Quick Thoughts

I was sitting in my car today at my son’s volleyball practice answering a questionnaire for a writing retreat application. One of the questions was, “Name three books that have affected your writing.” That’s not a quote or a question, actually, but it was something along those lines.

One of the books I chose wasn’t a book at all, so maybe I’m out of the running from the moment I submitted. It was a play. Our Town by Thornton Wilder. I’m not sure where this came from. I love the play and always have since my mother gave it to me to read in elementary school. And, I fell more in love when I played Emily, the main character, my senior year of high school. Wilder wrote it with instructions that the set should be minimal. In fact, if I remember right, he specifically states that scaffolding should be used to represent the upstairs in Emily and George’s houses. Actors should pantomime their “busyness” and costumes should be simple.

The play is about family, relationships, love, and storytelling. It’s not showy. It’s not overtly complex. It’s accessible. The complexity comes from the emotion it evokes from the audience.

In the time it took to turn my car back on and start up my seat warmers, I realized why I so often think of this play. This is how I want to write. I don’t want to describe every detail. I want to leave room for readers to participate in the shaping of a place, a person, a thought. I want people to fall in love with my characters for who they are and what they’ve been through, to experience life with them in the seemingly unimportant moments. I want the last chapter to end and for readers to wish they could spend one more minute hearing their stories, one more minute watching these lives unfold along our shared inevitable path.

That’s the kind of story I want to write.