english 212 -- the end!

What strategies will I employ to continue to write, now that this class is over...

I actually think this class has really helped me to become a better writer.  I think now I'm more able to view writing as a craft that I need to perfect, whereas before I simply viewed it as one of my eccentricities (if that makes sense).  I've learned how to focus my energies into a single piece so that I can actually produce something.  Because of that, I feel more motivated to actually start projects because I've proven to myself that I can actually finish them.

As for the blog, I'm not sure the blog actually made any difference in my creative process, although I see how it could be helpful for other writers.  For me, when I first have an idea, I like to write it down in pencil so that I can do whatever I want -- underline, circle, draw pictures, make diagrams etc.  Typing really limits that element of brainstorming, so the blog wasn't really helpful in that sense.  But it was helpful in the sense that I was forced to write cohesive plot outlines, which is something I might not have accomplished without the structure of typing.

All in all, I know that I've always always wanted to be a writer, and I really do hope that I'll be able to take that ambition somewhere beyond my own head.

my informal presentation!

Dave Eggers

Examining the use of narrative voice in You Shall Know Our Velocity!

Who is Dave Eggers?

l   A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

l   McSweeney’s

l   Where the Wild Things Are

l   Away We Go

Plot Synopsis

l   Two friends, Will and Hand, travel around the world in an attempt to give away $32,000

 

The Passage

You Shall Know Our Velocity! pg. 189

                 

                  We had a beer in the hotel bar, called Timofey’s.  The bartender was a young woman who looked at my face and gave me a commiserative pout.  I accepted this and smiled.  We were alone in the room except for a very old woman, white with hair pulled back into a ponytail, at a table overlooking the lobby, with a glass of something clear before her, her small hands cupped around it.

                  “We should sit down with her,” Hand said.

                  I knew he was right.  But I didn’t know people of her age.  She could hate us.  She was easily seventy-five.

                  Hand was already halfway there.  I followed.  By the time I made it to her table, Hand was sitting, leg crossed, ankle on his knee.  I don’t know what he’d used as an opening line.  She held her hand to me.  I shook its fingers, which were cold and the skin loose, a small leather bag full of delicate tools.  She was French.  We introduced ourselves; her last name (she gave us both) sounded like Ingres.  Hand sat to her right and I across from her.  She was a beautiful woman.  Up close she looked younger, maybe sixty.  Her nose was still aquiline, her eyes beaming.  She sipped her drink through its tiny red straw.

A Unique Narrative Voice

l  Eggers’ narrative technique: interspersing narrator’s actions with thoughts

–   Reminds the reader that narrator is present

–   Doesn’t bore us with narrator’s every thought

–   Reveals the narrator’s perspective through actions; show and not tell

The Old Woman

l    Subjective vs. Objective Reality

–    Using narrators thoughts and actions to create a cohesive whole

l    “…a small leather bag full of delicate tools.”

–    Unusual metaphor

–    Connects us to narrator’s sense of aesthetics

Hand’s Character

l   Viewed through lens of narrator

l   Narrator chooses specific words and actions that reveal personality

–   “We should sit down with her.”

–   Body language; the way he sits

Viewing the Scene as a Whole:
The Narrator’s Perspective

l    “But I didn’t know people of her age.  She could hate us.  She was easily seventy-five”

–    Subjective

–    Viewed through the narrator’s lens: youthful and self-absorbed

l    Three short sentences

–    Eggers doesn’t overindulge in narrator’s thoughts

Why It’s Important

l  Eggers uses an effective combination of thoughts and actions to establish a memorable narrative voice

l  Narrative voice is indispensable

–   Narrator acts as “tour guide” through story

–   Tells us who we should sympathize with and how

–   Distinguishes a story from a simple chain of events

a revised plot synopsis: project 3

okay, let's be honest, project 3 is dominating my life.  but in a good way!

