Francine Prose

When a writer like Francine Prose comes along, you might just ask yourself, “What the heck did I learn in school?” In her recently released title, “Reading Like A Writer”, Prose probes the mind to re-teach the art of writing and reading – Prose and prose go quite well together.

“The only thing I can do is write; I have no other skills” – Francine Prose in a nutshell. At a young age, the would-be writer was fascinated with reading and with words in general. Not a single book at her local library was forgiven. She confessed during a recitation that she was never successful with any job, albeit those concerned with the processing of words. Prose worked for many magazine companies growing up, all the while punching out award recipient titles. Prose writes many children’s books as well as many literary articles.

Words to her are like paints to Da Vinci, really. Many of her titles feature stories painted with words. She detests a lack of detail and eloquence in writing, making a point of it in “Reading Like A Writer” even. As such, it is very possible to place one of her books in a VHS player, just like the cassette, to watch a visual presentation.

Francine Prose currently lives in New York City, and resides as the president of PEN American Center. She occasionally takes trips out into her country house. Despite having two children, Prose continues to write magnificent titles. She writes whenever, wherever, however.

When I walked out of the elevator of the seventh floor of the William and Anita Newman Library Building, I saw posters and flyers telling all that Francine Prose was amongst us.  To be honest, at first I didn’t truly understand the magnitude of having such an accomplished writer at Baruch willing to talk to Macaulay Honors Students about her life’s work.  I soon realized this was a privilege not just a mandatory part of my Arts in New York City course.  Professor Roslyn Bernstein and the rest of the esteemed Baruch College staff had nothing but praises regarding Francine Prose and the novels she wrote, including the book my fellow classmates and I recently read, Reading Like a Writer.

The night began with a few people stepping up to the podium telling the audience about Francine Prose and her successful career.  The respect for her was evident from the first words out of their mouths.  One thing I learned from the experience with Francine Prose was that “Hansel and Gretel” holds a completely different meaning than it used to.  From my childhood, I remember the old tale about a witch wanting to eat two children.  It is safe to say that Francine Prose put a truly original spin on this narration enticing listeners from the beginning of the story.  Her version of “Hansel of Gretel” was a rendition of a true story that left the audience asking themselves different questions.  It was amazing to witness and listen to how a somewhat boring event was transformed into an interesting, enticing piece of literature.

Following Prose’s narration of her version of “Hansel and Gretel” was a question and answer session.  All throughout the reading of the short story I racked my brain trying to think of the perfect question to ask, but my attempts were unsuccessful.  As the question and answer session ended, I was shocked to see almost everyone in the cramped room, flock to Francine Prose whether it was to sneak in another question or just get her signature.  I said to myself, “I may never get another chance to meet another highly accomplished writer.”  I didn’t hesitate in knowing that I should also get up and encounter this talented writer.  As she handed the book back to me with her signature on the first page, she was answering another student’s question.  I overheard her saying was that she remembered what it was like to be in college reading countless books that bored her to death.  I laughed to myself for this is how I have always felt since the beginning of high school.  I was comforted to discover that she is a very down to earth person, being able to relate to an ordinary college student like myself.  It was astonishing to learn that such a renowned writer and celebrity like Francine Prose, was just another person trying to make a living, one novel at a time.

I never finish reading Reading like a writer, by Francine Prose. Even with all the accolades her books have received throughout her career, I took her novel lightly. It was one of those books that I would keep in my aged shelf under the dust, but I knew it would enhance my writing style and be an inspirational source of writing. But after attending “A Reading and Conversation with Francine Prose”, I found myself absorbed into the content of the book. “I want to be like Francine Prose,” I thought to myself while reading the book on the ride home. The event not only changed my perception of Francine Prose but also my understanding of good writing.

“I couldn’t do anything else…I can’t even drive…I was a huge reader…I like to write,” Francine Prose responded after a student asked “why you know you are going to be a writer?” She answered with such openness which I have never expected from someone of her statue. It was those simple few words that drove me to read the book again. I want to be become an active reader so that one day I might just have the courage to call myself a writer.

“I wrote 130 drafts for Goldengrove.” Francine Prose’s painless response fascinated me. The idea that she changed her mind 130 times during the course of revising goldengrove inspired me to consider writing as a continuing process instead of a temporary push for perfection. She also used the examples of works from Shakespeare to emphasize that “sentences are timeless.” The fact that Francine Prose didn’t consider herself as a writer three years after publishing her first piece displayed her humbleness that many of other writers don’t have.

I still didn’t finish Reading like a writer. The book becomes a new meaning to me after the event that it’s not only a book about writing but also about the determination to succeed in writing. I realize that no essay or piece of literature is perfect; it is the thought process and the continuing battle of the mind that intrigue the readers. As I continue to search and master the skill of writing, I truly hope that one day my writing will transcend through time and tell a story of my own.

