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Writing is Self-Discoveryby Vicki Meade
In his inspiring address, Rashke emphasized that "writing is a process of self-discovery," even when you are not consciously writing stories from your life. "All good creative writing is autobiographical to some degree, because if a story is going to have any depth, you're going to write about yourself." When something in his work falls flat, he writes in the margin: "Where can I draw from to re-feel what I need to write this?" Though he may not have experienced the plight of the character he's writing about, he's felt the emotions. Rashke's book about activist Karen Silkwood—who died while exposing the dangers of plutonium contamination—was the basis for the 1983 movie Silkwood, starring Meryl Streep. Two of his other books, Escape from Sobibor and Runaway Father, were made into CBS movie specials. He is currently working on a play about artists Jackson Pollack and Lee Krasner. Rashke proved himself skilled at connecting with a live audience—not just with readers—as he gave heartfelt advice and commiserated with conference attendees whose efforts have been rejected by editors or whose works have gotten poor reviews. "A bad review shakes you to the very foundation," he said, "and can hurt you deeply." He encouraged attendees to believe in themselves and be confident that what they have to say is worthwhile. When he is feeling overwhelmed by the demands of his craft or criticisms of his work, his approach is to "find that core of strength in me and feed off it." He likes to picture himself in a canoe on a stormy river, with whitecaps churning and the wind howling. "Then I say, ‘this sucks,' and I dive to the bottom of the river." He sits on a rock and looks up to where everything is swirling far in the distance. "Then a fish swims by and I say, ‘Hi, how's it going?'" Whimsical visualizations like this, he explained, allow him to find his "writing core." Before he starts a project, Rashke comes up with two or three ideas and lets them percolate. These ideas may start as a character, a story, or even a sound. As time passes, it soon becomes clear which one he'll pursue—and often it's the "quietest one." He doesn't begin writing until he has an ending—the ending is "the engine that drives my story," he said—but he accepts that the ending may change as his writing progresses. When he launches every project he asks himself these questions, and then asks them again as he completes each new draft:
Rashke advised attendees to stretch themselves and take risks in their writing. "I tell people I'm a gambler," he said. "The essence of writing is choosing what is risky." He also recommended developing characters, whether fictional or biographical, that are larger than life. Find what's special or unique to set a person apart from ordinary mortals. "Make the character bigger than you are," he said, "but not so big we can't identify."
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Vicki Meade |
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very best stories come from where you feel, not from where you think,"
said keynote speaker Richard Rashke--author of the book The Killing of
Karen Silkwood—at the 11th annual conference of the Maryland Writers'
Association, held April 17 in Linthicum. "My biggest mistake was
writing stories that intrigued me intellectually," he confessed,
but over time he learned to "go with the heart, not with the head."