last time i blogged about it, my ideas were still all hazy, and then the more i thought about it, they became clearer BUT i was having a hard time starting the story.  but now i'm on a roll, and i'm using a technique that may or may not be a good idea... i'm writing it in reverse.  granted, when the story is done, it will be in chronological order, but for the actual writing process i'm writing in scenes, starting at the end and moving backwards, then piecing it together and eventually i'll fill in the blanks.  we'll see how this works.

so anyway, for the sake of organization, here's an improved outline of what the story is about:

1. it's a first person narrative, written from the perspective of noah, a grad student at lehigh university (which is in my hometown).  he's thoughtful but reserved and a little socially awkward, and has a girlfriend emily who never actually factors into the action of the story, but we know that she's somewhat whimsical and oddly independent, to the point that noah feels emasculated (he may not consciously know this).

2. he meets another grad student named luke in the library on an afternoon in october.  he is drawn to him because of his unusual combination of intellect and masculinity.

3. later, luke produces a flask and suggests they drink, since it's homecoming weekend and all the undergrads will be going crazy.  he's lookin' for some chicks, basically.

4. they end up at a frat house, which becomes increasingly chaotic and terrifying as noah becomes intoxicated.  luke charms the girls effortlessly, and eventually disappears with a pathetic, skinny girl who seems to young to even be there.

5. noah, feeling insecure, finds a small empty room (the frat's library), and he begins to feel sick.  thoughts racing and losing consciousness, he curls up on the floor.

6. luke finds him, drags him up from the floor, and begins beating him.  noah experiences a deafening range of emotions, and eventually, unable to fully fight back and completely dissatisfied with himself, he decides to "submit".  a rape scene is VERY vaguely implied, but the reader and even noah himself (he's on the verge of passing out this whole time and eventually does) is unsure of what really happens.

7. he wakes in the morning, alone and watching the october sunlight streaming in, which is how the story began (talking about the strangeness of the light in october).

***the thing about the story, which i couldn't get across in this flat outline, is that my goal is to create tension that becomes increasingly sexual.  you are unsure what luke is really up to, the turning point being when he takes out the flask, and then especially at the party when luke so easily exerts power over women, and noah feels strangely jealous of these girls.  and so all these things will (hopefully) intensify the fight scene, and when it ends with ambiguity, the reader feels very sure that SOMETHING must've happened.

hopefully i can achieve this effect, or else the whole story fails, basically.

thoughts on group writing ETC . . .

I can't necessarily say I loved the group writing project, but since I usually hate working in groups (key word: hate!), I think I'd call it a success.  My group (Meg, Frank, and Ryan) got along surprisingly well, and I think all of us went into the project knowing and accepting that each of us would not get exactly what we wanted individually, but we were all dedicated to making the project work.  We made sure to talk about our project a number of times after class, and emailed each other when we had to.  For me, although I didn't get total control over the story (I might be a narcissist...), I did create a main character that was crazy enough that the other characters needed to work around/stay conscious of/plot against me.  So ultimately I'd call the experience a satisfying one.  It almost felt like playing some sort of online video game where you play against real people??  What is that called?  I've never done that, but now I can vaguely see why people do it.  Because that's almost what this project was like. 

ms. julia rodriguez !

well hello there.

and now ... presenting ... (drumroll, please) ... the blog of julia rodriguez, my classmate and friend.

http://jluolsita.livejournal.com

julia's blog (unlike mine, which is absurdly boring) is full of life.  since i know julia personally, it's easy for me to see that her voice comes through in her writing.  her voice is youthful and a little bit whimsical.  and i think that even if i'd never known her, i would think the same about her writing.  every entry has a picture of her in the top right corner, and her writing seems to match her facial expression (a half-grin/smile).  Looking through her entries, I actually think her style would be good for journalism, maybe a magazine/some publication for teenagers, since the way she writes is conversational and easily accessible.  she says she hasn't read much outside of the "teen fiction" section, which makes me sad, but maybe that's what will become her niche.  and besides, that's coming from me... one of those odd cases who jumped immediately from grade-school newberry award stuff to like... bee season by mya goldberg (which was kind of emotionally scarring to read at the age of 13).  ANYWAY... bravo, julia!  keep up the good work.

