Ask the Author: Norman Weeks
Answered Questions (20)
Norman Weeks
Dear Indigo:
I think you have answered the question yourself, as you say "each story shows a different side of human life and choices." That is exactly what the book does.
Symphony of Stories is not one big message. Instead, it ventures widely into human situations. Oh, the wonders of human scenes!
Thank you for your interest and responsiveness.
Norman
I think you have answered the question yourself, as you say "each story shows a different side of human life and choices." That is exactly what the book does.
Symphony of Stories is not one big message. Instead, it ventures widely into human situations. Oh, the wonders of human scenes!
Thank you for your interest and responsiveness.
Norman
Norman Weeks
Dear Roland,
I started with a form (symphonic) and a structure and wrote stories to fill out that form--a very unusual approach for sure.
I am a very methodical writer and calculating. I never just "go with the flow" or ramble. My perspective is fixed from the outset.
Like an architect, I know just how the finished project will look.
Thank you for your engagement with my writing.
Norman
I started with a form (symphonic) and a structure and wrote stories to fill out that form--a very unusual approach for sure.
I am a very methodical writer and calculating. I never just "go with the flow" or ramble. My perspective is fixed from the outset.
Like an architect, I know just how the finished project will look.
Thank you for your engagement with my writing.
Norman
Norman Weeks
Dear Novalie:
I confess that some of my stories are essays in narrative form and therefore carry a "message". But the particular message is not necessarily premeditated. It may emerge from the story itself.
For example, in "The Coming-out of Baby", the mother is not a mother and the baby is not a baby. But what is the message and meaning there?
As in "Horses for the Hill", some stories can be just for fun.
I do decide which type I want before I write the story.
Thank you for your interest and responsiveness.
Norman
I confess that some of my stories are essays in narrative form and therefore carry a "message". But the particular message is not necessarily premeditated. It may emerge from the story itself.
For example, in "The Coming-out of Baby", the mother is not a mother and the baby is not a baby. But what is the message and meaning there?
As in "Horses for the Hill", some stories can be just for fun.
I do decide which type I want before I write the story.
Thank you for your interest and responsiveness.
Norman
Norman Weeks
Ah, Azaria, "love and disappointment".
We all live something of the same life, including of those two words, don't we?
Now, you can't infer too much about the author in what the author writes, unless the author is deliberately autobiographical (which I sometimes am).
Mostly, I just tapped into the human. My stories are instances of the common human.
Regards,
Norman
We all live something of the same life, including of those two words, don't we?
Now, you can't infer too much about the author in what the author writes, unless the author is deliberately autobiographical (which I sometimes am).
Mostly, I just tapped into the human. My stories are instances of the common human.
Regards,
Norman
Norman Weeks
Dear Desmond:
Henry Thoreau said, "Don't sit down to write until you stand up to live."
I certainly did the latter before I took on the former. Most of my writing is experiential out of a varied and interesting live lived unto my current 80 years. I have processed my life. Doing so, there was both the doing and the watching.
Regards,
Norman Weeks
Henry Thoreau said, "Don't sit down to write until you stand up to live."
I certainly did the latter before I took on the former. Most of my writing is experiential out of a varied and interesting live lived unto my current 80 years. I have processed my life. Doing so, there was both the doing and the watching.
Regards,
Norman Weeks
Norman Weeks
Hello, Lenora:
Yes, I did structure the symphony first and then write the stories into it.
I am an admirer of symphonic form and the contrasting movements of a symphony. So, I applied a musical form to a literary one. You notice that each story is very different from all the others, but what the stories within one movement have in common is the tone--going-along, tragic, comic, happy. My literary inspiration was Johannes Brahms!
I hope you enjoyed my music-to-literature experiment. (Symphony of Stories is my only work of fiction. Mostly, I am an autobiographical writer.)
Yes, I did structure the symphony first and then write the stories into it.
I am an admirer of symphonic form and the contrasting movements of a symphony. So, I applied a musical form to a literary one. You notice that each story is very different from all the others, but what the stories within one movement have in common is the tone--going-along, tragic, comic, happy. My literary inspiration was Johannes Brahms!
I hope you enjoyed my music-to-literature experiment. (Symphony of Stories is my only work of fiction. Mostly, I am an autobiographical writer.)
Norman Weeks
Dear Michael:
Well, Matters of Death is the second half of Matters of Life and Death and so it would be beneficial to backtrack to Matters of Life.
Basically, I am an experiential writer of autobiography, travel, and adventure. But also psychology, cultural issues, some literary criticism and even a book of short stories.
What I do used to be called "humane letters", which means not following the narrow path of one genre but venturing here and there in pursuit of whatever seems interesting. As an author person I am a wayward type.
I hope you will join on one or another of my literary excursions.
