coffee with DT

So I went to the coffee meeting with DT Max at 2pm. I normally don't ever drink coffee but I needed something to do with my hands because I was just sitting there like:

The coffee was really hot and I got incredibly hyper towards the end of the talk with him. He doesn't drink coffee, he had brought his own tea. 

Anyway, so we were all sitting around in the Mandresa Den and we started off just talking about the work that he had been doing lately.. which was some piece on this cool place in Italy called Matera that is this city that was basically dug out of the side of a mountain and these people lived there since forever but sometime in the 1900s they were kicked out and then a few decades ago some hipsters (his word, not mine) took over the place and started living there. Here's a picture of that place:

And then we talked about publishing and things of that sort and then the evolution of his career from Harvard newspaper to working on the "slicks" magazines like Vogue and such to being an editor for the New Yorker and then being a writer for the New Yorker because he didn't want to be an editor anymore. Because that's just something you do because you feel like it. 

We talked about other things that he did and he tried to tie it in with whatever we were interested in. So he talked about some of his fiction that he writes and then we talked about what the hell "Creative Non-ficiton" is and then how advertisements affect how things are read and what are read and all things like that. We were theorizing what the New Yorker would be like in 10 years or so and how different it would be and how no one could possibly know what any of our jobs would be like in that amount of time, but we were pretty sure that what he did wouldn't be a thing that could still exist. 

Actually toward the middle of the hour and a half meeting, he told us that specifics of the chat shouldn't go anywhere. I think he was worried that we were taping him or something and that he had said silly things.. but he hadn't said silly things but none of us were taping him either but I will refrain  from putting in quotes here that I had written down. Just incase he sees this somehow.

DT Max

This talk was very different from all the other ones I’ve been to. Because this man was a biographer, his presentation was mostly on the subject of his biography. Therefore, instead of talking about his personal, like most guest speakers end up doing, the talk was mostly on David Foster Wallace.

To be completely honest the conversation actually inspired me to go read some David Foster Wallace. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by him, and if I did I don’t particularly recall. However, his life is pretty fascinating and I would love to see how that reflects in his writing.

I loved the fact that he was so smart, often smarter than everybody in the room even in graduate school. Also the fact that he was a competitor, David would not settle by getting his degree in whatever university; he needed to go to Harvard.

David Foster Wallace said, “I just don’t have enough gas right now to do things so well or so fast. And I’m trying to be okay with that.” Of all the talk, this line caught my attention and I needed to write it down because it is so real. As a perfectionist myself, I really understand where this sentiment is coming from.

Even though he was so smart, and had so many talents and abilities, David was not happy. He hated himself. It made me think about how in reality really intelligent people are often miserable, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Albert Einstein. I guess they see the world differently, perhaps even more realistically, and the cold hard truth makes them sad. I guess this is why some people say that ignorance is bliss.  

Writing Techniques

In the short story "Emergency" by Denis Johnson, I greatly enjoyed the tone. It helped the story flow and made the context easier to read and relate to. The tone of the story also blends well with the dialogue of the characters. Johnson's use of a sarcastic, humorous, and casual tone allowed for the reader to find the characters to be more relatable and create a setting that was interesting to imagine. The dialogue between the characters was also attention-grabbing because the content was unusual, weird and fun. Georgie, the orderly at the hospital, would talk about random or unusual things and because the two main characters were also pill-poppers, their conversations were still interesting. Tone is an important element in a short story or any piece of work because it helps to set up the mood for the reader to better understand how to interpret the setting and actions that are taking place. In regards to dialogue, Johnson did a wonderful job adding a significant amount of dialogue so that the story was continuously moving in a sense. The dialogue made the story more lively and it helps to ground the reader in what is happening in the story. Although the dialogue was a large portion of the story, the descriptions in between the dialogue were very thorough. "I saw bits of snow resembling an abundance of blossoms on the stems of the drive-in speakers - no, revealing the blossoms that were always there. A bull elk stood still in the pasture beyond the fence giving off an air of authority and stupidity" (Johnson 283). The metaphors and comparisons that Johnson uses to describe surroundings is interesting and keeps the wording and tone fun.

