Wish you were here

Good writing must travel, not just describe. It must take the reader somewhere new. It must take the writer somewhere new.

As an editor for Blood Orange Review, I reject a lot of work from talented writers. They have great characters, great scenes, great descriptions, great dialogue, great images, great technical skill with language. But ultimately, I say no because there’s no change.

How does writing travel? Well, different kinds of writing move in different ways.

Prose: often takes a horizontal journey. You start at point A move to point B. You have a beginning, a middle, an end. Along the way, something changes. Either the characters do or the situation does. Or, you start with the end and move toward the beginning, figuring out along the way how the characters got there. Narrative is like taking a road trip. By the end, you want to be somewhere else or at least hope you have good company for the drive.

Poetry: often takes a vertical journey. Though poetry sometimes tells a story (as fiction does), the direction of the story is vertical rather than horizontal. Take "Papa’s Waltz" by Theodore Roethke, for example. A scene is described, but the choice of words and the complexity of the poem’s structure creates depth to the scene, and the reader moves deeper and deeper into this moment. Rather than the road-trip of narrative, poetry is more like a 40-story elevator ride.