Sincerely,
Norman Weeks
Well, Matters of Death is the second half of Matters of Life and Death and so it would be beneficial to backtrack to Matters of Life.
Basically, I am an experiential writer of autobiography, travel, and adventure. But also psychology, cultural issues, some literary criticism and even a book of short stories.
What I do used to be called "humane letters", which means not following the narrow path of one genre but venturing here and there in pursuit of whatever seems interesting. As an author person I am a wayward type.
I hope you will join on one or another of my literary excursions.
Sincerely,
Norman Weeks
Norman Weeks
Dear Ethan:
My intention was to lay out all the various aspects of death that I could think of, and by a variety of means, --cultural history, philosophical speculation, religious doctrines, funereal practices, and fictional death situations. I presented a wide array of things to think about regarding death.
My personal beliefs may be inferred, but I was not out to convince. I wanted to provoke the reader to consider one's own beliefs. And from the questions I have received I believe the readers have done that.
Regards,
Norman Weeks
My intention was to lay out all the various aspects of death that I could think of, and by a variety of means, --cultural history, philosophical speculation, religious doctrines, funereal practices, and fictional death situations. I presented a wide array of things to think about regarding death.
My personal beliefs may be inferred, but I was not out to convince. I wanted to provoke the reader to consider one's own beliefs. And from the questions I have received I believe the readers have done that.
Regards,
Norman Weeks
Norman Weeks
Dear Leonard:
I don't think so.
I write from what I know and understand. My writing is a reportage of what I remember of what I have learned and lived through. I do find that the arranging of it all is beneficial to wider understanding, but that does not mean an overthrow of belief and conversion to some new one.
Thank you for your interest.
Sincerely,
Norman Weeks
I don't think so.
I write from what I know and understand. My writing is a reportage of what I remember of what I have learned and lived through. I do find that the arranging of it all is beneficial to wider understanding, but that does not mean an overthrow of belief and conversion to some new one.
Thank you for your interest.
Sincerely,
Norman Weeks
Norman Weeks
Dear Evan:
My writing is craftsmanship; no emotion involved. (Nietzsche said that emotion never produced anything; quite right.) I am detached from my writing as I pursue the task as a craftsman does.
I only take on subjects for which I think I have something to offer. The arrangement of ideas on that subject is the challenge. I may revise many times to get it right, but that is what the craft requires. As long as I work within my limitations, I do not find writing very difficult.
Thank you for reading my work and giving it careful consideration.
Sincerely,
Norman Weeks
My writing is craftsmanship; no emotion involved. (Nietzsche said that emotion never produced anything; quite right.) I am detached from my writing as I pursue the task as a craftsman does.
I only take on subjects for which I think I have something to offer. The arrangement of ideas on that subject is the challenge. I may revise many times to get it right, but that is what the craft requires. As long as I work within my limitations, I do not find writing very difficult.
Thank you for reading my work and giving it careful consideration.
Sincerely,
Norman Weeks
Norman Weeks
Dear Nathan:
The coin necessarily has two sides.
The human is the creature aware of life and aware of death. It is good to develop a realistic and wholesome attitude toward both. Consideration of the various aspects of life and death may lead to enlightenment.
Norman Weeks
The coin necessarily has two sides.
The human is the creature aware of life and aware of death. It is good to develop a realistic and wholesome attitude toward both. Consideration of the various aspects of life and death may lead to enlightenment.
Norman Weeks
Norman Weeks
Dear Dylan,
It should be understood that I had no intention of writing a book of consolation or counseling of grief. I have no credential for doing that. (Maybe you know of Death Cafe'; grief counseling is what they do.
Matters of Death was intended for those willing to give deep consideration to the various aspects of that daunting subject.
Thank you for your responsiveness.
Norman Weeks
It should be understood that I had no intention of writing a book of consolation or counseling of grief. I have no credential for doing that. (Maybe you know of Death Cafe'; grief counseling is what they do.
Matters of Death was intended for those willing to give deep consideration to the various aspects of that daunting subject.
Thank you for your responsiveness.
Norman Weeks
Norman Weeks
Dear Daniel:
The original concept was Matters of Life and Death as one book.
It was only because of the sheer size of the book (211,000 words!) that I separated them into two volumes in the paperback format. The two parts are together in the Kindle eBook but it's unwieldy.
Thank you for your responsiveness to my work.
Norman Weeks
The original concept was Matters of Life and Death as one book.
It was only because of the sheer size of the book (211,000 words!) that I separated them into two volumes in the paperback format. The two parts are together in the Kindle eBook but it's unwieldy.
Thank you for your responsiveness to my work.
Norman Weeks
Norman Weeks
Dear James:
Please see my answer to this question, also posed by Samuel Wright.
Thank you for your interest in my writing.
