Joyce Carol Oates - On Writing Characters

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/fora/showthread.php?t=1204

Critically acclaimed author Joyce Carol Oates discusses how a writer develops realistic characters, using examples from her novel "The Gravedigger's Daughter."

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Joyce Carol Oates talks about "The Gravedigger's Daughter."

A family desperate to escape Nazi Germany settles in upstate New York, where the father is demeaned by the only job he can get: gravedigger an cemetery caretaker. What follows is a tale of unspeakable tragedy, as the gravedigger's daughter begins her astonishing pilgrimage into America, an odyssey of ingenious self-invention and bittersweet triumph - Book Passage

Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American author and the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing at Princeton University, where she has taught since 1978.

She serves as associate editor for the Ontario Review, a literary magazine, and the Ontario Review Press, a literary book publisher, both of which are edited by her husband, Raymond J. Smith.

Oates has also written under the pseudonyms "Rosamond Smith" and "Lauren Kelly."

Her most recent book is "The Gravedigger's Daughter."

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[septip123]

we should shut everything off - at least once a week - no TV, computer, radio...- and pull out a novel, sit and just be alone for a few hours.

[kumihoku]

I just might check out what you NAVE written! I bet ITS amazing!

Seriously, now. If you are a writer, write like one. What's up with the terrible grammar (including misspellings and random capitalization)? Try using a comma.

[ACSDistanceEducation]

First and foremost, sucessful writers write.

[johnnyforjohnny]

I'm surprised by how mean-spirited some of these comments are. I guess noone is immune from online invective. Oates is a thoughtful, brilliant writer and these are some great insights.

[MrLogocan]

500 characters 486 characters 470 characters 455 characters 440 characters 425 characters 410 characters 395 characters 380 characters 365 characters 350 characters 335 characters 320 characters 305 characters 290 characters 275 characters 260 characters 245 characters 230 characters 215 characters 200 characters 185 characters 170 characters 155 characters 140 characters 125 characters 110 characters 95 characters 81 characters 67 characters 53 characters 39 characters 25 characters 11 characte

[MsChamallow]

i'm french and i'm a fan to the amazing writer !!! in this period i read my sister my love, incredible book

[Tapey01]

Funny I like the beginning the best, finding solutions and planing it all out is my favorite part of writing. I get a bit bored by the end of writing the book.

[dyad2r1]

@DavidProphetTV

It took her less than a year to remarry.  For a woman in deep grief, it sure didn't take long for her to change the bedsheets and bring in the next one.

[broccolifan1]

ha i live like 10 minutes from where she is. Where Are You Going Where Have You Been? is one of the most chilling stories I've ever read

[DavidProphetTV]

@dyad2r1 Why is it unfortunate?

[handsomechuck1]

She said "necessarily," but I'm surprised she makes the generalization about characters in poetry; considering that much of the very greatest poetry in the language (Robert Browning, Shakespeare's sonnets [OK, can be argued, but I am confident the speaker is a literary device and not the voice of WS], Canterbury Tales, Paradise Lost) is so character-strong, so to speak.

[thedanglingdude]

Joyce Carol Oates looks like a praying mantis