I love literary fiction but I’ve been staying away from the genre for a while because the stories tend to be on the heavier side. And with all the heaviness that currently exists in the world (may Allah protect and preserve all those who are being oppressed in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Sudan and around the world), a heavy fictional story feels like too much to carry right now.

I can read other books and I do enjoy other genres but literary fiction fuels my love for language.

It introduces me to sentences that are so carefully strung, I feel like I could reach out and touch them; and characters who feel so real, I feel like I've known them forever.

I've missed reading something that is so sharply written that I want to read it again and again just to figure out how the writer pulled it off. I've missed reading something and feeling its influence in my own writing.

I looked through my bookshelf and picked out a book that I was gifted many years ago — “Lost Children Archive” by Valeria Luiselli. A writer friend had given it to me, someone who also loves literary fiction, so I picked it out first. I have many other unread books on my shelf so I had plenty of books to choose from, but the moment I read the beginning of this book, I knew I wanted to keep going. Because for me as a writer, that beginning alone was filled with so many craft lessons!

Here is the first paragraph in the book:

This is such a powerful beginning! It raises questions about where this family is heading and why they are going there. But more importantly, these questions feel important to the story because of the language the author uses.

She creates a charged, tense atmosphere with words like “the slow lava of traffic” and “a straight long scar on the palate of the cloudless sky.”

It makes me wonder about the kind of person who sees traffic and it reminds her of slow moving lava. Lava emerges from a volcano and I wonder what volcanic event led to this trip with these characters leaving the city and going some place where they need a map to get there. That violence-tinged way of seeing the world shows up again in the image of the airplane leaving “a straight long scar” in the sky.

There’s tenderness in this passage too, the way in which the children’s foreheads are “pearled” with sweat.

But we can sense the withholding when it comes to her husband. He’s described factually without violence, but also without tenderness. And it’s their relationship I most wonder about at the end.

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After I read a powerful piece of writing like this, I’m excited to take what I learn from it and try it in my own writing. So here’s an exercise that I created for myself and I hope that you'll try it with me.

Imagine a character struggling with a relationship in their life, perhaps one they’re considering leaving or withdrawing from. How might you convey what’s going on inside of this character and how they’re feeling just through the language that you use to describe simple, everyday occurrences like the ones mentioned in the beginning of "Lost Children Archive":

• Being in stuck in traffic
• Seeing an airplane in the sky, leaving a white trail behind it
• Watching a squirrel run across someone’s front yard
• Eating day old bread that has turned stiff
• Putting on makeup or watching someone put on makeup

You can replace any of these occurrences with whatever else comes to mind. You can also try the exercise a second time with a different character, perhaps one who is confused about a decision they have to make, like leaving a job they love, or trying to decide if they should reach out to a friend who has ghosted them.

I’d love to read your sentences so please do reply and share them if you try the exercise!

With best wishes & duas for your writing,

Hajera

Here's how I can support you in your writing:

✍🏽 Learn craft and write stronger stories: Join the waitlist for Grounded Writers, a creative writing community for Muslim women​

📖 Find fiction intimidating and not sure how to go from writing about your life to writing fictional stories? It's easier than you think. Take my Ease Into Fiction course now at 70% off​

📞 Struggling with writing and need guidance from someone who has been where you are now? Book a call with me and get advice that works for you and gets you feeling excited about your writing again​