Every one of us has dozens, perhaps hundreds, of untold, unwritten stories. They may be our personal stories, or those of friends or relatives. They could even be stories we overheard as children as the “grown-ups” talked.
This last scenario was how a seed was planted, a seed of a story that evolved into a collection of stories and ultimately was made into an independent film, Sweet Land.
As a boy, Weaver heard his grandparents talking about a young woman who came to their community as a European immigrant. Circumstances of the time (World War I) made her arrival and living in the community a bit of a scandal, so much that Weaver’s grandparents didn’t finish the story in front of the boy.
Decades later, Weaver returned to the story and put it down on paper, in the form of the short story, A Gravestone Made of Wheat. That story caught the attention of a young filmmaker in Minneapolis and the rest, as they say, is history. A 14-year history getting the film made, then a year and a half to get it shown in a theater, then a few more theaters, and so on. The film won awards when it was released nationally in 2006, and it is now being distributed on DVD by 20th Century Fox.
Weaver was the invited author at the Kimball Area Friends of the Library’s tenth annual “Dinner With an Author” last week. Much of his conversation with the roomful of people gathered at Generations Ballroom was about the transformation of that overheard story to a written story to a film, the “pathway of fiction to film.”
Interestingly, Sweet Land was the second movie made from his writings. A novel, Red Earth, White Earth, was done by Hollywood into a movie of the same name. “It was not fun,” he said, intentionally leaving out the painful details of dealing with Hollywood types.
Sweet Land was filmed in Montevideo and Willmar within a period of a month, about four years ago. The film was released about a year and a half later. It has been shown on public television stations, and now it is available on DVD.
The process of story-to-film was interesting to the FOL group, and there were lots of good questions about the process.
An underlying theme of Weaver’s talk, though, was that there are lots of stories within everyone, and that it’s not an insurmountable feat to put them onto paper.
Weaver has taught writing, and was a professor at Bemidji State for many years. He has an excellent blog on-line at
Start with a short story, is Weaver’s advice. The form, which has a limited number of characters and takes place in a short period of time, is easily do-able and is a worthy goal in itself.
“I learned how to write,” Weaver said, “by writing short stories.”
It’s where he started, he went on; “I can’t recommend it enough.”
Now is the time, Weaver suggests, to write these things down. As time passes, the sources of these many, many stories will fade and eventually disappear.
Another piece of advice is to write what you know. Weaver grew up on a dairy farm in northern Minnesota, elements that find their way into many of his stories.
A must for good writing, Weaver explained, is reading good writers.
“If you want to be a good writer, you have to be a good reader,” he said. Specifically, read the genre of books in which you hope to write. (For instance, if you want to be a mystery writer, then read good mysteries.)
Weaver’s favorite form, and one that has served him well, is realistic fiction. There is no fantasy or romanticizing, just precise and local stories that are told well.
He has always loved libraries, and is always happy to speak to “FOL” groups.
“Without FOLs,” he told the Kimball group, “our democracy would be the less.” He went on to explain that public libraries are a great equalizer, being available to any and all who wish to pursue knowledge and information. They also serve as a great melting pot of cultures and classes.
Weaver started and finished his talk with an immediate example: the dinner’s location, Generations Ballroom. He said he could feel the history of the place.
“I can feel the presence of many ghosts,” he said, referring to the countless weddings, dances, and fights that must have taken place in that particular spot.
If only some of those stories could be written. The possibilities truly could be endless.
The annual Dinner with an Author is sponsored by the Kimball Area Friends of the Library. Membership is open to anyone interested, and one can join at any time of the year. Call the library at (320) 398-3915, or visit www.griver.org.