Please elaborate on your idea for the next story. You might use a version of the three-part "test" proposed by Henry James to structure your response: What are you trying to achieve? How will you achieve it? Why is it worth achieving?
Your response is due by midnight Wednesday, March 26. (I hope you have drafts of first scenes from some of you by the following Wednesday.)
7 comments:
I think I would write about my first job at a Pharmacy in my town. I was originally going to do this topic for the first story but then I decided to write about a different high school experience. It was a very small, typical hometown type shop. I worked there for 4 years all throughout high school, a short few weeks before I entered my first year of college. Hearing one of my boss’ kind of ridiculous stories and my next youngest co-worker besides me (who was about 35 years old) discuss the difficulties of her marriage and raising multiple young kids. I was very interested by the different types of customers and co-workers, one being my aunt and one my cousin. I saw over time that I slowly began to grow less interested in the background noise of the gossip that came with my workers and what began to peak my curiosity was the customers and their difficulties with their insurance companies or just their lives which could be an example of what I’m trying to achieve, that overtime this “maturity” that is generally supposed to come with going through high school. Each customer possessed their own different entrance and exit when coming to the store, their individual relationships with each one of us and how throughout the years some would pass on or the hopefuls who were determined to persevere through their illnesses. While each one of my co-workers had their own thing to complain about or just the natural gossip that seemed to come with working with women entering menopause and a cynical, dark-humored male boss. I chose this job to maintain some type of income but instead it created this very weird and large impact on my life. I’d think it’d be interesting to divulge these couple years of my life, being that it was with me for such a majority of my teenage years.
I would like to write about Mauritius, an island in the Indian ocean off the coast of Africa. It is an interesting place where the population is mixed, mostly Indian. African islands are not really in the news so nobody really bothers to find out wants going on, bar if its to plan a vacation. I would like to focus on Mauritius using the experiences of a visit in 2003. Hopefully readers will get an idea of the kind of place Mauritius is and my tastes as a tourist.
I'm not entirely sure how to do it or what exactly I'm trying to get across, but I want to write about mother-daughter relationships. I'm kind of obsessed with mother-daughter relationships since I've grown up without one; so I've observed how I've turned out with my lack of maternal parenting and how my friends are doing in life with moms, and how much they attribute their success/failure to their moms. I'm constantly trying to make my friend's moms semi-adopt me as a daughter (which they all seem to do). I watch their interactions and I listen to complaints (from moms and from friends) and for some reason I'm always the friend giving mom advice which is more than a little weird/ironic. I think these relationships are something worth writing about because I think mother-daughter relationships are complex and important. It’s just an idea, I personally think it’s important because I find I usually have different views than my friends do, because that relationship is something I long for and something they want less of. You’d be surprised at all the tiny personality quirks my female friends blame their moms for.
I know this assignment should reflect a type of 'self test,' so I am toying with two different ideas. Before I delve into both ideas, I should mention that whenever I've thought about change and personal tests, my main focus is always on self improvement. That being said, leading a strictly vegan lifestyle, I am familiar with testing out my own will power and personal strength. However, I still have such a sweet tooth, and therefore I find myself indulging in processed vegan treats such as Oreos and thin mint girl scout cookies (they're now made without whey protein, so they are vegan). I want to cleanse out my body, by removing all processed foods from my diet. I've been dying to watch this movie called 'Forks Over Knives' which asserts that most, if not all degenerate diseases can be reversed by omitting animal based AND processed foods. Thus, I plan on watching this in preparation for this change, as it is under 'instant play' on Netflix. Regardless of whether I choose this personal test or not, I will watch the movie and try to omit most, if not all processed foods from my diet. In addition, many vegan foods, such as vegan butters and margarines contain palm oil, which is taken from cutting down palm trees, which has in turn caused the deaths of a multitude of chimps and monkeys, so I'm going to try and cut that out as well! My second idea is trying different forms of meditation each night. I meditate sometimes, and have led meditation in my home's living room, but I want to integrate it more into my daily life, since I feel so great after doing it. I want to be able to develop the skills to meditate while going on with my day's daily tasks. In addition, I hope to use meditation as a tool to hone in on my ability to lucid dream. If I choose to perform this personal test, I will keep a log of my dreams, and document my attempts/experiences met through lucid dreaming.
I think I'm going to try to write about the summer job that I've had for the past few years. This was my alternate idea for my first story and I'd like to give it a shot. I work at a little ladies resort wear boutique called Serendipity at Lake George. The place is very eclectic from the people that work there to the products they sell to the people that shop there. I think it could make for a very visual maybe a bit humorous story. I don't know if I would to it day in the life style. Or maybe journalish entries from different points throughout my time working there?
I would like to write about things I have witnessed in the 2.5 years I've worked at the Woodbury Commons. I'm trying to achieve something different from the typical workplace confessional story that comes with such an iconic place, although I definitely want to include some of the more sordid details. The way I want to do this is by writing it in stream of conscious vignettes, spanning from the seasons I have worked here (since retail is governed by fashion seasons, it seems appropriate). Hopefully this will make it more literary and less gossipy. There's certainly an unlimited amount of material, and I have been wanting to write about it in the right way. I was also thinking about formatting it another way, and making small "chapters" about lessons I have learned working here, such as nuances between the many Asian cultures, or how to stop a shoplifter. I'm leaning towards my first format idea, since I think I could have more freedom.
I think this project is worth achieving because, like I mentioned, the amount of "dirty laundry" this place has is staggering, and it would be entertaining. I would love to bring attention to the problems at the WC for other reasons too. It will bring awareness to some of the terrible practices of the mall towards it's employees, and if published, might actually help someone (if not just entertain them).
I'm really having trouble coming up with an idea for my next story. I like the idea you proposed before break of observing someone or some group doing something and writing about it, like in Drift, but I don't know who I would observe that would be interesting enough to write about. I have thought about asking my father's friend who is a mortician to shadow him for a few days. Ultimately I want to do something that either explores some taboo but necessary aspect of society or comments on modern life through the use of observation and irony. I think Ideally I'd like to follow a recently deceased person from death to the mortician to the grave but I believe that is beyond my means or capabilities at this point.
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