When I was awarded a fellowship in poetry by the National Endowment for the Arts (for "Alphabets"), I felt myself suddenly (vaingloriously) equal to my Crow, which would be - I knew at once - Rat. Norman Lock More Quotes by Norman Lock More Quotes From Norman Lock My fondness for extended monologue might have been encouraged by two decades of writing stage and radio dramas. Norman Lock writing drama two I very much like the idea of the unreliable narrator. Shaping my fictions as monologues - by introducing the "I" - allows me to be as unreliable as I like. Norman Lock narrators fiction ideas I admitted that I did not understand life. What I meant was that I am bewildered by human hearts and motivations, including my own. Norman Lock motivation humans heart Eventually, I came to believe, stupidly, that I had exhausted that story's "original" form with its single use. I went on to other stories, other forms and genres. Norman Lock use stories believe I tell myself that, regardless of what source I draw on, I'm writing a new work for reasons peculiar to me and not an adaptation, and so feel, in the end, justified in singing it my way. Norman Lock singing peculiar writing I haven't the stature to critique one of our literature's great novels, Tobias; and I'm not one of those who believe The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn needs critiquing for literary or social reasons. Norman Lock adventure believe needs Each piece of writing I undertake, whether a story, novel, play, or poem, begins with an image. Norman Lock stories play writing The critique of social inequality, which is very much a part of my story, came about naturally from my recollection of Huck and Tom and the controversy surrounding [Mark] Twain's use of them and from my own passionate interest in civil rights, animal rights, and the right of Earth to survive humankind's reprehensible neglect of its stewardship. Norman Lock rights stories animal In nearly everything I write, I am like a ventriloquist, throwing my voice into my characters, animating them by the slightest twitch as I register my anxieties and alarms. This is true even in my comedies. Norman Lock voice writing character I'm too ambitious to give another man credit, even if that other man is only myself in disguise. Norman Lock ambitious giving men Because of an instability at my own core, it comforts me to live, fixed, within a story. If reading is our consolation for having been allotted only one life, I find that writing oneself into a fictional world is even more comforting. Norman Lock reading writing comforting I do believe we are actors in our own dramas, which, moment by moment, we ourselves write; that we are characters in our own fictions or those devised for us by someone or something else. Norman Lock writing drama believe Many of my short fictions use theatre as a metaphor for situations in which characters find themselves estranged from the larger, uncontrollable world that may or may not lie beyond the proscenium arch. Norman Lock theatre character lying Emotional, physical, and spiritual estrangement and ontological and religious doubt inform my personality, my thoughts, and my characters, which are, more often than not, masks for my own being and my being in the world - a world that frightens me insofar as I don't understand it. Norman Lock religious spiritual character I had hoped to be a poet, and for a long time I tried to write poetry. My first published pieces were poems. Norman Lock pieces writing long As a practical matter, I like the dramatic monologue for its compelling intimacy. To be inside one's character, to register his or her every vagrant thought, emotion, and response - the first-person viewpoint grants this privilege and immediacy. Norman Lock viewpoints matter character I used to teach writing in a federal prison, and for my students' benefit, I would liken the narrative use of this highly personal point of view to a boxer's getting in close to his opponent. Norman Lock use views writing For me, fiction's great gift - to writer and reader, alike - is freedom. Norman Lock great-gifts reader fiction Metaphysics notwithstanding, I also insert myself in my fictions for no loftier purpose than to give me pleasure: to see myself performing onstage. Norman Lock purpose giving fiction The persona in my stories may be truer to my "real" self than any alleged objective, factual "I" that I could replicate for the purposes of storytelling. Norman Lock purpose real self
