The concept of "narrative distance" really interested me because it is something that I struggle with--I never know how closely I should write or how distant--I tend to mix both together, which confuses the context and flow of my writing. "Skilled narrative writers put the reader there and let her witness it, have the experience and feel it. That's much more powerful than a secondhand version of reality" (104). I feel like I still need to work on this ability to write for the reader to feel, aka show not tell.
I also found "Remember, the ending is your destination. It is a lot easier to write the rest of the piece when you already know where you are going" (121) as an interesting quote for me. I always seem to want to change my endings even after I have written leading up to it. For me, it's harder to pick my destination then fill in the beginning and middle--while I'm really delving into the middle area, I seem to find a new angle and idea and completely change the end.
I agree with what many people have posted in that last week's reading were more captivating than this week's. It was hard for me to relate to "First Family of Astoria," even with Trillin describing Astoria as this and that and this and that. I almost felt like that is what threw me off a little--I didn't really feel like I understood what Astoria and Astorian meant. In Kidder's piece, I really enjoyed the back and forth dialogue that goes on--like in "Telling True Stories," the best dialogue is not just a quote but a conversation--and you really get the sense of that in "Memory."The end of the piece even ends with dialogue, which I think is very effective.
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Yeah, I agree with you about the Astoria piece. For the first few pages, I was like, "Why do I care about these people?" This is a minor thing, and maybe I'm just geographically challenged, but I don't think Trillin mentioned (at least not at first) what state Astoria was in, so I had to look it up. I slowly got interested in the family, but I felt a bit let down because I didn't get to see much of them first hand.
ReplyDeleteI too struggle with 'narrative distance' and very much, 'the ending is your destination' when i am writing. Looking back on my SIP i am constantly thinking if i had done this or if i had done that it would have been more of what i wanted it to be, but it is hard to remember all these seemingly simple things when you are writing. it is really a PROCESS!
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your comments about the Astoria story. There was so much background and description of Astoria, but i still couldn't picture and I really wasn't sure what to make of all that description.
I wasn't too sure about that whole "start at the end" thing either. Like you, my stories tend to take a whole new direction sometimes, so that I'd have to change the end anyway. I'm more a fan of letting the story tell itself, through you.
ReplyDeleteGood job with the quotations, I never know if I should quote more in these pieces but you'd done a really good job with it. I totally agree about the narrative distance and I struggle with how to integrate that in my writing as well, though I think I may have a slightly better handle on it now.
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