i4 Th. Knolrnlg Is in ifu \{l iting

The element oJ surprise

A rnonth ago, belore I went off to tome, I left a challenge forsome audacious reader ro pick up on, but alas, no one did. Heres thesccnario I imagined:

A 35-year-o1d rvoman (lers call her Laura)-unmarried perhapsa reacher or a former nun or both-has just learned to drive a car. andis carefully gong up the llyover on KAtipunan Avenue. On the radio,she lisrens ro a ne\\'scast and catches a snippet aboul a L7 yearoLdgirl *ho lvas kllled rvlth two other lriends the previous night in ahorrible car crash on EDS,A. atrer a drinking birge.

\\ihcre! rhe srorlt ancl il )ou lusr had another page to add, rvhatrvould Laura do?

The novice \\'rirer-or one rl'-ho hasn't thought outside the box-rvill most likel1, have Laura make the Sign oI the Cross and thanh hers(ars rhal she! lollolved the srreighr and narrow path all her hfe, firmingup her grip on the steering wheel and resolving to teach thal lesson in,uh, values forrnation {,ith elen grcerer conviction.

But ifvou let,vour nnagnution wander lreel,v ancl reluse ro simpl,rac.epL 35 year-o]d single rvomen as stereotvpes (better not, or you 11never hear Lhe end ol rL), Lhen more inrerestlng possibihiies emerge.urhat il. lor example, upon hearing rhe tragic news, Laura pauses, butnstead of plodding onrvard vith all the cLeliberation ol a, *,e11, aschoolteacher. she thinks ol all rhe crazy thrills Lhose young girls musthave gone through nr their brief lives, emotions and sensaliofu she.rnever felt. and the insurgent leeling wells up in her, filhng her with astrange compulsion to go faster than she'.s erer gone-lo be, lor a lewsecon.ls, Lr[erly rcckless bul alive-and she speeds up and enjo]'s therush unljl the sharp blare ol a bus horn brrngs her abruptly back toher senses, and she lets oui a small gasp as she retrLrns to the middle1ane, still rhinkrng about those girls, and the iong rvide road ahead

I broughr up rhis lairly sirnple example because it illustraresjustrvhat I rnean about rrrnid ancl conr.entional writing. Th,rL !imid rrilerraight as wcll be Laura someon who.s never tried an)rhinil radicallvdillerent, someone you can couni on to do the p.edictable thing, tochoose the road rvell Laker.

Exie AbolaJose Y Dalisay Jr. The Knowing Is in the Writing: Notes on the Practice of Fiction. QC: UP Press, 2006.

lll. the Pracrice ofFiction 75

It seems unjust, especially when you,re just srarring our irIcreative wriring, bur I have ro remind my srudenrs thal rhelre a-ssumingar awfL I bu rde.r: I h,l ot comrnB up u:rn .om"rhing new or .omernin!lhar lools neu raling oit rlom , zra pournot 'amous odmor.lJon loithe brave young arrisrs of his rime ro ,,Make it newl,, you canl just lrorout the same oid plot, the same okl characters. and rhe s;me ot.ithcme\-,rnd -prdF" ru dppre, . e )our gcnru. ll )oLrha\er rrrdcnoLghot whrt hd.ur. en oelore rou e.p".r.rlrl rh.,o.called classics (and I'm nor going to argue here about what si.rould orshouldnt be a classic, orwharshould orshoutdn'l go jnlo rhe..canon'_maybe some_ other rime), rhen you face the ;happy prospecr otreinventing the wheel-firh no reward ro a*ait you, p.eiio.ri labor.It! possible and even fun, of course, ro do your owr version or remakeol d clrss:(-iLrr r. \vM L,on-"1p7 d:d wirh ldn-er oy,e. dcalhlc.,"Araby" in "The Bread o[ Salt,-but rhat's more a tesr of masten, rhanbliod imitarion.

Stories olren need some e]ement of surprise*a lirrl explosionon the way to rhe barhroom or the cemelery_to jar rhe rearler (andthe story rrsell) from complacency Those surprises could be crucial!o the developmen! and revelarion of character_who we trulv areand why we do \rhar we do-which is the end_purpose ol all ti'ction.I've argued rhar licrional or dramatic.haru.ters become rrulvinlerestitg when rhey go ont o[ characrer-wheo they do somethingwe never expecred rhem !o do, but which, given rhe presenicircumstances, makes perlect seme. Ar rhat momenr, both ciraracterand reader reach a porverful poinr of sell discovery,_or mrher, a kindof moltjng, a coming out ol onet olcl skin.

