“Here’s clay, now create something out of it…”
Picture this: an average Joe sitting in a coffee shop, scrolling around the twittersphere, when suddenly he gazes up at the world around him and BAM! A bicyclist is hit by a car, the hardest of hits. One would think lightning had just struck a palm tree. The young cyclist is left lying in the gray blanket of the street. Like a #freshpancake, the average Joe thinks. And in a matter of milliseconds the average Joe does the unthinkable . . . he looks down at the black pit in the mug, and he . . . takes another sip. No superhero rescue in our story today, but doesn’t that make it more interesting? Because the character did something you were not expecting? Because the main focus was not on the drama of a car accident, but more so on the ordinary guy drinking a cup of coffee?
When I sat down with current MFA student, Heath Wilcock, one of the first things I asked was how he attacks, and furthermore, conquers, writing an interesting piece of creative fiction. The above scenario is an example of what he presented to me. He told me that you do not always need a character with a dying relative, a terminal illness, or a witnessed murder, etc. You do not always need to have a character who faces extreme suffering, because suffering is not always on the surface. Heath told me strong themes in fiction like suffering can come in all forms, like more common events in one’s life. We talked about how he didn’t have a typical college experience; how having a child and family at the age of twenty-three shot him straight into adulthood, where it was necessary to worry about groceries and bills. These are the experiences that have strong themes sewn throughout and bleed honesty.
It’s our jobs as writers to be honest and tell these stories, because they are what matter. Heath teaches his students in his beginning fiction workshop class that “you already are interesting as you are, so just be.”
Even though we come from different sides of the tracks—Heath as an improv comedian and fiction writer and me as an emotional poet—we were able to connect on that foundation of honesty and the reason why we write, our passion for the art. For his comedic, fictional writing, Heath thrives on honest reaction and states that if you create honest reactions in characters, it will come off as naturally funny. He went on to relate this to his improv act and how he and his fellow actors just “go with it,” and feed off each other’s honest reactions, which ends up being hilarious because of its rawness. When handed a new act or prop at the theatre, or even a new idea for a fiction piece, Heath sees as someone saying, “Here’s clay, now create something out of it.” He talked to me about the “game” of fiction, comedy, and poetry, and how you must work backwards and from all angles to make the right creative pieces fit. An image of a puzzle immediately popped into my head, and it made me smile and shout, “Like a PUZZLE!” For my emotional poetry pieces, I thrive on my own honest reaction as well, and I shared with Heath how I focus mostly on my personal experiences because that always guarantees an honest reaction for my writing; it is something you can feel on the page. It is pure creation, and I think that is what Heath hit on most for me. I could tell his passion thrives on creation. Heath may have a myriad of beautiful gems that “fell into his lap,” like publications and being a part of the graduate Creative Writing Program at ASU, but as he quoted Steve Martin, those are just “by-products” of his career. He truly does it for the honesty and creation. We discussed how some people just get writing, and it’s what helps us through things; we help each other, and we make it better; the farther you go in a workshop, the more you change, learn, and grow. Heath’s creative journey has changed and flourished to the nth degree—from his proudest/funniest moment of not knowing what an MFA program was and still getting the offer to join one, to working on his first novel one-on-one with Matt Bell.
Fiction and improv are very close to Heath’s heart, and the two go hand-in-hand. He told me he could never just do stand-up comedy; he likes the impact of a story. “Telling a story is enriching, something that stains, and leaves a mark,” he said. Heath believes there will always be creative writing and the need for more of it. We need creative writing to empathize with the world around us; it should be looked at as a powerful force in humanities.
From a little kid that would not get picked for dodgeball to an insanely talented comedic short story writer, soon-to-be novelist, and strong father, I believe Heath has had such an admirable journey in creative writing, and he is able to enlighten young writers like me who hold the same dreams and passions. What Heath taught me most? Life is about creation. To be a great writer, you have to be passionate, you have to write for you. “You can’t give a shit about what anyone else thinks,” Heath added, pointing a finger and giving a solid smirk. It's all about honesty. It’s simple, he said, "Just have fun. You're already interesting and different as you are now. You can't force it or be something you're not."
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