Old Journals

Before "blogging" (and even still) I spent about 20 years writing everything down on paper. I'll transcribe something from an old spiral bound notebook...

Side note: I'm just starting to watch Tin Drum per the suggestion of my "cell mate" at work, Jim. So far I think it's a little slow, but knowing that the film is 145 minutes long, I realize the pace must be slow to account for all the time I'm about to spend reading subtitles (it's a German movie). The main character, the kid with the tin drum--after one hell of a birth scene--just now vowed to himself not to grow any more... And stay a gnome!? Oh damn, now he fell down the stairs and he will never grow again, I knew it. That drum, that eternal drumming! That terrible screaming!!

Notes and Story
Gotham Writer's Workshop
New York City, February 20, 2001

Narrator Style and Voice

Style stylistic choices syntax Avoid "word packages" "Little did I know" "Needless to say" Do vary length of sentences keep up momentum break rhythm paragraph length (?) read aloud, hear tricks The Story Paul Hood was an introvert from a dysfunctional family, or was he? Desperately wanting to escape his current state of being and go back to a time when he felt the bliss of ignorance, he decided to get on the train and head back home. For better or for the inevitable worse, he was on the road to somewhere.

Voice narrator's sound relation b/w narrator & reader Familiar assumes intimate relation between n & r - slang can be used - regionalism - dialect - assertive & close to the reader Informal fairly close, but polite - some details & background - relaxed intelligence - less slang Formal maintains emotional distance - gives more background - great emotional distance - not slang, not colloquial

On the painfully long Amtrak ride to Cleveland, Paul spent the night scribbling on a newspaper, drawing pictures in the margins, writing poems between the lines. Bored to tears, he imagined even the most loathsome of creatures would receive a warmer reception than he did. As the night dragged on, his fantasies became more vivid and more believable. Nowhere left to go, he dove inward.

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Now I must watch Blades of Glory. Here's a picture from the TV...