Patterns

Just a minute, please...

I was outrageous late to the class on August, 21. I mean, really, really late. Still on crutches for a knee injury, my slow mornings had become even slower. Plus, the class was in another room, and it was like I haven't wandered the place for more than three decades... Well, a labyrinth is always changing, and the way we interact with places is not linear. Specially for me :)

So, one crutch on hand, a full room, I tried to get a grip on what was being discussed. The first bit I caught was patterns... Every writing has a pattern, Thiago was saying. I doesn't matter the genre - fiction, non-fiction; suspense; romance... -, there will be a kind of pattern there.

We're talking here mainly about writing, but I'll give a clue about me as a student: I just cannot keep my mouth shut. One thing leads me to another, a reference, a thought, something I've heard before. So, even tremendously late, before I could stop my thoughts, I saw myself asking:  But is there a pattern even when the author wants to break the narrative habitual ways?

Yes, it was the answer. There is a pattern even in transgression.

I was thinking particularly about Chuck Palahniuk when I presented the question. I thought for an instant in developing the idea, but I finally got a grip and stop at time. The truth is that, although I enjoy discussions and think sharing those kind of thoughts is important in life and academic environments, I'm shy of my English. I also don't like the feeling that I'm being inappropriate. So Palahniuk and his transgressive narrative had to wait till today to be a part of the debate.

In order to break a linear narrative and create something new or different, a writer has necessarily to be aware of how to write and tell a story. The classic narrative flow has a beginning, a development and a conclusion. Not every author or screenwriter follows this through, and breaking this linear sequence is a style in itself. So, a pattern. And there's the answer to my initial question.

Following this presentation, Thiago indicated an activity on the book we are studying this semester (SMALLY, R. L; RUETTEN, M. K.; KOZYREV, J. R. Refining Composition Skills. 6. ed. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 2012), in the chapter about the process of writing. We had to write, in class, our answers to the following questions:

First, we had to describe who we are as writers, what we like or dislike, what is easy or difficult. I think that each post will be a part of this first question, composing a more complex and complete answer, even if not final. Probably, at the end of the semester, I'll have a different perception about writing and myself. That's what classes and studying are for, actually. I'll tell you about it at the end, for sure.For now, my answer is basically this:

I'm a messy writer. All the organizing happens in my head, thinking about the subject before writing. I think, and in doing that, the writing itself seems so easy (...). I'd rather read about what I'll write about after this first thinking process. Otherwise, I absorb what other are saying, and my final text ends up being a sort of a summary, not a real essay. I start writing with my first thoughts, and it is more difficult than I guessed it would be in my head (of course it is, what a chance of being differently?). With the first draft, or at least the introduction, and my thoughts and feelings about the subject more clear to me, I start researching the the topic. I've learned throughout my masters, that a counterpoint is essential. We don't present only our point of view about things, but establish a dialogue with other ideas, way of thinking and so. This way, reading about the subject becomes even more relevant to our writing. It is not easy. Writing is a confrontation with ourselves, and I observe that the apparently easiest way would be just burping out our thoughts about the subject as it was the whole truth. It is not, so what seems the easiest way out is actually a big fat trap.

So, first, translating what seems so easy on my mind to the writing form is a great challenge for me. I always think I have already elaborated the text, what proves me wrong when I finally start to write.

Second: for me, it is really hard to write by hand, the result of many years writing and editing on a typewriter (I'm that old, yes) and computers. The way I write determined my way of thinking - starting with a kind of free writing, going back and forth, erasing, adding, changing the sentences and order of paragraphs (what only became possible after text editor on computers). I'm a byproduct of typing, that's the truth. So, handwriting is almost a torture for me - less so now that I'm back at university with a paper notebook and million of pens (I choose a different one depending on my humour, very OCD style).

The other difficulty will be listed on the next post, as it was the specific subject in our third class. 

There are many and many more hardships on writing. Those above are just the ones that came to me in class and I wrote it down on my notebook. As new questions and subjects emerge, they'll be addressed here.

Ending this topic (you can breath now), Id like to highlight how my writing depends on my reading, as said in the first post. It is not easy, I don't think I'm able to write fiction, but it is a dream in life for me. Who knows? Someday (not a day on the week, I'm aware) I might develop enough patience and discipline in order to tell a story that I would enjoy reading.

The second topic in the actividy asked from us to describe the most successfully writing experience we had. Mine is a testimony of how a writing class changes our take on writ ting, presenting other ways e new possibilities. I thought I was too far gone for that,totally without hope,  but my experience at a course named Laboratório de Texto (very similar to Writing 1) proved me wrong (I hope it is not just an illusion).

Just a pick at my cherished tale

One of the most successful writing experiences of my life is a result of a proposed exercise in which the students wrote a short story almost without noticing it -  a brilliant strategy presented by the teacher. First we had to write a description; following, we had to give a personality to who/what we described. After, we had create a plot involving the subject/object. I dont' remember every step of it, but I still can feel the gratification of reaching such a result. I'm not saying the text per se is excellent or something like that. However, the experience was incredible. Through it, I realized how important is this kind of writing education and practice. I'm very proud still, I must say.

The last topic on the exercise in the second class asked about an unusual occurrence, a way to make use describing techniques. I'll not tell  you about mine. It is interesting, but not as much as the one a student told us. According to her, she saw a guy in campus wearing a Twilight tee, something that strike her as unusual: so long after the phenomena of the vampire books and movies, someone at the university wearing a t-shirt, and it was a guy - the Stephenie Meyer books were more popular between female (of vary ages). Twilight was one of my subjects on the doctoral research, I even gave a lecture about it for a group of teachers in public school. This way, I was really curious to know that guy.

Just before ringing the imaginary bell, there was another activity: write about our specific needs for this course. Mine? Improve my writing in coherency and grammar skills. Practice. Find another ways to achieve a better writing. Be happy.

That's it for today, folks! Sorry for another long post... I told you that I talk too much. 

Stay tuned!

Old times of a straight line...