Francisco's Journal an author discusses the art of writing

January 9, 2007

Recent Reviews

Filed under: Reviews — Francisco Stork @ 7:35 am

From: Teenreadstoo.com 

BEHIND THE EYES by Francisco X. Stork
Category:  Contemporary
Age Recommendation:  Grades 9+
Release Date:  6/1/06
Publisher:  Dutton
Reviewed by:  Jocelyn Pearce
Rating:  5 Stars

Sixteen-year-old Hector Robles’s life will never be the same again. Living his entire life in the projects of El Paso, Texas, he’s always stayed away from the gangs–but his brother Filiberto brought an end to that. A little more than a year after the death of their father, Hector, Fili and their younger sister Aurora have a run-in with some members of the Discipulos. Hector would like to keep out of their way after that, as would Aurora, but Fili sets his sights on Gloria…Who just happens to be dating Chava, leader of the Discipulos.Fili just can’t let it go. His conflict with Chava escalates until one night, he ends up dead. In less than a year and a half, Hector has lost his older brother and his father. Even though it’s not something he could have imagined himself doing, Hector goes after Chava.Chava does more damage to Hector than Hector does to him, leaving Hector with various rather serious injuries, including the loss of his hearing in one ear. When he recovers, a social worker has some rather grave news for him: Chava wants him dead. The only way he can keep safe, as well as protect his mother and sister, is to leave town. Mrs. Garza, the social worker, tells him there’s one good place for him to go now. He’s charged with the aggravated assault of Chava, and there’s a school in another city that accepts kids who have been in trouble with the law. There, he’ll be safe from the Discipulos, he’ll get a good education, and his mother and sister won’t be involved with the gangs anymore. Hector makes a decision: he’ll go to Furman.There, he makes friends with a colorful cast of characters, and could maybe have a fresh start and a new life…If his past can ever stop following him.

 BEHIND THE EYES is divided up into three parts. The first and last part deal with Hector’s time after his brother’s death, and the second part takes place before Fili’s “accident.” Francisco X. Stork tells the story of whatever is going on in each section of the book in the past tense, and flashbacks are in the present tense, which threw me a little at first, but I quickly got used to it. The non-chronological division of the book was also a little odd, but I did like the way it was divided, and, in the end, it made sense.Stork is a brilliant writer, and BEHIND THE EYES is a page-turner. It’s told in a fresh, captivating voice, and the story itself is a fascinating one. It was inspired by Stork’s own time living in the projects of El Paso, and some of the Chicano teenagers he knew there. That Stork knows what he’s writing really shows, and it adds an extra dimension to an already wonderful book. The characters are diverse, fascinating and believable, each one well-thought out and three-dimensional. It’s a character-driven story, and a fantastic one.  This is definitely one of my favorites of 2006. 

 

November 7, 2006

Of Raking Leaves and Writing

Filed under: Uncategorized,Writing — Francisco Stork @ 8:31 am

What is keeping you from taking a pen and a notebook and writing? Maybe you feel as I do when I see before me a trillion zillion leaves covering my yard. Where do I start? There is no way that I will ever get every single leaf. And look there are still some hanging on the trees and all around me brown, orange and red leaves twirl to the ground in their own unique spiral. Of all the answers that great authors have given to the question “why do you write?” I like Flannery O’Connor’s the best: “because it would be worse if I didn’t.” As hopeless as it looks to rake all those leaves, as hopeless as it looks to ever write a work of beauty or a work that will be read, it will be worse if you don’t.

As I start raking, I put aside the vision of a leafless yard and think only of the movement of my arms. Slow, even movements that are not rushed. I will rake for an hour, I say to myself. Tomorrow, Sunday, I will rake another hour. Soon, little piles of leaves start forming in the yard and in spots, the grass which is still green, reveals itself like a blue sky when clouds drift out.

One sentence, two sentences. I will write for an hour. The pen gliding on the white, blue-lined paper. Words appear out of nothingness and now they exist. What I write is so different from that vision of beauty or that work of meaning and value I seek to create. But it doesn’t matter. I concentrate on sentences and paragraphs. One pile of leaves at a time. One circle of grass is clear. Then I start a new one, each circle connected to the next.

No matter how hard I try, I will never get every single leaf. A gust of wind comes and blows leafs from my piles. I can’t even get one small circle totally clear, leafless. I am shooting for percentages here. I have to. If I don’t, I’ll go crazy with anxiety. I’ll start to damn the leaf that falls and mars the green. Or I’ll say the hell with it. Let the leaves fall as they may. What do I care? Who needs more clarity?

So I protect myself and my task. Eighty percent, if I can get there, would be great. I’ll work for an hour today. An hour tomorrow. I’m grateful for the words, the sentences, the paragraphs, poor as they are. I am grateful. Because it would be worse without them.

August 8, 2006

Writing as Sharing

Filed under: Writing — Francisco Stork @ 7:52 am

I see writing as both a solitary and a communal activity. At the beginning the author goes into solitude (in my case into a little office in my basement) in order to create. Months, even years later, he comes out, adjusts his sight to the light, and the work enters another phase. He shows the manuscript to a few people whose judgment he trusts. Down he goes again to revise. Out he comes again and this time his agent and then his publisher look at the work. Now he goes into hiding again but now he is not alone, he is working with others who are helping him complete the initial vision of the story. Of course, the only revisions he agrees to are those that were always part of the story or the character, although they were hidden, unrecognized, until then. Nevertheless, after a point the book belongs to more than one.  Then the book is published. Here I think the author has a choice. He could say “that one’s done, on to the next”. Or he can say, “let’s see what I and others can learn from this book”. For a story, as you probably know, is greater than the sum of its parts and always tells more than is intended. So let’s use this modern day marvel of communication to learn as much as possible from Behind the Eyes or The Way of the Jaguar. Hopefully, this will be useful to you. As for me, you can be sure that the next time I descend to that little office in my basement, I will take with me what I’ve learned from you.

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