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• Peter Hoppock:What Makes Joyce Carol Oates’ “Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?” So Good?

  • When
    June 17, 2021
  •  
    10:00 AM - 11:30 AM (CDT)
  • Location
    Virtual Only

  Register

  OCWW board member Peter Hoppock will lead a discussion of the acclaimed 1966 short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. 

  Join Peter and fellow OCWW members for an investigation into how Oates has crafted this compelling story. Peter hopes to fuel an interactive discussion that will spark writers to get to their keyboards and write!

  Says Peter: “Joyce Carol Oates is one of our most admired and prolific writers, and she is particularly effective at depicting violence and evil in modern society. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” was conceived after Oates read a Life Magazine article about a series of murders of young girls in Tucson, Arizona.  She kept wondering about the victims—in particular, how a girl could be taken in by a predator who was so visible, so direct and so obvious. The murders percolated in her mind for a while until, after listening to Bob Dylan’s song: “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” a story came to her in a torrent—but with 

  a cold, objective, and unsentimental tone. She purposely avoided the sensationalism and melodrama of the reporting that had surrounded the killings.” 

  We will focus on the discipline Oates exercised, how she built tension, how she moved from exterior to interior, the voice she established to help her get the reader into the mind of a teenage girl.

  “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” is a story that seduces us into believing we might not be going a dark place, while at the same time making the outcome seem inevitable. We know what’s going to happen. We know the ending. What is Joyce Carol Oates doing that compels us to keep reading? 

  Accompanying your registration confirmation will be a pdf copy of the story for you to read and prepare for the discussion. Read it once for fun. Read a second time to study the narrative structure, the voice, the diction, and Oates’ writing style. Read it a third time to see if you can figure out the secret to the power of this compelling work of fiction. 
  

  As the date for our session approaches, OCWW will send out reminders with some questions and discussion starters if you haven’t already conjured up some of your own. The Zoom information will arrive the day before the session.

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• Elizabeth DeSchryver- Omissions and Repetitions: Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the Slaughter."

  • When
    July 15, 2021
  •  
    10:00 AM - 11:30 AM (CDT)
  • Location
    Virtual Only

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  Beth DeSchryver will lead a discussion of “Lamb to the Slaughter,” by Roald Dahl.  

  No, this is not about facing a room full of editors.  

  Most of us know Roald Dahl as a children’s writer---Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach---which demonstrate his somewhat twisted imagination.  But it was his short stories that established his reputation.  Dahl published “Lamb to the Slaughter” as part of his 1953 award-winning collection, Someone Like You. The story was made into an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, one of the few directed by Hitchcock himself.  

  Says Beth:  “I first read this story in high school, and it has stuck with me ever since. This is not beautiful writing, or poetic, or interlaced with sophisticated metaphors. But it’s effective. I want to figure out why. Was I just an impressionable teenager?  What interests me are his choices---what he includes, but in particular what he chooses to exclude, thereby creating a surreal mood reflecting the state of mind of the main character. I want us to dive into those choices, analyze their impact as writers, and reflect on what that kind of control could do for our own work.  

  Dahl’s work has been called macabre, controversial, racist, misogynistic, and other dark adjectives.  But it has definitely endured.  I thought we could pull up a chair, dig in, and find out why.”  

  Beth DeSchryver is a long-time member of OCWW.  Her latest story, “Nameless Child,” is included in the OCWW Turning Points Anthology.

  Accompanying your registration confirmation will be a pdf copy of the story and sample questions for you to read and prepare for the discussion. 

  As the date for our session approaches, OCWW will send out reminders, possibly with additional information about the story. The Zoom information will arrive the day before the session.

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• Thomas Tepper: Learning from "A White Heron"by Sarah Orne Jewett

  • When
    August 12, 2021
  •  
    10:00 AM - 11:30 AM (CDT)
  • Location
    Virtual Only

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  Sarah Orne Jewett used writing skills, or was it magic when she wrote, “A White Heron.”  In 1886, her caldron was seven pages.  She put in a hop toad, a cow, birds, trees, a girl of nine years, a gun, a grandmother, a young man, a promise of money.  She created a timeless, poignant, relevant classic. 

        Have fun improving your writing skills. You will learn from your own, then from your classmates’ endeavors. Can you improve by editing or rewriting part or all of what and how Sarah wrote? 

       Please bring your edits to the zoom ‪guided by Tom Tepper.  

       After you register, you will receive links to free written and audio copies of the story in your registration confirmation email. The zoom link will be sent the day prior to the event.
  

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