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Convalescence
May. 4th, 2003 10:30 amAd Mundo Exteriore,
I had a rather high fever on Thursday and Friday, but now the infection (probably viral) has settled into my throat, and I can barely speak or swallow. (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ldmoonflower, I completely empathize with what you were going through on Wednesday.) I think I have a ball of steel wool stuffed next to my poor swollen larynx, not to mention the needles sticking into my inner ears...;_; I need to get well or else I won't be audible for the French AP exam on Tuesday.
I should have gone to the doctor, I know, but my family has this strange attitude towards medical consultation. We only go to the doctor for vaccinations and, in my case, any infection that causes a 103+ fever. Otherwise, we expect ourselves to suffer in silence, with lots of self-medication with over-the-counter drugs. >_<
What I meant to post a few days ago, before the illness interfered: I'm supposed to be, ahem, writing about The Sound and the Fury, but what I'm actually thinking about is the creative project for Faulkner. We've been told to write a "layered story" with four parts, each from the point of view of a different character. We are supposed to write about a "central event", in which all of these characters have participated, in some fashion, though they may not be completely aware of the event. We are also required to incorporate "italicized memory segments" into our writing.
At first I thought I would use that weaver and cowherd folktale idea, but then I realized that I didn't want to approach it according to this assignment. (I have started an attempt at the weaver and the cowherd, and I may post whatever I have on the website in May.) And today, it occurred to me that the assignment is perfect for a detective story, in a very warped way of course. I could write different chaotic narratives from the perspectives of four people involved in a crime, framed in the detective's own perception of those people...ooh, can you imagine the snobby little undertones like the meaning of subjectivity and the validity of empiricism? Hah! No, I wouldn't make it philosophical, but how tempting! Actually, I'll probably leave out the detective's perspective but incorporate his presence into each of the four narratives, making it a strange twist on the usual detective story. So yes, I know the form that this story is going to take.
Only problem: I can't think of an inventive crime. I need a support group for non-experienced mystery writers. I have a wealth of Holmes, Dupin, Poirot and last but not least Father Brown mysteries to draw from, but I'm still at a loss. Furthermore, I don't want to make it obvious which of the four characters is the criminal. Should it be a murder? Should it be a theft? A murder is the most sensational route, I know, but then the murder should be bizarre, macabre, grotesque in some way. (I just remembered that I even have Ayatsuri Sakon to rely on for inspiration. So why is inspiration not forthcoming?!) I haven't read enough horror, so I can't think Gothic. So how on earth am I to write a Gothic mystery?
(If you've read my two completed stories, you know the last excuse is rather pathetic. Almost everything I wrote for English class had a horrific element in it.)
I suppose the solution is to rely on one of my nightmares. Perhaps one of the infamous subway dreams? Gondolas sailing down underground tunnels, perhaps through damp catacombs and all that Poe-ish drama. Though then I'll be rather flat, since I've never actually seen catacombs. Or that Ferris wheel at twilight, even if it was probably inspired by a bad television movie? I also want the solution to the mystery (at least the how, if not the who) to be hidden in the narratives, so as to give satisfaction to the discerning reader. I always like the feeling "oh, that was clever" which you get when the writer explains all, so I want that to be available though not overt in the story. But I can't come up with the setting for a murder, much less a clever one. Oh, the frustrations! I need mystery-writing advice. Help!
...Tari
Post-script: It occurs to me that some of you may be thinking SARS, and I would like to assure you that even though I did talk to someone from Toronto, I doubt that I was exposed to any such virus on my weekend trip to Cambridge. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure that although SARS causes cold-like symptoms, I probably should be having more respiratory problems if I actually caught that disease. My chest is congested, but not to the point of making breathing difficult. So much for hypochondria.
I had a rather high fever on Thursday and Friday, but now the infection (probably viral) has settled into my throat, and I can barely speak or swallow. (
ldmoonflower, I completely empathize with what you were going through on Wednesday.) I think I have a ball of steel wool stuffed next to my poor swollen larynx, not to mention the needles sticking into my inner ears...;_; I need to get well or else I won't be audible for the French AP exam on Tuesday.I should have gone to the doctor, I know, but my family has this strange attitude towards medical consultation. We only go to the doctor for vaccinations and, in my case, any infection that causes a 103+ fever. Otherwise, we expect ourselves to suffer in silence, with lots of self-medication with over-the-counter drugs. >_<
What I meant to post a few days ago, before the illness interfered: I'm supposed to be, ahem, writing about The Sound and the Fury, but what I'm actually thinking about is the creative project for Faulkner. We've been told to write a "layered story" with four parts, each from the point of view of a different character. We are supposed to write about a "central event", in which all of these characters have participated, in some fashion, though they may not be completely aware of the event. We are also required to incorporate "italicized memory segments" into our writing.
At first I thought I would use that weaver and cowherd folktale idea, but then I realized that I didn't want to approach it according to this assignment. (I have started an attempt at the weaver and the cowherd, and I may post whatever I have on the website in May.) And today, it occurred to me that the assignment is perfect for a detective story, in a very warped way of course. I could write different chaotic narratives from the perspectives of four people involved in a crime, framed in the detective's own perception of those people...ooh, can you imagine the snobby little undertones like the meaning of subjectivity and the validity of empiricism? Hah! No, I wouldn't make it philosophical, but how tempting! Actually, I'll probably leave out the detective's perspective but incorporate his presence into each of the four narratives, making it a strange twist on the usual detective story. So yes, I know the form that this story is going to take.
Only problem: I can't think of an inventive crime. I need a support group for non-experienced mystery writers. I have a wealth of Holmes, Dupin, Poirot and last but not least Father Brown mysteries to draw from, but I'm still at a loss. Furthermore, I don't want to make it obvious which of the four characters is the criminal. Should it be a murder? Should it be a theft? A murder is the most sensational route, I know, but then the murder should be bizarre, macabre, grotesque in some way. (I just remembered that I even have Ayatsuri Sakon to rely on for inspiration. So why is inspiration not forthcoming?!) I haven't read enough horror, so I can't think Gothic. So how on earth am I to write a Gothic mystery?
(If you've read my two completed stories, you know the last excuse is rather pathetic. Almost everything I wrote for English class had a horrific element in it.)
I suppose the solution is to rely on one of my nightmares. Perhaps one of the infamous subway dreams? Gondolas sailing down underground tunnels, perhaps through damp catacombs and all that Poe-ish drama. Though then I'll be rather flat, since I've never actually seen catacombs. Or that Ferris wheel at twilight, even if it was probably inspired by a bad television movie? I also want the solution to the mystery (at least the how, if not the who) to be hidden in the narratives, so as to give satisfaction to the discerning reader. I always like the feeling "oh, that was clever" which you get when the writer explains all, so I want that to be available though not overt in the story. But I can't come up with the setting for a murder, much less a clever one. Oh, the frustrations! I need mystery-writing advice. Help!
...Tari
Post-script: It occurs to me that some of you may be thinking SARS, and I would like to assure you that even though I did talk to someone from Toronto, I doubt that I was exposed to any such virus on my weekend trip to Cambridge. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure that although SARS causes cold-like symptoms, I probably should be having more respiratory problems if I actually caught that disease. My chest is congested, but not to the point of making breathing difficult. So much for hypochondria.
