Visiting with Chris Haven

by Claire Guyton, Art + Life Editor

What inspired your story “Triumph”?

I moved to Grand Rapids from Houston eight years ago, into a house on a corner lot, and with it assumed a great deal of snow-removal responsibility. The previous owners had left us a pretty crummy snow blower that come winter (and it comes quick) I couldn’t even get started. Fortunately we have very kind neighbors who have a monster snow blower that really helps us out in the winter. As often happens with fiction, the character I created had the impulse opposite to mine—someone who just cannot accept this act of generosity.

Tell us about your writing process—either generally or specifically with regard to the birth and development of this story.

The first version of the story was saved seven years ago as “Snowblowing Donut Shop.” It’s really just freewriting, and bears little resemblance to the current story. There’s a very clunky scene at a donut shop where a few old men are jabbering. Ed is one of the guys at the table. Looking at it now, there is nothing to suggest that the story will ever amount to anything. It really came alive one night when I was shoveling the drive, waiting for my wife to come home, and I knew I had the opening scene. Ed had a mission, and the story took off.

Do you remember the first short story you wrote? What was it about?

When I was in elementary school I wrote a children’s book series where each story was told from the point of view of an object made from a tree. The most memorable was “Life as a Pencil.” I had absolutely no idea how a pencil was made, but it didn’t stop me from writing about it. I submitted the series (handwritten, in pencil) to Western Publishing, which published the Golden Books imprint for children. I waited weeks and finally got a very kind rejection letter. The writer told me not to get discouraged, but I sure did at the time. I realize now that this must have helped inure me to rejection at an early age. A bit of searching suggests that the author of the rejection letter, Edith K. Davis, must certainly have been the author of the interactive children’s books Pat the Cat and Pat the Puppy, which my kids have loved, literally, to pieces.

Given the general admonition to avoid adverbs, it’s always satisfying to see one used to great effect. Is there a “writing rule” you never break? One you love to break?

I resist the advice to begin a story with a “hook.” I think a story should begin not with some eye-catching gimmick, but with fine writing. I don’t always need to be thrown headfirst into the cold water of a story. Sometimes we should just wade in, and gradually acclimate ourselves to its temperature.

*Contact Claire with any questions or suggestions for Hunger Mountain’s Art + Life section at hungermtnal@gmail.com.

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7 Rings: October 31, 2010 at 12:34 pm

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Annie Tuttle November 1, 2010 at 9:03 pm: Just read your Huffington post story!! Your amazing!!

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