November 16, 1986

DURING a course in writing fiction I took some years ago, the professor made a statement that was meant, I am sure, to console those women among us who were over 30 years old and had not yet sold a work of fiction. She pointed out that women commonly broke into print in their 30's, rather than in their 20's, as men often did. Men, she said, write in the linear style recognized as fictional narrative at a much earlier age than women, who must learn linear narrative slowly and with much greater difficulty. Published works that experiment with narrative form are the privilege of the later years of recognized creative genius. As a social scientist, I found the idea that women learn linear narrative slowly and with greater difficulty intriguing. If women weren't writing ''correctly,'' was there a consistent pattern to their ''error''? More important, did these errors form a structure of their own that other women could recognize as pleasing?

NOT long after his historic defeat in the gubernatorial race, County Executive Andrew P. O'Rourke was sitting in his office, remembering his early boyhood days in Chicago when Edward J. Kelly was mayor. ''Right before the election, the ward leader would come around and give my mother chits for shoes for all her kids. Then on Election Day, he'd stand in front of the polls, and he used to say, 'Mrs. O'Rourke, did your kids like the shoes?' '' he said. Mr. O'Rourke, 53 years old, recalled those days as he spoke about his defeat to Governor Cuomo, who won re-election to a second term by a record 65 percent margin. ''The political system isn't as monolithic as it once was. There aren't traditional voters the way there used to be,'' he added.

AFTER a four-day meeting here marked by high tension, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops went home this weekend with a dual pastoral order: to heal a rift in the church and to encourage public response to the plight of the poor. The rift in the church grew out of the Vatican's censure of Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen of Seattle, on grounds that he had failed to enforce doctrinal orthodoxy. Supporters of the Archbishop had urged the bishops to challenge Rome's decision and ask for a review of his case.

AT a time when preserving open land has become a priority for state, county and town officials, many Water Mill residents are angered that nearly 225 acres of open land are expected to be developed for housing in the next few years. ''The Water Mill of five years ago is not going to be the Water Mill of two years from now,'' said Mark Keenan, who owns a home on Deerfield Road. Water Mill, an unincorporated area between the Villages of Southampton and Bridgehampton, is the last large farming area in the Hamptons section. According to residents and realtors, Water Mill has no major subdivisions. But last month the Southampton Town Planning Board gave preliminary approval to plans to subdivide three separate parcels, totaling 225 acres. The approval allows the land to be sold for the development of homes. Final approval, considered a formality, could come by the end of the year.

With the White House facing criticism of its Iran policy and its handling of foreign affairs, two of President Reagan's advisers have mounted a strong defense of their competence and the role they have been playing. One adviser, Donald T. Regan, who is the White House chief of staff and a principal subject of the growing criticism from some both inside and outside the White House, said: ''I don't take kindly to this criticism by people who have not examined my record. How much more experience do you have to have in foreign policy than I do to believe you are qualified?'' His comments in his White House office on Friday came at the conclusion of a day in which he and Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, the national security adviser, began a series of interviews and television appearances to last through the weekend.