Chicanonautica: Notes on My Notes

by Ernest Hogan

Some have said that my “Gonzo Science Fiction, Chicano Style” class is a bit disorganized. They also said that’s not necessarily a bad thing. So, since I don't want a rumor to start that I just babble for the hard-earned cash my students pay, I’m going over my notes.

Yes, I have notes. I try to keep it “gonzo,” but I do think about structure. Some have suggested that I publish them, but they aren’t meant for readers, just a listing of things to talk about. Not very comprehensible or entertaining.

I did start them with the idea that I would someday make them into a short book. Interspersed with blog entries about writing, it could be a thing, but with the book available would people still pay to take the course?

Maybe, since what makes it special is being interactive. 

Ideally, the course would become a nonstop creative free-for-all with the students all mercilessly grilling me and providing material that would result in us all writing some wild stuff and somehow, everything in the notes would be covered.

Unfortunately, most writing students are shy, introverted types, and can be intimidated by going face-to-face with a vato loco Aztec cyberpunk even in a Zoom meeting.

So I need the notes. The class consists of me shuffling through them and telling the twisted story of my life and career. I try to keep it entertaining.

I do feel that the best stuff comes from my dealing with what the students are bringing. Interaction. Confrontation. Gonzo.

I’ve been adding to the notes–I keep remembering things–and trying to put them in a structure that fits the format of a four-day class.

Usually, things happen that throw me off track. I look at notes and find that I’ve covered a lot of it already, which is good.

Creativity needs spontaneity.

And the class would be pretty lame if it was talking about creativity and not having it happen.

It also needs the structure I’m struggling to impose.

A high wire balancing act that could end it disaster, that gets so much better the closer you get to the edge . . .

And the notes have been evolving. Maybe I should make them into a book after all. I could write up what I say in the live class . . .

It won’t have the magic moments that can come from live, interactive experience, but it would, at the very least, be fun.

Ernest Hogan doesn’t believe in gurus but does have nearly fifty years of writing experience that can help and amuse.