A thief’s eye: Michelle Huneven on reading, writing, and Chekhov

Pictured: Michelle Huneven (center) talks about the writing life at the Altadena Library Tuesday night.
 

by Erika McCarden

Altadena-based novelist Michelle Huneven made a hometown appearance Tuesday night, sharing her insights with local book lovers on how reading makes a better writer as part of the Altadena Library’s writer’s workshops.

A popular freelance writer for the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Harpers and New York Times, Huneven has written three novels: Round Rock, Jamesland and her latest, Blame.  Blame has made a huge mark, becoming one of Oprah’s “10 Terrific Reads of the Year,” a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and one of the Washington Post’s Best Books of the Year. 

Now, as one of Oprah.com readers' favorite contemporary women writers, Huneven returned home to help other writers and avid readers polish their skills.

Huneven told the audience, “This workshop explores the many ways to appreciate literature and provides tips on how to read closer to detail. For a writer, reading is her ongoing education and inspiration. Where else can you find new ways to say things, new approaches to character, to voice, to plot?  A writer has a thief’s eye: she’s constantly looking for jewels to snatch and then reset in her own narratives.  Some days, I don’t have much juice—but if I read something good-- a sentence, a page, a story or half a book—sooner or later I get charged up. I think, Oh!  I want to try THAT!”

Using Anton Chekhov’s Lady with the Little Dog as a guide, Huneven’s advice is simple: WWCD, i.e., “What Would Chekov Do?”

“Chekhov is one of many writers I seek guidance from.  Others include Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Penelope Fitzgerald, Willa Cather,” said Huneven. “I chose The Lady and the Dog, because it is a haunting love story that is also a masterpiece that gets more astonishing with each reading.  I thought, at the very least, everyone who participates will have read a marvelous, inspiring work of fiction. Chekhov is so direct and clear, nobody can make too much of a stylistic hash in attempting to write as he does.”

Huneven advised workshop attendees to consider the following when reading literature:

• Story structure
• Voice
• The Character Appeal
• Character Reveal
• Details and words
• Determine what’s hard to understand, and read it again

“I often found that when I didn’t understand or couldn’t follow something I’d go back and read it again, and I’d learn something,” Huneven said.

Sherri Wicks, one of the attendees, said, “To have something like this in the neighborhood for free and presented by an accomplished author who actually lives here, is really great. This workshop really helped me learn how to study the words and pay closer attention to detail. It’s an exercise that I’ll continue using for my writing from here on.”

Huneven is a writer with a deep sense of place: “I love that I live in Altadena, that I grew up here, and have come back; it has given me a sense of continuity, of deep connection,” said Huneven. “It meant a lot to me that Mike Riherd, my eighth grade English and German teacher from Eliot, showed up at the event.”

While Blame continues to gain popularity, Huneven is at work on a romantic novel.

“I like to try new approaches and give myself technical challenges—In Blame, for example, I focused on a single character and I stopped using quotation marks, which was technically challenging and, I hope, gave the book an interesting interiority,” said Huneven.  “In the new book I’m writing, I decided to put it in the first person, but after writing 275 pages, I realized it really wasn’t working.   So now I’m trying something else and the book seems new and fresh to me.”