˛7# ^ô ^ªªªªª… ÈÈÈÈ Û ˝˝òïxÈ -o*ôªoJ%ooôoooooo4. Is the practice of answering class-type questions (e.g., like we used to have in Trudy’s: describe the structure of something; try writing a scene that uses multiple characters’ consciousnesses the way Bambara does; and so on) the best or only or even a necessary practice? Should it be combined with “real-life” research? Is it okay to go solely to “real-life” for a while? What’s the deal? When is any way ever the only way to do something? I think what it comes down to is this, one of the most vivid things I learned in college: Play King’s Quest! I have had a good, long term of writing and talking about other people’s writing. It seems a natural enough time for me to focus on my writing for a while, my fiction, my ideas coming out. Then again, that does not mean I need to shut myself off from other writers; other writers will always be there to delight and instruct. Just as other people will be. Here is an example of what I mean by “Play King’s Quest:” I was vaguely aware of a Ron–me / Lenny–George parallel all semester in acting class. I knew it was there because I drew on experiences with Ron, both past and imagined, out in the woods or on the road when I tried to apply the Magic If. See, if you’re playing King’s Quest, you don’t just drop it at that. You look at it closer. You ask why. You ask what. You ask what’s it like, what’s it saying. You try to pick up and examine every piece of detritus, in case one is a magic mushroom. It is an endless stream of questions. You can do the same thing when you read a story or a book. Ask why this character did that. Ask what the peacock is doing there; why it is a peacock, etc. The point is, you don’t have to know your line of reasoning before you start; instead, you ask as many questions as possible, having no idea where they will lead you. It is writing, reading, living for discovery. Open up new screens you’ve never seen before. I don’t want this to sound too mystical or spaced-out; the fact is it is a hard, applicable method. Try it and see. It is more than a theory—I did it in Hunt’s class, I can do it with my own stories and poems. So in other words, no, I don’t have to make myself analyze a book the way I would have in a class. I am not in class now. I graduated. That’s an initiation. A transition. I don’t have to not do class-type work, if that’s what I want to do, but anything is cool now—because I am on my own now; I’m a journeyman now—as long as I approach it with an attitude of inquiry. I always know, when I stop and listen, whether I am done with something or not. My job now is not to let rest things I am not done with. Put another way: My job is to finish things! When I think of questions, it is up to me to go on and try to answer them, not put them in some file for later. Later never happens, man. Whatever I do, I got to do it NOW, regardless, as Zephyr pointed out last night, of fears that I won’t be good enough, I won’t last, etcetera. I’m going to quit blabbing about this now, because that’s sorta what I’m saying: I can blab all I want but now I am ripe and wet and ready for DOing, and learning whatever I learn, not what I am supposed to learn. upast and imagined, out in the woods or on the road when I tried to apply the Magic If. See, if you’re playing King’s Quest, you don’t just drop it at that. You   ^ a˙Ù˙Ó @ @/ã /ãã H á ^ˆÏ‚ÿ &Ñh† &Ñh† &Ñh† &Ñh† "ˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇTITLESˇ pam's stuff#ˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇ Ä$$ÿˇˇˇTÙ –†pH‡ ˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇˇ–†pH%¯@ˇ †Ùˆfi ^ ^ ∆ ^Pˇˇ¡ˇˇ a ^êëíì˛U¶—“”‘’ÿ⁄˜  ” û  °Ô7hæ#è&p&q*ë.ó/-/ã/—3™3´3¨3≠3Æ3Ø3∞3±3≤7Ö9Á9Ë9È9Í9Î9Ï9Ì9Ó9Ô99Ò9Ú9Û9Ù::::::::æ;œ?ˇHH˘XˇÊˇÌj(¸,, ‰ `,-†^Ï&'d@t1ƒ††††–BDH-:LaserWriter 300/LS ÿCentury Schoolbook/ãGeorgiaÑ n nÄÄ nE0'E