The Writing Experiment by Hazel Smith

its patterns of cause and effect, of social relationships and moral values,

largely confirm the patterns of the world we seem to know.

(Belsey 2002, p. 47)

Realism is therefore an important and powerful mode of writing, and one
which has many different manifestations. But it has its limits if used to the
exclusion of all other modes of writing. As we will see in Chapter 7, post-
modernist fiction has often subverted the conventions of realism.

Animating a person-in-action

Exercise 1 asks you to construct a person-in-action in a realist mode: that
is, in a lifelike way. I use the word construction, rather than description, to
emphasise the dynamic nature of the process. For you may start this exer-
cise by immediately recalling someone you have observed, but you do not
have to have anything in mind when you start, you can build your person-
in-action from the words in the exercise. One way of doing this is by using
a constructivist approach where you gradually build up the passage. So you
begin by writing down the words ‘person’ and ‘actions’. These words serve
as a prompt which sets your mind in motion. Even if you do not approach
the exercise consciously in this way, you will probably be making such
creative moves semiconsciously. Start with just the two words:

Example 2.1

person

actions

Then start to connect the two words:

parts of the body

actions involving parts of the body

Then lay out alternatives:

legs, arms, neck, face

washing up, walking, singing, talking, eating

playing an instrument

And narrow it down to one possibility:

matchstick thin legs and arms

erratic eating, opening and closing the fridge door

anorexic behaviour

Let’s start to develop these lists into sentences. The sentences can be quite
simple at this stage:

Genre as a moveable feast 29