writing your memoirs, even for posterity, I encourage you to do it. The world you leave behind will be richer for your gift. Mom's story is not eloquent. She wasn't educated. Her book will never be a New York Times Bestseller. Yet she changed one life. Mine.

Isn't that what writing is about? Having an impact? Touching a reader? Take a little bit of time everyday to write a sentence or two about your life. Don't worry who will care. Maybe no one. Until after you've passed.

Just tell your story. Your words. Your way. Any questions?

Cozy Up to Characters

I've spent some time at the Paris Review website reading interviews that span six decades. These interviews share insight into The Art of Fiction through authors like Faulkner, Hemingway, Wilder, and Capote, Welty, Vidal, Shaw, and Steinbeck, Kerouac, Updike, White, and many more.

As writers, we can learn from these masters, these idols. In his interview, William Faulkner stated that he read Don Quixote once a year. Faulkner named a few of his favorite writers. Then, he made this remark "I’ve read these books so often that I don’t always begin at page one and read on to the end. I just read one scene, or about one character, just as you’d meet and talk to a friend for a few minutes."

We can cozy up to our favorite characters by practicing Faulkner's habit of reading, again and again, the books, scenes or characters that move us, inspire us, motivate us, teach us. My list of books to read for 2009 includes two I've read before: Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and On Agate Hill by Lee Smith.

My re-reads for 2010 include:

Sufficient Grace by Darnell Arnoult

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Father and Son by Larry Brown, and

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.

Each of these reads have well written scenes and characters. I've used a pencil to mark my favorites. And will "roll them around in my mouth like marbles" as Darnell Arnoult suggests in her blog, Dancing with the Gorilla.

Make a list of books you can reread next year. Mark your favorite passages so you too can return, as Faulkner did, to visit with your friends and hang out in familiar places. Cozy up to characters by reading and reading again. It's a great way to learn and improve your craft. Any questions?

Writing Inspiration

My writer friend, Reggie, has a fast track story mind. She's never at a loss for story ideas. Some writers say this is the definition of a writer.

But if we must have a deck of stories shuffling in our brain to be a writer, where does that leave those who love to write but struggle finding stories, essay topics, or memoirs? Are we wannabees? No. We are writers, too. Say it. I am a writer.

Our problem is not lack of imagination. It's lack of exercising our imagination. Just like a body needs exercise, the brain needs exercise, the imagination needs exercise. These exercises can range from simple to complex. They can be difficult to the point of painful. But push through the pain and keep at it. Start out slow if you have to, just stay with it.

The tendency will be to quit. Avoid telling yourself it's a stupid exercise or it doesn't work. Sendentary couch potatoes use the same type of self talk when it comes to physical exercise. After a day or two, they're ready to throw in the (dry) towel. Yet, if you talk to someone who pushed through and succeeded, you'll hear the positive aspects. It does work, if you hang in there.

Below are a five exercises ranging in levels of intensity. Try one. Try them all. Repeat them often. One rule: The excercises must be performed with a pad and pen or tapping a keyboard. In other words, write out the exercises. Here you go.

• take one unpleasant memory and change the outcome to a happy one


• take one pleasant memory and change the outcome to a tragic one


• read the newspaper, choose a human interest story, and create a new fictional story. Start by asking what if this happened? Introduce a villian to your story. If the real story is a tragedy, create a comedy or a romance. Set your story in the future and add science fiction. Or set your story in the past. How would the story change without modern conveniences?


• choose a person you may like only a little. Now create a character that you love. Write a scene where this lovable character does something despicable, something the person you like only a little would do. Reverse this exercise: choose a person you love. Create a character you don't like. Write a scene where this unloved person does something angelic, something the person you love would do.


• make a list of accomplishments in your life: graduated college, graduated kindergarten, visited The Vatican, visited the Grand Canyon, went deep sea fishing, went bass fishing. Consider things you've done that a person your age living in a third world country may never get to experience. You'll discover even the smallest accomplishments are noteworthy. Choose an accomplishment from the list and write about it. While showing what happened, write about how you felt at the time, what you learned, and why you haven't forgotten the event. This exercise requires quiet time to recall.

Writing inspiration is everywhere -- in people we meet, places we go, things we do. As writer's we just need to exercise our imagination. Carry that pad and paper or better a recording device. Jot down or record what you see or hear. Ask those what if questions. Dig deep. Go to the place inside where you live all by yourself and write.

Say this. I am a writer. I will exercise my imagination. I will seek to take my writing where no one has gone before. Any questions?