The Technicalities

I'm listening to the audiobook Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk, who also wrote Fight Club, and I feel like he's speaking directly to him at times.  Something he says throughout the book is, "If you were my student, I'd tell you..." and he gives direction and suggestions freely that makes you feel as if he is daring you to take his advice.  His advice is not what you'd typically find some of the writing books out there.  His methods stray out of bounds but somehow keep a toe or two within the lines.  It's been inspiring to say the least but there's something else about his words that strike me differently.

Technicalities.  Think of how the gears in a clock or machine have to be placed in a specific order to make the machine work as it's meant to.  Chuck Palahnuik has a wealth of knowledge on the technicalities of writing, setting the gears in place to achieve the goal of telling a story from "beginning" to "end".  For example, he focuses in great detail on establishing authority as the writer, building tension throughout the narrative, and more that I have not reached quite yet at the time that I'm writing this post.  Some of the technical aspects he touches upon are things I've known for years to which I'm nodding along with his words and then recalling where I've implemented that same technique.  Then there are other moments where I'm looking for a pen so I can make notes for future reference.  In all, this book is paying dividends as I almost reset my mindset as I approach each one of my stories.

Another aspect I've enjoyed is how Chuck encourages writers to play with the story--bend the rules and be unexpected.  For example, he discussed how he wrote a story about a plane full of passengers that begins to lose its engines one by one during the flight to establish a countdown tracked by each failing engine.  He also thought to set the page numbers in reverse so that as you're reading, you notice "1" coming faster and faster with each page turn--another countdown.  This is ingenious.  To think of this and get away with it breaks all the conventions of writing that we've come to expect.  The best part is he stays within the bounds of techniques and the technicalities of writing.  

I'm very much looking forward to finishing the book and hopefully thinking of storytelling in a new way that allows me to experiment and play with the expectations of my readers without betraying them.  Because, that is exactly what a writer should avoid.  In my mind, the reader should be treated with respect and given the benefit of the doubt that they are not to be trifled with.  However, if you've earned their trust, they will take the journey if there's a few detours.