Here is the poem I created based on my second ten page story:
Moms don't know half of what goes on
...And grandpa...
He pulls a lung, black and scarred
from the back of his throat.
Uncle Frank sews pieces onto the AIDS Quilt,
And I...
Forgive me.
Children are scared of the dark
and the whirr of a white machine
spinning around their heads.
You're on Candid Camera.
Growing and pushing
and bleeding inside itself,
it could have been tragic.
Blue cotton gowns don't cover up fear.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Pink Institution
The Pink Institution was probably the best or second best book I have read this semester. I enjoyed the non-traditional format of the novel, as well as just the story itself. What really interested me, however, was the complete objectivity of the narrator as she told the story of her family. I didn't realize until about halfway through the novel that the narrator was actually related to all of the people she was talking about, and when I finally found out, I was completely surprised and thrown off (in a good way).
There was so much trauma in the lives of all of the characters, but rather than tell the readers that the events were traumatic, painful, depressing, whatever, Saterstrom took a completely post-modern approach and allowed the reader to draw their own conclusions about the events. I really admired this about Saterstrom. My first ten-pager was somewhat loosely based off of my parents' relationship before my birth, and if I had the time, I may have reworked my story to have their child (Fiona) be the narrator. I think what happened between the couple (the mother bringing an STD home--which didn't happen in real life) would have been quite traumatizing for a young child, so it would have been interesting to see how I could report that story objectively.
The narrator in "P.I." even describes her eating disorder objectively, which is the most interesting thing to me. The disorder is clear evidence that everything that happened with her family was damaging to her, but she never once relates the two in the story. That job is left completely to the reader.
I am normally somewhat of a romantic, and I do enjoy romantic literature, so this kind of reading is a big departure for me. I do have to say though, that I will definitely seek out more work that is similar to this in the furture.
There was so much trauma in the lives of all of the characters, but rather than tell the readers that the events were traumatic, painful, depressing, whatever, Saterstrom took a completely post-modern approach and allowed the reader to draw their own conclusions about the events. I really admired this about Saterstrom. My first ten-pager was somewhat loosely based off of my parents' relationship before my birth, and if I had the time, I may have reworked my story to have their child (Fiona) be the narrator. I think what happened between the couple (the mother bringing an STD home--which didn't happen in real life) would have been quite traumatizing for a young child, so it would have been interesting to see how I could report that story objectively.
The narrator in "P.I." even describes her eating disorder objectively, which is the most interesting thing to me. The disorder is clear evidence that everything that happened with her family was damaging to her, but she never once relates the two in the story. That job is left completely to the reader.
I am normally somewhat of a romantic, and I do enjoy romantic literature, so this kind of reading is a big departure for me. I do have to say though, that I will definitely seek out more work that is similar to this in the furture.
Expansion and revision
Better late than never!
When revising my longer works, I try to move entire paragraphs, sections of dialogue and plot points around in the story to see if approaching things in a completely different way can make the story any better. Sometimes I end up leaving everything how it was to begin with, but quite often I end up making major changes to the story. This helps keep the writing process interesting for me, because it is almost as if I am working on a completely different piece. It also helps to make the story flow better and make more sense (most of the time).
As far as expansion goes, I usually tend to expand on characters' back stories more than anything else. I find that once you have the major plot points that you want to hit written, it can help tie everything together to get some insight into why the characters are where they are. In my most recent story, my main female character is suffering from an unknown chronic illness, and her boyfriend has to take care of her. After a particularly graphic vomitting scene, I added in a section about how the girl was when the boy met her to make his attraction to her more believeable. Before I added this section their relationship didn't make much sense.
When revising my longer works, I try to move entire paragraphs, sections of dialogue and plot points around in the story to see if approaching things in a completely different way can make the story any better. Sometimes I end up leaving everything how it was to begin with, but quite often I end up making major changes to the story. This helps keep the writing process interesting for me, because it is almost as if I am working on a completely different piece. It also helps to make the story flow better and make more sense (most of the time).
As far as expansion goes, I usually tend to expand on characters' back stories more than anything else. I find that once you have the major plot points that you want to hit written, it can help tie everything together to get some insight into why the characters are where they are. In my most recent story, my main female character is suffering from an unknown chronic illness, and her boyfriend has to take care of her. After a particularly graphic vomitting scene, I added in a section about how the girl was when the boy met her to make his attraction to her more believeable. Before I added this section their relationship didn't make much sense.
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