B\ .urpr:+ I Lon, mea| er r,et1 r.orrr,,1 rw. r r1.l L-n. olplot ror .orrersel'. enl.rc') ,o.l.rveJ o'tp\, .\'te,e rrpnr,.rre al ro.robviou. \ .oer.ed br rhc a.]r\olr bv ,on e Coo. r^ua-d -on. prc-plannpd o".r nl:o1. In r'lp old .1"y. rnr. ua. , ",ico riel, e\ nr htrdor'hegodronrl.md.ninc. hhrh"d.t: r a v,o.n" goo-lara, eloqcred on.rag. ov sr.,ge m- hrn. rr ro rc,.r e h h ro_r: rh" g..d.do..tor.c,;n pe rrlrpr v"rrrr ng !p.m\ o\L to, t.,, p,,1,- V,i",rdar r?"ur,. r.r Ijrr n.r r. an\ u.I,r,j-r:. r",o.urro,r r,rou..d b)rlFaIl-or In. goJ or'hc.,on on hcsork "l-.h..r.u-r1,1 r,lpp.r.when rhe aurhor carl find a passably logical solutton Lo rhe'proiiems

T6 Thc Knonirg Is ih .1. \ltiinrg

rhat he orshe created. (Trcicalll-, this happens inbad novels and movies,$ hen yorfre do$n to the last t.n pages or las( live minures, and suddenl,veverythingjust tets lied up and falls inro place ever so neatL)'-a saviorappears, disaster is averted in the nick of time, and the worlds a happyplace once more ) This isn't the kind of surprise we're looking for,because, ironi.allv, deus ex nachinet has become so preclictable thatn! Iosl nearl-y all of its wonder, except lor rhe hopeiessly naiYe.

There's another ltind ol surprise thal the old rvriters favored-the _ironic t\\'isf that became rhe hallmark of o. Henry! srories, buLwhich $.riters lihe Guy de MauPassant and Anton Chekhov hadmastered belore him. (By the wa): O. Hnr)'-born Uriltlam SydnelPorLer*!las a convicted embezzler, and rook the name upon hisrele:.se from prison. Like Chekhov and Edgar Allan Poe, he rvrote notto impress the critics nor to win literary prizes bur to feed his lamillMaupassant was ,:lnce shown a mummified hand by his poet-friendsivinburne, an.l rhe hand appeared in an earLy work... but that, literallnis another story)

1n classics like Maupassant! "The NeckLace' and Chekhovs 'ThcLotlery Tjcket,' terrible reversals happe[. ln the first stonl a husbandancl $ife spend ten years in Abjecr misery pa)'ing back a crushing debtrhey never should have orved; in the second. a fleeling glinrPse offabulous fortrLne leeves a marriage in iatters when lheir imaginarybubble bursts. ln one oltire stro ngest statemen ts lor turn-of-the-centcrryAmerican leminism, Kare Chopin has a,voung wile discover n suddenrelief rvhen she receives ne*s ol her husbands accidental death, onlyto suffer a heart attack when the man leappars, haYing surviled theaccidenL afier all

These are very dramatic-even melodramatic-turns oI fortune,and something io our modern sensibility resists such florid displays oIpassion. That doesnl mean, ho\\'ever, thal lhe imaginative wriler canlinlroduce some brearhhking lanc) in what se.ms ro be a plain il nolpedestrian account ol a Tuesday alternoon in an ordinary Lile (and itis, I contend, h dealing with ordinary lives-not in indulSing 111 lhecxoric-where th \rriler'.s merlle is truly tested).

lIL The Pracrice olFicrion 77

For sheer shock value, rwo stories saand ou! mosr clearly in mymind: ShirleyJackson! "Th Lotrery" and Flannery O,Cornor..s ..GoodCountry People.' 1'd rarher not spoit rhe fun (or rhe horror) lor yoLrb1 telI rg.o-r $n,jr rhe-( -rorc. sFe,il.(a.ly ir\o1.. .uttr e i, J,.r)rhat when "The Lotery" was published in fhe Ne), yorler in 1948, rh;magazine was deluged wirh lerters lrom readers-mosr of themoutraged by the story! suggestion rhat such normal people as the storydepirrcJ . oulJ or..o rr l. ',,ooc , o,,r.D Peop.F. on rnn n Lir nrn/has lhe strangest characrers-who yer outdo themselves in even greaterstrangeness by lhe sroryt end. Whatt imporranr to note is thar asulexpected as the ourcomes ol these srories might be, lhey,re actLlallyprepared for, deiail by derail and layer by layer, urril rhey acqujre aclimaciic invirabilir)l

