LITR 4332 American Minority Literature Model Assignments Research Project Submissions 2013 Research Post 1

Rebecca Chlapowski

Breaking Rules

Toni Morrison may be eighty-two, but she is still making appearances and giving speeches.  In an interview with Elissa Schappell of The Paris Times, Morrison talks about her writing, and writing habits.  I have enjoyed learning about Toni Morrison in class, and also reading The Bluest Eye, I especially enjoy her writing style.  I want to know how she became the writer she is.  What drives her to write? She is a writer, an activist, and won the Nobel Prize in 1983.  I am curious to find out what else she has accomplished, while she managed to introduce new literature and helped change the art of reading.

Toni Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio, which also happens to be where her novel, The Bluest Eye is set.  When Morrison was growing up, her father worked at a steel factory in Lorain, and “she was the only African-American student in her first grade class and the neighborhood was anything but uniformly black” (Roynon 3).  Morrison was an outstanding student who was “the first member of her family to attend college” (Roynon 4).  She graduated with a master’s degree in English from Cornell, after which she began teaching.  Morrison married, had two children, divorced, moved to New York and worked on her writing.  Her first book, The Bluest Eye, was worked on at night after her full time job, and children were taken care of.  This is when she learned her writing habits and rituals.

While looking for information, mainly a biography or autobiography of Toni Morrison, I came across The Cambridge Introduction to: Toni Morrison, written by Tessa Roynon and published in 2012.  On the first page, it is stated “there is to date no full-length authorized biography of Morrison . . . no formal autobiography, and no published volumes of letters or diaries . . . . there are, however, many wonderful interviews” (Roynon 1).  This book goes through Morrison’s life, works, how her works are related to race among other things, and of course reception, how her work is received by others and critiqued.

After reading an interview with Toni Morrison in The Paris Review by Elissa Schappell and having read On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft written by Stephen King during the summer break between semesters, I have realized that my ideas and thoughts about writing are not very bad. These writers seem to have the magic and know exactly where it came from and more importantly, how to use it.  Both of these writers agree on several points.  Find a time of the day to write, which will vary depending on the individual.  They also agree that at some point the writer will develop a ritual that must be done before writing.  Toni Morrison’s ritual is to “get and make a cup of coffee while it is still dark . . . drink the coffee and watch the light come” (interview).  She did not realize this was a ritual until after speaking with another writer.  During the same interview Morrison was asked about her audience, and if she keeps them in mind while she is writing, she answers by simple saying that her audience is “only me” (interview).  Both Toni Morrison and Stephen King discuss the problem of characters, and how the author must control the character in a novel. The writer cannot allow the character to control the writer. This is such an amazing concept; even in creative writing we are not taught this.  Both writers also discuss their love of reading everything. Then again, who does not love to read?  The last thing from this interview that caught me completely off guard was that Morrison like King they both write endings of the story, when they want.  Sometimes they write the ending before the plot so that they can figure out how they want the story to go and how to develop the characters; as Morrison states, that “forces her into having a certain kind of language that will keep the reader asking questions like, who did that and why?”  (Interview).  Personally, I find these things refreshing.  When a student has a want to write and it is squashed repeatedly by being forced to create in a way dictated by a professor’s personal style or preference, it kills all desire to write.  It is nice to know that other writers and well-known published authors are teaching something different.

While in college attaining a Bachelor of Arts in Literature, the student is required to take many writing courses, as well as literature courses that involve a great deal of writing and critiquing.  In my years of doing this, I have been taught the exact opposite of how seasoned authors develop their writing skills and habits.  As a student, we are taught to always consider our audience, and I have never had a single professor suggest that we are our own audience.  Personally, I find Morrison’s answers in the interview.  When a student has a want to write and it is squashed repeatedly by being forced to create in a way dictated by a professor’s personal style or preference it kills all desire to write.  It is nice to know that well-known published authors are teaching something different.

Bibliography

King, Stephen.  On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.  New York, NY: Scribner, 2010. ereader

Roynon, Tessa.  The Cambridge Introduction to Toni Morrison.  New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012, Print.

Schappell, Elissa, Lacour, Claudia.  The Paris Review.  No. 134.  Web.  21 March.  2013. www.theparisreview.org.