            I admired the way she conducted the informal interview after the reading and I was also surprised by some of her answers. One question posed to her dealt with whether or not she knew what the endings would be before she wrote the work. Her answer shocked me, as she replied that she did not think about it beforehand and let the story go where it would. I find this interesting because I always ike to know where anything that I am writing will end up. I realize that every writer has there own methods but I wonder if there is not some merit to the idea that the story does not have to be planned out and that the overall construction can just take its own course. This is something that I will try and implement in my own writing because when she said this she made it sound as though this made writing more fun. It may go against my natural inclination as an aspiring writer but it may be beneficial to not know where every story is going. I also found it interesting when she said that some stories and ideas remain unfinished. This is something else that I wish to use in my writing because I have never left a story unfinished and always try to make the best out of whatever material that I am working with. After listening to Francine Prose however, I have come to the realization that if the story is not working than it should scrubbed until a better way of approaching it becomes apparent. I also now understand that some stories cannot be finished and that it is important to accept this and realize that it is not giving up but understanding the concept is not working.

I feel that I have gleaned much from the reading with Francine Prose. I learned a lot abou how to conduct oneself as a writer and I hope that I may continue to grow as one. Authors like Francine Prose have much to teach young writers and I found her musings on writing to be very helpful, and I appreciated the candor and wit with which she delivered them.

Francine Prose

Francine Prose has enjoyed a long and accomplished career as an author of unique novels and short stories for adults and also for children. She writes fiction that blends elements of reality with elements of the fantasy. She is the current Sidney Harman Writer-in–Residence at Baruch College. She wrote over 15 books of fiction and many non-fiction books, including the most recent Reading Like a Writer.

Francine Prose has been traveling extensively, on tour for her new novel, she describes her experience of reading the same excerpts on every tour, “I wish I could take a nap while reading.” She incorporates a lot of humor and jokes while telling us about her experience as a writer and a journalist.  Because the most part of her audience is college students, she even tells us about life, “whatever your life is now, its gonna change.” I assume we shouldn’t get too used to the everyday happenings.

When it comes to writing, she tells us she never knows where she’s going and where the endings are going to be, which is how we get the unexpected plot twists. While answering questions, she manages to tell us a little bit about herself.  As a child, she wrote ghost stories (to tell them to the children she babysat), and from then on, she had a few jobs from which she was fired. This made her realize that writing was something she was extremely good in, and according to her, she “couldn’t do anything else.” She was fired from every single job she took, “I can’t even drive.”

When asked why she prefers to write fiction instead of journalism, she replies by saying that fiction is more fun. She has all the material, and all she has to do is figure out a way to finish the story. Ms. Prose’s first novel was published in 1973, “when the school bus came I started working, when school bus came back, I stopped working.” She hasn’t had the chance to have a writer’s block because she “had to pay bills.”

When she first started out as a writer, she wrote a weekly article for a magazine, entitled “How to make your kids eat vegetables,” and she humorously adds that even though she couldn’t make her own kids eat vegetables, she had to write the article, and she had to support her family. I think this happens to many writers; at times they are forced to write about things they don’t fully agree with or know about.

As I gathered from both her books and her persona, she is very passionate about great writing, and writing in general. She says she doesn’t have any authors that she hates, but “if a writer has been around for 100, 200 years, it must be because it’s good writing.” She had many authors and books that inspired her, and that can be found in the book Reading Like a Writer, at the end of which there is a list of 180 books that inspired her writing.  Hey, maybe if I read all those books I will too become as great a writer as her!

Francine Prose as a writer is an exact one.  She makes every word count and tells us to do he same.  As a speaker she is sure of her words and herself, not giving a speech, more having a conversation.  Her humor holds a key to her being: dry, well placed comments that could be mistaken for passing thoughts if not for her perfect sense of timing.
She is no egoist, assuming her writing reels intelligence in on wormy fishhooks.  She is a person glad to share her words and not retract into soft humility.  She draws her audience in with her vaguely familiar voice, the quintessential comforting mother softly poking fun of you for thinking you were better then all the other kids.   On this past Tuesday evening, Prose stood before us, and it seemed strange that she was behind a podium, as though being presented to us, rather then part of the group, telling her stories as they were meant to be told, on the same level.  Her short story “Hanzel and Gretel” gave us a distinct impression of who we were really dealing with, a slow unclaimed poet, drawing out each word into a sentence that says exactly what it wants and means exactly what it said. Her telling ended with conviction and answering started with good humor.  Prose explained to us how the story came to be, how she as a writer works and when she first thought of herself as a writer.
Francine Prose has good reason to be a writer: she isn’t good at anything else.  “I can’t even drive.” she muttered in afterthought when asked why she became a writer.  Beyond that, Prose has a distinct way of making words move that leave you fulfilled, in any capacity that you read them.  Her words are purposeful and true, and she uses them so that others may have a good story to read.