Some shorl stories end very quierly, even seemjnglyincorLclusively, wirh no dramatic reversals or hisrrionics. Thar,.s becausethe crucial changes or revelerions happen deep beneath rhe surface,forming great dark gours ol conflicring emotion before rheir resolurionin one direction or orhel

ln Ernesr Hemingway! "Hills Like White Elephanrs,,-one ofthose Hemingway ishly spare stories thar make yotr wonder whar, ifanylhing, has happened-a coupie on a trip across Spajn stop in asmali bar, have what sounds like a muted argunent, rher end uP wirhtheir fellorv passengers "all wairing reasonably lor rhe rrain,.'rhe girlins''t nB that 'l leel lr r..

In Bobble Ann Mason's "Shiloh"-a fine example of the masrerfrrtLr.e ol Jo.rp.ri. Jerar :rd rlro.c.p""'"g.",'".;",..tero) Vot..r,flife, Norma Jean, is \,l'-orking on her pectorals.,') has been hailed asone of contemporary American iiterarure's mosr starrling-also invoh,esa couple in the gradual bur inexorable process of drifting apan, rheending goes thusr "NormaJean has reached the bluf! and she is looktngout over the Tennessee River. Now she rurns toward Leroy and wavesher arms. ls she beckoning ro him? She seems to be doing an exercisefor her chest muscles. The sky is unusually pale-rhe color of lhe dustruffle Mabel made lor their bed., ABain, rhere's norhing parricularl)explosive abour rhar scene. but ir's fraughr wirh anxiety: 1s she ailrighi? Or will she jump, leaving him forever?

;S Ih. (no\ring k in tl. Writnlg

Some surprises come belatedl),, only upon closer inspection. lnEdgar Atlan Poes "The Cask ol Amontillado, ' a tantalizirg clue at thcend of dre story yiekls ils supreme irony-the fact Lhat lhe mLLderer.Montresor (who lures his friend Fortunalo into entrapment behird abrick wall), is srill thinking lntensely about his crime lifry years aftercol11mirting it: he is the oDe \rho has beer entombed by his own guilL.In James Jo),ce's "Arab).," it \r.i11 Lake a sharp reader 10 realize theobvious-that it's no longer a ten or eleven-year-old boy \r'ho is tellingthe story but a much older man, who norv understands. withLLndiminished pain but with the resonance of maturitl the tolly olpuppy love.

The "Araby" paradigm-by rvhicir a lover performs someextravagant sacrilice lor the beloved, only to be rudely rebutted orembarrassed in the end-has been an enduring one. NV\,l Gonzalezs"The Bread ol Salt" is an "Arab,v" story employlng not.lust a difierencein age but in sociel classes. A former studeni ol mine named AndreaPasion wrote a story titled "Skin Arr,' s.here a young girl, against allreason, has a tartoo lmprinted on her 1eg lo lmpress a boy she'sinlaruated with, only to discover ahat he likes someone else. l've donemy own take on rhe form-a playlul exercise I called "Ybarra" (noprizes lor figuring why). where an old lechet yieLds his goLd coliegering ro a bargirl, thinkinB she'Il think the rvorld ol him; you can guess

Sonle unexpected turns occur *,hen you leasL exPect !hem. Mylavorite srory by one oI my fa\'orirc authors, Gregorio Brillanles, carriesthe typically Brillantes-esque title of "The Cries of Children on an AprilAlternoofl in the Year 1957," the idLe reverie of a young rnan on hissummer break is broken by a siab across time, into *le fabric of a sadand terrible furure Brillantes surddenly reveals wirhout the cheap shochelfect rhat rnight have been producedby a lesser hand;the llash-forrvardhad never been used so po\rrfully as it has in this story, wi!h Slimpsessuch as: "..- meeting her again by chance in a frierd! office the yearafter passing the bar, he $ill invite her out to dinner and lall in lovewilh her Ten years ol marriage, two miscarriages, and four childrens.ili lear.e their imprint on her ample bod,v: a pensive tiredness lilmingthe eyes, a jut olcheeLbone replacing rhe chubbiness, a plump softening

