In Class Discussion

Today's discussion again of character roles and settings really got me thinking how I could ad some flavor to my 20 page story:

*animals have characters too.

*people need to talk- there absolutely needs to be conversation.

*a well created character evolves and changes throughout the story- a change signifies transformation.

*we don't judge in character, we tell their stories.

*a good story begins with an unusual pulse/energy of uncertainty.

*a story deliberately leads us to revelation.

*characters wind through a story, and are the guides to the reader.

*spontaneousness is key and a good tool.

*research the writing-research the area, how people talk, accents, styles of talking

*perspective- it allows for originality.

Catcher in the Rye Final Statement

I finished the book today, and I have decided that the language of this book was quite exciting and thrilling. I really liked how Holden was so straight-forward in dealing with his problems and emotions and feelings. I really thought that Holden spoke plenty about how the real world was through his eyes, his observation, his statements.

I believe that is what will make my story more exciting is stating the very real aspects of human agenda and the world around my characters. Never fail to put in details about buildings, places, names, times, types of alcohol, the way something smells, tastes, they way a person breathes even.

These details are crucial to a story to make it interesting and I think that is one thing I need to pay more attention to with my story.

Catcher in the Rye

Holden calls Sally Hayes to meet her for a matinee. He leaves his bags at a locker at Grand Central Station so that he will not have to go back to the hotel, where he might again face Maurice. He shops for a record for Phoebe and feels depressed when he hears children singing the song, “If a body catch a body coming through the rye.” He meets Sally, and he immediately wants to marry her, even though he does not particularly like her.

They go to see a show starring the Lunts, which he knows Sally will enjoy because it seems sophisticated. After the show, Sally keeps mentioning that she sees a boy from Andover whom she knows, and Holden responds by telling her to go over and give the boy “a big soul kiss.” While she talks to the boy, Holden becomes disgusted at how phony the conversation is. Holden and Sally go ice skating and then have lunch together. During lunch, Holden complains that he is fed up with everything around him and suggests that they run away together to New England, where they can live in a cabin in the woods. When she dismisses the idea, Holden calls her a “royal pain in the ass,” causing her to cry.

After the date, Holden calls Carl, a friend from the Whooton School who goes to Columbia, and meets him at the Wicker Bar. Carl soon becomes annoyed at Holden for having a “typical Caulfield conversation”—one that is preoccupied with sex—and he suggests that Holden see a psychiatrist. Holden remains at the Wicker Bar, where he gets drunk, then leaves to wander around Central Park. He nearly breaks down when he breaks Phoebe’s record.

Thinking that he may die soon, Holden returns home to see Phoebe, attempting to avoid his parents. He awakens her, but she soon becomes distressed when she hears that Holden has failed out of Pencey. He tells her that he might go out to a ranch in Colorado, but she dismisses his idea as foolish. When he complains about the phoniness of Pencey, Phoebe asks him if he actually likes anything. He tells Phoebe that he would like to be “a catcher in the rye,” and he imagines himself standing at the edge of a cliff as children play around him. He would come out of somewhere and always catch them just before they fell off the edge.

When his parents come home, Holden sneaks out to stay with Mr. Antioli, his former English teacher at Elkton Hills. Mr. Antolini tells Holden that he is headed for a serious fall and that he is the type who may die nobly for a highly unworthy cause. He quotes Wilhelm Stekel: “The mark of an immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” He finds Mr. Antolini with his hand on Holden’s head. Holden immediately interprets this as a homosexual advance, so he decides to leave. He tells Mr. Antolini that he has to get his bags from Grand Central Station but will return soon.

In fact, however, Holden spends the night at Grand Central Station, then sends a note to Phoebe at school, telling her to meet him for lunch. He becomes increasingly distraught and delusional, believing that he will die every time he crosses the street. He falls unconscious. When he meets Phoebe, she tells him that she wants to go with him and becomes angry when he refuses. He buys Phoebe a ticket for the carousel at the nearby zoo, and as he watches her, he begins to cry.

Holden ends his story here. He refuses to relate what happened next and how he got sick. He notes that people are concerned about whether or not he will apply himself next year. He ends the story by relating that he misses Stradlater and Ackley and even Maurice.

My Story

The development of my story is going great for a 1st draft. I had solidified characters:

1.) Susan Chapmann- the main character in my story, college-aged girl who has dreams at night, and over the period of the story, she will be becoming more and more psychotic and bi-polar. In the end of the story you realize that her dreams are real.

2.) Cole- Her friend whom she had known for almost 8 moths, he knows about her dreams and he is kind, considerate, and caring. However, his caring nature only goes to a point especially when i comes to other women, in which he flirts with. Until it hits him randomly one day that he really cares for Susan, and he becomes more drawn to her. His nature and things change, and will show a dramatic change more towards the end of the story.

3.) Dr. Anne- A young psychiatrist who is earnestly concerned with Susan's bi-polar nature, eventhough Susan apparently does not openly show it, but it is mentally being shown. Tries to help Susan in her time of need.

