The Plot полностью

“Well, can you tell us something about the novel you’d like to write?”

He looked instantly suspicious. “What kind of ‘something’?”

“Well, the setting, for instance. The characters? Or a general sense of the plot. Do you have a plot in mind?”

“I do,” said Parker, with now overflowing hostility. “I prefer not to discuss it.” He looked around. “In this setting.”

Even without looking at any of them directly, Jake could feel the reaction. Everyone seemed to be at the same impasse, but only he was expected to respond to it.

“I suppose,” Jake said, “that what we’d need to know, then, is how I—how this class—can best help you improve as a writer.”

“Oh,” said Evan Parker/Parker Evan, “I’m not really looking to improve. I’m a very good writer, and my novel is well on track. And actually, if I’m being honest about it, I’m not even sure writing can even be taught. I mean, even by the best teacher.”

Jake noted the wave of dismay circling the seminar table. More than one of his new students, more likely than not, were considering his wasted tuition money.

“Well, I’d obviously disagree with that,” he said, trying for a laugh.

“I certainly hope so!” said the man from Cape Cod.

“I’m curious,” said the woman to Jake’s right, who was writing a “fictionalized memoir” about her childhood in suburban Cleveland, “why would you come to an MFA program if you don’t think writing can be taught? Like, why not just go and write your book on your own?”

“Well”—Evan Parker/Parker Evan shrugged—“I’m not against this kind of thing, obviously. The jury’s out on whether it works, that’s all. I’m already writing my book, and I know how good it is. But I figured, even if the program itself doesn’t actually help me, I wouldn’t say no to the degree. More letters after your name, that never hurts, right? And there’s a chance I could get an agent out of it.”

For a long moment, no one spoke. More than a few of the students seemed newly distracted by the stapled writing samples before them. Finally, Jake said: “I’m glad to hear you’re well along on your project, and I hope we can be a resource for you, and a support system. One thing we do know is that writers have always helped other writers, whether or not they’re in a formal program together. We all understand that writing is a solitary activity. We do our work in private—no conference calls or brainstorming meetings, no team-building exercises, just us in a room, alone. Maybe that’s why our tradition of sharing our work with fellow writers has evolved the way it has. There’ve always been groups of us coming together, reading work aloud or sharing manuscripts. And not even just for the company or the sense of community, but because we actually need other eyes on our writing. We need to know what’s working and, even more important, what’s not working, and most of the time we can’t trust ourselves to know. No matter how successful an author is, by whatever metric you measure success, I’m willing to bet they have a reader they trust who sees the work before the agent or publisher does. And just to add a layer of practicality to this, we now have a publishing industry in which the traditional role of ‘editor’ is diminished. Today, editors want a book that can go straight into production, or as close to that as possible, so if you think Maxwell Perkins is waiting for your manuscript-in-progress to arrive on his desk, so he can roll up his sleeves and transform it into The Great Gatsby, that hasn’t been true for a long time.”

He saw, to his sadness but not his surprise, that the name “Maxwell Perkins” was not familiar to them.

“So in other words, if we’re wise we’ll seek out those readers and invite them into our process, which is what we’re all doing here at Ripley. You can make that as formal or informal as you like, but I think our role in this group is to add what we can to the work of our fellow writers, and open ourselves to their guidance as much as possible. And that includes me, by the way. I don’t plan on taking up the class’s time with my own work, but I do expect to learn a great deal from the writers in this room, both from the work you’re doing on your own projects and from the eyes and ears and insights you bring to your classmates’ work.”

Evan Parker/Parker Evan had not stopped grinning once during this semi-impassioned speech. Now he added a head shake to underscore his great amusement. “I’m happy to give my opinion on everyone’s writing,” he said. “But don’t expect me to change what I’m doing for anyone else’s eyes or ears or noses, for that matter. I know what I’ve got here. I don’t think there’s a person on the planet, no matter how lousy a writer he is, who could mess up a plot like mine. And that’s about all I’m going to say.”