2006-08-17

I got a story

I have travelled to the web site of Ursula K. Le Guin.

For those who doesn't know, she is a writer. A wonderful writer.

She was the one that introduced me into Science Fiction, with her The Left Hand of Darkness and later with her The Dispossessed. Those are wonderful books, indeed. She also wrote Fantasy, the Earthsea saga. And lots of other wonderful stories (one that comes to mind is The Word for World is Forest, for example).

And I read this small article she wrote a bit ago:

Ursula K. Le Guin: What Makes a Story

And my eyes sparked, and the hint of a smile insinuated itself on my face as I became enlightened.

I have a story to tell. I have a space to share, rooms to visit, and different rythms and movements, a variety of offerings to the readers to explore a fragment of our History, and a part of what's made us be the way we are right now.

I have a story that's relevant, that has the potential, if I do my job as writer well enough, to move the readers, to give them ample space and time to re-create themselves in another world, that may provide them something to help them grow a bit more, to become a little bit more conscious of themselves.

I had some doubts about the way I am telling it, and the way it's showing itself, but she is right, I just have to provide the fertile ground, the refreshing water, the nourishing Sunlight, and some gentle breeze to oxigenate it, and the story will flouring, with every reader, from our Past to the Present.

Yes, The Libyan is a story, and I will work to make a great story out of it. Because it deserves to be told, to breath and live and spread, because it's my duty to make it worth of such privilege.

By the way, at the brink of the 100,000 words boundary, I am about to start writing the Battle of Memphis: the parties are moving to their respective places, the players are in front of their cards, the writer knows the script. iaci aleam!

ΚΑΛΛΙΣΤΗ

2 comments:

Gabriele Campbell said...

Lol, my stories right now resemble a winding path through a jungle - not only does the reader need a machete to hack free his way, there are also some tigers lurking. :)

xibalba said...

Ursula K. Le Guin is definitely one of my favorite SF writers. She is indisputably one of best SF writers for imagining alternative Social arangements.

You mentionned The Dispossessed,which managed the extrodinary feat of creating a truly believable Utopian society and then pulled the neat trick of showing that even Utopia is not perfect.

I would add to your list The Left Hand of Darkness,about of world of hermaphidites. A very intersting exploration of the nature of gender and about how asociety composed of people who were not either "male" or "female" would function.

I believe that Ursula has written several non-fiction books and even occassionally dabbles in music. One of her books, Always Coming Home, in the original edition came with a cassette of music.

If you going to follow anyone's adivce about writing it is very hard to better than Ursula!!

Pierre