4.) Monica- Anne's receptionist, young chit who flirts with Cole. Mainly there to express that Cole is uninterested in a relationship with Susan towards the beginning of the story.

Story is coming along pretty well, I have about ten pages written and I have re-written it twice so far.

My Story Map

Map of my story (how I want it to go):

1.)Opening telephone conversation between Susan and Cole and dream snippet. It is here to establish that Cole and Susan are friends, that they are questionable of each other's intentions, shows both COle and Susan's attitudes towards each other, and presents the fact that Susan is having some sort of terrible dreams at night that wake her up in the wee morning hours.

2.) The next day, short conversation in the car to therapist's place- Establishes character's roles more, that Cole is clueless at times and flirty and funny, and because Susan is worried about her dreams.

3.) Meeting Dr. Anne- Dr. ANne is important because Susan eventually ends up trusting Anne because she's more her age, and the reveal process of Susan's life begins

4.) Moment's after- Cole takes Susan to a drive thru where he questions her about what happened, she is shown to be nervous in telling him, and he is shown again to be kind and caring.

5.) Dream snippet

6.) Unintentionally misplaces her keys- she loses her keys but they were "moved" and she didnt know who moved them. leads her to believe she is sleep walking.

7.) falls back asleep

8.) Cole and susan talk about what happened again, susan's falling away from reality is becoming more apparent.

9.) Susan and Anne talk awkwardly..

10.) COle apporached Susan, susan brushes him off.

11.) dreams of killing her old babysitter

12.) she speaks to herself about it.

13.) she realizes shes a killer.

Catcher in the Rye

I read some more on my book, and now I would say that I have finished about 2/3rd of it.

When Stradlater returns, he becomes upset at Holden for writing what he thinks is a poor essay, so Holden responds by tearing up the composition. Holden asks about his date with Jane, and when Stradlater indicates that he might have had sex with her, Holden becomes enraged and tries to punch Stradlater, who quickly overpowers him and knocks him out. Soon after, Holden decides to leave Pencey that night and not to wait until Wednesday. He leaves Pencey to return to New York City, where he will stay in a hotel before actually going home.

On the train to New York, Holden sits next to the mother of a Pencey student, Ernest. Claiming that his name is actually Rudolf (the name of the Pencey janitor), Holden lies to Mrs. Morrow about how popular and well-respected her son is at Pencey— actually Ernest is loathed by the other boys. Holden invites her to have a drink with him at the club car. When Holden reaches New York, he does not know whom he should call. He considers inviting his younger sister, Phoebe, as well as Jane Gallagher and another friend, .Sally He finally decides to stay at the Edmond Hotel.

From his window he can see other guests at the hotel, including a transvestite and a couple who spit drinks back at each other, which makes him think about sex. He decides to call Faith, a former burlesque stripper and reputed prostitute, but she rejects his advances. He thus goes down to the Lavender Room, a nightclub in the Hotel, where he dances with Bernice, a blonde woman from Seattle who is vacationing in New York with several friends. Holden thinks that these tourists seem pathetic.

After leaving the Lavender Room, Holden decides to go to Ernie’s, a nightclub in Greenwich Village that his brother D.B. would often frequent before he moved to Hollywood. He leaves almost immediately after he arrives, because he sees Lillian one of D.B.’s former girlfriends, and wishes to avoid her because she is a “phony.” He walks back to the hotel, where Maurice,the elevator man, offers him a prostitute for the night. He accepts. When Sunny, the prostitute, arrives, Holden becomes too nervous and refuses to go on with it. She demands ten dollars anyway, but Holden believes that he only owes five based on the earlier deal. Sunny and Maurice soon return, however, and demand the extra five dollars. Holden argues with them, but Maurice threatens him while Sunny steals the money. Maurice punches him in the stomach before leaving. Holden then imagines shooting Maurice in the stomach and even jumping out of the window to commit suicide.

Seminar: Writing in the Real World

I have come to the conclusion that: Good writing is largely a matter of motivation and editing.

What motivates someone to write well? What skills are needed? Unless you’re writing purely for the joy of self-expression, it’s likely that you want your writing to have some sort of effect in the real world. In other words, you want your writing to be not merely “good,” but effective.

Writing that I think is really good writing consists of these qualities:

1.) Imaginative Characters- Characters that really help you immerse yourself into their lives and their environment.

2.) Engagement- A good story always is engaging, there is always a build up, a twist, a hook line and sinker, an event that thrills the mind, a creative ingestion of reality and art.

3.) Efficiency- Knowing how to word things, but also having enough knowledge and willpower to knock out or cut out those sentences which do not fit, are unjust, or wrong. It makes the story efficient.

4.) Readability- If there are words that are not making any sense at all, change them. If there are lines that you can't understand, the redo it. If there are any language or grammatical errors, get it edited and fix it.

5.) Momentum- Speeds within a piece. Certain parts roll faster than others, fights are fast quick with notable words, conversations can be multiple speeds.

Applying these factors to my 20 page story is a must.