http://www.marionettlinger.com/images/gallery/30-prose.jpg

            “She was so beautiful and doomed and she had a death wish” no, this is not Francine Prose but Myra, an insane character from “Hansel and Gretel”; one of her short stories from the collection “The Peaceable Kingdom”. The real Francine Prose held the audience captive during the reading with her soft, deep intonations. Her hair curtained her face as she drew it back occasionally to reveal the intelligence and wit written not only in her story but also on her face. She peered up to regard the audience that was intentionally shocked into attention by the image of Hecuba and her cat.

                During the talkback, Prose stated she started writing stories as an indirect result of the unruly children she had to babysit as a child. Her face drew back in a smile when she recalled she “did a lot of ghost stories” to entertain the children. Her use of logic and sense of humor led her to discover that if they were scared they might be less restless. Many of her ideas for novels including “Hansel and Gretel” came from personal experience. Prose explained, “As a child I was a huge reader”. She readily cited the highly relevant Hans Christian Andersen and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Her influences were a revelation. Hans Christen Andersen’s tales even though irreverent, sometimes have dark undertones just like her work. Alcott’s novel is an almost biographical account of a female writer who falls into “vortexes” and “writing fits” and supports herself with them. Francine Prose’s character is such that she remembers staying up all night to start a novel. Initially to her writing was not so much about the freedom of expression but also her livelihood. She admitted she could not “imagine doing anything else” and “just didn’t have a chance for writer’s block”. Her approach to her profession is not only realistic it is admirable

 Her independence is admirable and her spirit shows in her book “Reading Like A Writer”. Prose emphasizes the importance of reading not just for plot but also for the originality of the writer. In opposition to the nature of a short story, a novel focuses more on the character development.  To Francine Prose writing is a novel is “scarier” because there is a chance that it might not go anywhere”. When questioned about her writing methods,” I just write on sentence after another” Her approach at writing maybe considered unorthodox. Yet when she writes, every word is deliberate, and every thought is concise, even at times humorous, just like her. 

As a type of introduction to Francine Prose for all members of the Baruch College community to attend, an event co-sponsored by Poets & Writers was held in the Newman Conference Center in the Library building of the college. Its audience consisted of a few faculty members followed by a majority of students. Prose was extensively introduced prior to speaking. Being the humble spirit she was, she spoke little of herself and more of her students in the Harman Writer-In-Residence Program.

Prose decided to include a different reading in her session with the Baruch community. Claiming that being on a book tour where she had to repeatedly read parts of her novel Golden Grove bored her, Prose proceeded to read one of her short stories: “Hansel and Gretel.” Contrary to what one might think the story includes, it actually tells a tale of a young woman who has to suffer through a vacation with her husband—and his ex-girlfriend’s mother (Lucia). It is from this story that her audience experiences Prose’s frequently used style of writing narratives: through frames. By the end of the story, Prose’s audience is brought back to the narrator’s present state of remembering the vacation. This place is at a location with the narrator’s second husband, as she recalls how her previous husband couldn’t even love her as much as Lucia loved her cat. The story itself was a disguised form of one of Prose’s previous memories.

The event closed with a Q & A session, where students and the like inquired into Prose’s methods of writing. When asked about her most recent novel, Prose answered that she “saw what happened in Golden Grove” as she was writing it and that, although people regard her an amazing writer, she had to “get rid of around 130 drafts” before the novel was completed. She also commented that she does have an easier time completing short stories, as most authors do, yet the editing time is similar to that of her novels. What distracts her most from her writing, however, is computer solitaire. “It’s every writer’s secret,” she comically added.

Ms. Prose talked about her writing style and philosophy and it was evident that she lives by her words.  She said that as a writer you can “borrow from your life”, which is demonstrated in the “Hansel and Gretel” story where a woman “tortured me for an entire weekend.” She finds that “fiction is more fun” and she enjoys that with fiction you “have liberty” to write as you please. She commented on the strange coincidences that occur in the story and asked, “How could I know messengers of my future were just beyond the hedge?”

Her humble demeanor allowed the audience to be at ease with her. She was open to all questions. I enjoyed the way that she did not take herself too seriously and was willing to joke and laugh about herself. Francine Prose had a very good sense of humor and I really felt like I knew her on a more personal level. She was very relatable and I liked that she was not egotistical like some writers would be.