Upon first reading “I am 21” I didn’t see the profundity in the piece. I thought it was just about a girl telling what happened during her day and telling a little about her past. I didn’t notice the specificity and how it added to the story. It wasn’t until we discussed the story in class that the small details gained significance. For instance the use of green tea didn’t stand out to me, until I realized that the connotation of green tea is that people who are artsy, “health freaks” are its main consumers. It would have had a very different meaning if it had talked about coffee. Another aspect I didn’t know what that the verbs you use add to the mood of a character as well. Using words like tugged and smacked wouldn’t be appropriate to talk about a happy character. Also I realized that one of the major challenges of writing it doing the unexpected. After my second time reading it, I began to appreciate the way she didn’t stay on the topic of her parent’s death long, and smoothly transitioned back to the present day. By doing this it made me think that it was still a touchy subject for her, one that she would rather not linger on. Due to this story I’m going to try and focus on using all aspects of a story: the nouns, verbs, and all other parts of speech to add to my character’s personality.
Drika,
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way. I have felt that way about a lot fot he material we have read, like "Next Door." At first I just think they are regular stories that an be easily duplicated. But the closer I look the more I realize the subtle pieces of genious to each piece.
I also want to focus on using more interesting and specific verbs to convey more about the characters I write about. And I think I'll try writing about something serious without lingering on the serious part too long. I think it is a very effective technique. Like a hit and run.
Yes, these writers work by subtlety, slyly using precise words to create extremely specific images and narratives. I'm not sure it's really THAT foreign to you, however, since you most likely do this all the time. When you ask a friend how she's doing, and she says, "fine." and looks away. You don't just literally believe her, but you may also not want to ask directly. You may just begin to "hypothesize," imagine the problem. This is fiction, right? This is precisely the kind of thing these writers are engaged in. They record minute character details and then let these characters interact.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry too much about where they're going. Just creat them, first.