THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14.2002
BOOKS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7
Young writers rarely find immediate success
Professor says aspiring writers should work on skills before making it big
By Henry C. Jackson
cjackson@kansan.com
Jayplay Writer
But, is it fair to hold University of Kansas literary hopefuls up to these standards? Probably not. Tom Lorenz, associate chair in English, teaches creative writing at KU and said that writers "who publish anything prior to age 25" are ahead of the curve. A look at the biographies of Crane, Hemingway and Smith shows that their situations also differed slightly from that of
Literary history is dotted with classic literature penned by writers barely out of college. Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage was penned before the author's 24th birthday, Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises hit shelves shortly before the author's 27th birthday, and even modern marvel Zadie Smith began working on her debut novel, White Teeth, while she was still attending classes at Cambridge University.
Crane, whose best known piece was probably Courage, might not have had the time to pen his famous war novel if he had been tied down by the academic obligations today's students face.
the typical KU student.
Instead, he wrote for a variety of news publications. Hemingway skipped college and went straight to the pros, writing for The Kansas City Star shortly after his high school graduation, and thus avoiding a college workload that might have prevented him from crafting his minimalist prose.
Zadie Smith was an exception in this case. Smith's White Teeth was polished while she was working on a degree from Cambridge.
KU's future writers probably shouldn't hold themselves to Smith's standards, however. Lorenz said he worked on getting students to develop their talent and voice while working at KU, not publishing award winning novels. As to what can help develop this talent, there are a few things Lorenz said could help a writer's development.
"The whole process is one of discovery," Lorenz said. "Literature courses, courses
with a modern and contemporary component and courses in the fine arts help."
A broad range of knowledge can also help, Lorenz said. Expanding one's classes to include more diverse subjects would help a writer become more attuned to the world around him or her.
"Anything you can get to know about, you can write about," Lorenz said.
Aside from class selection, keeping an eye on modern fiction helps students' development, Lorenz said.
"I encourage students to read outside of class, especially contemporary writers," Lorenz said. "Students consciously or unconsciously write in someone else's style. The more authors, the more styles they are familiar with."
Who students modeled themselves after has evolved through the years, Lorenz said.
"We used to have a lot of students writing like (short story writer Raymond) Carver," Lorenz said. "But now I think there's a lot of modern writers they write like. Nick Hornby has been one that's very popular."
Helping future writers is something in which Lorenz said he and his department
"We used to have a lot of students writing like (short story writer Raymond) Carver. But now I think there's a lot of modern writers they write like. Nick Hornby has been one that's very popular."
Tom Lorenz Associate chair in English
took great pride. The emphasis for college-aged writers should be on developing skills. While Lorenz noted that former KU students Connie Fowler and Scott Heim both published books shortly after leaving KU's creative writing program, not all students possess the talent and dedication.
"In any given class there are as many as a half a dozen writers that have talent." Lorenz said. "You can develop the talent. The creative writing staff works a lot with students to help improve their work. That's our emphasis."
—Edited by Sarah Hill