From Kristin P.
Notes from a class with Les at UCLA’s Rolfe Hall in January 2011:
Make a picture to start.
Especially at the beginning, make all the associative jumps you can.
It’s hard to get good words, so whatever you write that’s good you should use.
A big piece of thought has a built in logic of its own that emerges as it develops.
The impossible thing which is possible within the confines of the narrative.
Time-bound moment: one event, how much stuff can you get into a finite period of time.
Fluidity of thought in fiction: real thinking is not limited to any subject.
Something at stake.
Take out extra words.
Never explain.
Don’t feed the reader.
Stay in the consciousness.
Fast forward by piggybacking: dramatic events, an accordion, always gaps, so forget.
Who’s the boss.
Personalize the guest.
SHOW DON’T TELL.
Deliver an emotional experience.
Pleskoism 