Regards,
Norman Weeks
Please see my answer to this question, also posed by Samuel Wright.
Thank you for your interest in my writing.
Regards,
Norman Weeks
Norman Weeks
Hello, Oliver:
Balzac wrote a series of books on The Human Comedy.
Yes, there is such a thing. And that human comedy may lead into a more tolerant understanding of the human person.
Take my #42 in Matters of Life. "The date" portrays the awkwardness of two teenagers before a proposed date. To make fun of them? No. Wouldn't the reader remember some situation of one's own life and feel compassion for those two teenagers as well as for one's own awkward times?
Compassion for our human frailties, anxieties, mistakes, and missteps: That is what constructive comedy should be all about. And, yes, coping too.
Thank you for your interest in my writing.
Sincerely, Norman Weeks
Balzac wrote a series of books on The Human Comedy.
Yes, there is such a thing. And that human comedy may lead into a more tolerant understanding of the human person.
Take my #42 in Matters of Life. "The date" portrays the awkwardness of two teenagers before a proposed date. To make fun of them? No. Wouldn't the reader remember some situation of one's own life and feel compassion for those two teenagers as well as for one's own awkward times?
Compassion for our human frailties, anxieties, mistakes, and missteps: That is what constructive comedy should be all about. And, yes, coping too.
Thank you for your interest in my writing.
Sincerely, Norman Weeks
Norman Weeks
Hello Samuel:
In considering Life I see two possible starting points:
The first is the Book of Genesis or other myths of origin.
The second is the theory of evolution by natural selection.
I chose the second approach, bottom-up instead of top down.
I am a naturalist, as I display in my book, Nature Norm's North Woods.
As evolution of body and brain, so of mind. Little by little the evolving mind worked its way up to philosophy and religion and all the rest of culture.
Thank you for your responsiveness to my work.
Regards, Norman Weeks
In considering Life I see two possible starting points:
The first is the Book of Genesis or other myths of origin.
The second is the theory of evolution by natural selection.
I chose the second approach, bottom-up instead of top down.
I am a naturalist, as I display in my book, Nature Norm's North Woods.
As evolution of body and brain, so of mind. Little by little the evolving mind worked its way up to philosophy and religion and all the rest of culture.
Thank you for your responsiveness to my work.
Regards, Norman Weeks
Norman Weeks
Hello, Kevin:
I do not believe that Life-itself has an inherent meaning.
The quest to find a meaning in one's life is a "hunger of the mind".
Human life is not just the self-maintenance of an animal. The mind cannot be satisfied with that just-that. The mind craving meaning can create it out of the positives of one's own life. Attainment of the feeling of fulfillment is the ultimate of a human life.
Thank you for your responsiveness to my work.
Regards,
Norman Weeks
I do not believe that Life-itself has an inherent meaning.
The quest to find a meaning in one's life is a "hunger of the mind".
Human life is not just the self-maintenance of an animal. The mind cannot be satisfied with that just-that. The mind craving meaning can create it out of the positives of one's own life. Attainment of the feeling of fulfillment is the ultimate of a human life.
Thank you for your responsiveness to my work.
Regards,
Norman Weeks
Norman Weeks
Autobioscenes & Necrographies is, like most of my books, autobiographical and experiential.
I just harvest the crop I planted long ago.
I just harvest the crop I planted long ago.
Norman Weeks
I am revising the three volumes of my trilogy, Roman Ruminations, (Loneliness, Instinct, and Love) for republishing as Kindle eBooks and publishing as new paperbacks.
An advantage of digital publishing is that a book published need not be a book stuck as-is in print forever. I go back over books I wrote years ago and make improvements in the striving for the most perfect expression.
An advantage of digital publishing is that a book published need not be a book stuck as-is in print forever. I go back over books I wrote years ago and make improvements in the striving for the most perfect expression.
Norman Weeks
Any person with "writer's block" should reconsider whether they are meant to be a writer.
I am an autobiographical and experiential writer. Out of an interesting life I have plenty of material to work on. The subject incubates in my unconscious, emerges, then I give it expression and form. Or ideas present themselves, I welcome them, and write them.
So, no "writer's block". Once it becomes anything psychological, you're done for.
No "Inspiration" either. Writing can't be anything mystical.
Writing is all craftsmanship. Learn language, get to work, stick with it, and proceed to mastery. That's it.
I am an autobiographical and experiential writer. Out of an interesting life I have plenty of material to work on. The subject incubates in my unconscious, emerges, then I give it expression and form. Or ideas present themselves, I welcome them, and write them.
So, no "writer's block". Once it becomes anything psychological, you're done for.
No "Inspiration" either. Writing can't be anything mystical.
Writing is all craftsmanship. Learn language, get to work, stick with it, and proceed to mastery. That's it.
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