IIL The Practice ofFiction

ol ihe once suppl arms ....'and on, and on, to ihe storys bloody

ln rhe Palanca prizewinning story "Lavender,, by another formerstudent, Socorro \rillanueva, a wife tells her husband-with poigranrhumor, over a breaklast of pancakes-how an over$eighr garbageb.r; orot," or ( te \ltoi I r l-on ot ll-.tr l-ou,e. ,r .,"r . , r ,r.rlog io'l_cir .aeg. re mr-r',t< -\o ll-c s"rpr 51, g., crr r.orrg ..r'h ..1' oL,past meals and excesses. Bits of ampalata and okra-Jennv was hereover that neekend and cooked pinallet; orange,colored chicken fromleft-over mechado; a botrle ol,{-1, spare rib bones, and, for rhe liie olme, used napkins, Godl-they all sailed happilr along rhe glrrierl,'

At other times rhe surprise is in rhe choice rhe proia8onisrmakes-a surprise, ho\r'ever, not entirel, urprepared for (and therejnlies the inferral challenge ol rhe rhing ro produce asronishmenr throuththe slow accumulation ol drarnaLic logic).

There's a story I keep remembering from a srudent writinq(on-J"r|ol rh, . tude"J rgo. d. ol r ,,. rl r." r,r,difticuh by the commonness of its premise. I nlay have forgotrer someol rrndp r'1. rr,r d.l ".--1i dll) I r8o ,, r .l-" .ro.rl '.' "r'a r.author), but the basic plot had a poor young boy the kind who mishr"watch" or wash )our car as you went shopping-looking longrlglyrrro r\e $rndos) .' I d"or. r.err : or.: r". e.p", iallr , r-,. t;.1 D)the smar! but pricey basebaLl caps (this lvas s.ell before they Nrnedup ar every streetcorner) thar well olf kids come out of ttre store with.The boy's saved up some mone11 bur rhere are needs to be mer, wairillgfor him ar home.

I call this a lough proposirion, because irt a stock depiction ofrhe rich vs. poor scenario !o begin wi!h, and irs alnost begging 10.lde inro ca-r \Frjr-rp rrcl '. Bu ro- rle ,ur.or pu.l"d l-r. or " ortby making that boy gather up his earnings, march inro lhat srore, andbuy his own cap, the consequences be damned-just to feel, lor onequiveang momeri, rhe sarislying fullness ol his ambilion. (And here Ican jusr hear tl1 e sc ho olmarms saying, "Bu r rha r! iotally i rresp o nsible | ,,lndeed it is, but it ieels truer and more honest than anv orheron, ,. or. .rnd r- .o'r" \i13 lr. n *h,.h n orp comp pr | ..or, I

vou must, can be drarvn.)

ll0 Ih. Kn!wirE I\ rn rJr \\ irng

For surprising rr'isls thar are ar once brearhrakingly clever andye! psychologically inevirable, no!hing in my book bearsJ. D. Salingers"Pretty Mouth and creen M) Eyes' (from his seminal Nin. sroriescollectiou, a must-read lor any aspiring wriLer). The sLory ernploysjust three characters, one bed, and a relephone. An older nran and ayoung woman are in bed; rhe phone rings and irs the man! frjend,looking tor his wrfe, rvhom he suspects ofchearing on him wilh someonehe doesn't knorl "some bastard in the hrtchen." The srory\ first surprisecomes from our reaiization ther ir! his lvife in rhar bed wlth rhe olderfriend he! callecl-rhe lellow who keeps rclliog him nor ro worry-, she,llbe home soon, she might're jusr tahen a rvalk The caller, ot course,has no way ol kno,,ving the real score, and allous hi[rse]l ro bepersuaded and pacified by rhe brazen lte.

Newer or lesser wrirers would hAle quir ar this poinr ro countrheir winnings-\'asn'i tha! ironic enough?-brLr Salinger goes on roshorv why he! a rnasrer not onlv oI the short story fonn bur also ol the*,ay people lhink. After a brief and disquieling break, rhe phone ringsagain, and it! rhe san]e mar, announcing to his lriend thar, yes, he \\-asright. there rvas nothing ro worry abour, his wite had just come in rhedoor, wasn't she wonderful. and all was well wirh the world. so sorrvlor r\p ootl "r. -o le rhr '^- t.t- ...1\JBrJ L. ,r1u-cJ p rdp. hr I rn,awlul truth is righr rhere on rhe bed beside his friend-hjs wife hacln'rbudged at a1l from her spor.

Somelimes the besr surpnses are the nosr naturel ones. burlhey're also rhe hardest to lind.

(7.11,18.05)