informal presentation(s)

Although I can't speak for every presentation (since not everyone has finished yet), after seeing about three presentations I was struck with a particular thought: how interesting it is that there is always someone out there who wants  to read about something, something that might not interest me at all.  Living in my own world as I do, I am so eager to assume that everyone has the same tastes as I do, and more importantly that everything I like is everything that is good and right and perfect.  But of course I'm very very wrong.  

For instance, the first presentation was on "Catcher in the Rye".  I found that book to be really mediocre (even though I wanted to like it!), but there must be some reason that it's so famous.  Another presentation on a book I'd never heard of, Three (?), was interesting to me because I know if I saw that book in a bookshop, I'd never even pick it up (not trying to be a snob here, but it's true!).  I imagine it having some overdramatic book jacket that would immediately turn me off (think Dan Brown books here) and if by some strange twist of events I actually read the summary, I am positive that nothing would tempt me to buy it.  This is not to say that the author or the story are "bad", I just know how incredibly picky I am, and maybe thats a bad thing.  I guess the informal presentations are somewhat of a revelation for me; that everyone likes what they like and I'm a little bit mean. 

FICTION PROJECT 3 ? ? ?

I am SO conflicted about what to write about for the final project!!  I still feel like I don't know how to make things HAPPEN in a story, or what things should even be happening.

However, these are my ideas:

1. I am interested in dealing with the idea of instincts... like if my character is to act solely on their instincts, what will they DO?  more specifically, how does it feel to be violent?  this is really interesting to me, BUT I would have to really talk to someone with a perspective on it, since I don't fully understand it myself.

2. I want to use my characters from fiction project 2 (the male narrator and his girlfriend emily).  The third character is based on someone from my English class that I mentally refer to as "Intellectual Muttonchops".  For the time being, let's call his character Luke.  

3. The narrator (let's call him... Noah) meets Intellectual Muttonchops/Luke in the revolving doors at the entrance to the library, a brief encounter that only allows Noah to pick up on his physical attributes, which seem to stick with him.  They are graduate students at Lehigh University.  They see each other in the library by chance a few more times, and talk nonchalantly about their mutual professors/nothing important.  Noah doesn't find Luke particularly interesting, but is drawn to his unusual combination of intellect and masculinity.   One night when they are both studying, Luke suggests they get drunk and explore the campus.  The campus, normally quiet, is thick with revelry (it's homecoming weekend).  They drift into a frat house (the two intellectuals stick out).  The imagery becomes increasingly unnerving (you know how being drunk is scary sometimes?).  The two separate (Luke disappears with waif-like drunk girls) and Noah finds an empty room, presumably a study room, although sticky with beer.  Luke discovers him there and immediately starts beating and punching him.  When Noah gives in to instinct and begins to fight back, he feels alive.  They collapse in pools of their own blood and pass out.  the next morning, noah wakes up alone, frat guys vaguely concerned but mostly urging him to get out.

UNSURE WHERE TO GO FROM HERE? I want to intersperse scenes with Noah and Emily, mostly to show how Noah has been emasculated in his everyday life; he is subject to Emily's whimsical nature.  With Luke, he is reminded of the concrete reality of physical sensation/violence.  I can't decide if he should fight with Luke a second time... probably should. I think the climax should happen when Noah feels driven to combine his two separate lives... beating emily?

I HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT WILL END?  I feel like someone dying is just way too melodramatic.  maybe noah will have a reality check when he's trying to hit emily and she is in entire disbelief?

is this entire story even worth it?  i feel like i could make the frat house stuff really intense, really capture the aesthetic.  but i don't know how to turn it into a cohesive whole?

ugh!