Short Story Techniques

I think that the use of dialogue in Emergency is extremely powerful and makes the story much more believable, even if it may not be realistic. Dialogue takes up so much of the story leaving a lot of the characterization and plot development to the characters to relay to the reader. Having a character that works in a hospital that is freaked out by blood is a great character trait that makes this character three-dimensional. Creating a character like that I think makes dialogue both surprising and interesting to write and read because the character seems to talk completely from his own head, you seem to forget that this is a constructed narrative, and the character feels realistic. Other people's dialogue toward him also shape how we understand and know Georgie. When asking if he should prep the patient, the doctor asks "Is this a hospital? Is this the emergency room? Is that a patient? Are you the orderly?" (277) and the sarcasm here shows how people at the hospital view him. Instead of writing outrightly that people at the hospital see him as a joke and that they think he's not the brightest, this piece of dialogue conveys it perfectly. We also understand how much Georgie cares about living beings through his dialogue because instead of saying "he cared a lot about animals" we see him questioning the narrator repeatedly about the bunnies and trying to figure out ways to help them out even though they were already dead. Through dialogue we understand Georgie, a guy who works in a hospital, is freaked out by blood and death, but really wants to save lives.

Short Story Techniques-Emergency

I really enjoyed the story Emergency by Denis Johnson. It was interesting to me how the author chose to tell the story. He uses separate scenes that have honestly not much to do with each other in order to convey to the reader Georgie's character. I found this very realistic. When I'm describing someone to someone else, I often use anecdotes to give someone a full picture. The story is about Georgie and the main character’s relationship, and in that way doesn’t have an arc or this big climactic ending, it’s just a re-telling. I also enjoyed how the author used dialogue to tell his story as well. When we meet people, we form our opinions about them by listening to what they say and watching what they do. We aren’t given spreadsheets of a person’s likes and dislikes or characteristics-which can often be seen in writing. In reality, we have to be shown these things, and Johnson does a great job of showing Georgie and the main character’s personalities through their conversations together.  

Short Story Writing Techniques

            When I read Train by Joy Williams, I really enjoyed her writing style and how minimalist it is. She writes about a mundane situation, letting the readers take a glimpse of two young girls on a train ride and, while there isn’t any particular plot, I enjoyed the well-developed characters and I like how she uses dialogue to reveal character. Effectively using dialogue to reveal a character’s personality and motives, gives readers a sense of freedom because the writer does not spoon feed them what they need to know.

            I also like how there was not much of a substantial plot in Train. This short story is about ten-year-old Danica who is traveling to Florida with her best friend, Jane Muirhead and her parents. In a short duration, readers see the strained relationship between Jane’s parents as well as the relationship between Danica and Jane. While they consider themselves both best friends, both of them have the ability to make the other person mad. In addition, they act older for their age. 

            I like how the story was set during a train ride because it does reveal little about the time that passes between the characters as well as giving the characters a chance to have an outlet to reveal who they are without any day-to-day worries or interruptions.

            Overall, I really liked the writing style of Williams because my favorite part as a reader, is reading about flawed and well-developed characters and I think she accomplishes that by effectively using dialogue.

Short Story Techniques

The first thing I noticed when reading "Emergency" was how similar the writing style was to "Cathedral."  Both used styles of writing that were informal which reflected the characters in the stories.  For example, in "Emergency," the narrator is telling the story in a conversational style; when he calls for the eye man  he says, "The eye man is on vacation or something." Very informal.  "Cathedral" was similar in that the husband narrated the story in a tone that reflected his worldview which was kind of narrow.  This casual style isn't my favorite to read, but I do like how it reflects the characters' personalities.  The style says so much about the character without having to actually write "So and so is a working class blue collar kind of guy."
Jayne Ann Phillips did something kind of similar in her story, by not using much punctuation, especially in dialogue.  While reading dialogue without quotations, to me, it makes the conversation a little more flat and less significant.  I think that's also another reflection of the characters point of view; in "Home" it conveys to me that the narrator is kind of done with her mom's BS.

Short Story Reflection

A short story is comprised of several different aspects in order to be able to consider itself a short story.  The story should have a strong introduction that introduces at least setting, characters, or even a conflict. A short story should also be short and should never be longer than a novel. The short story Cathedral by Raymond Carver is successful at portraying some of these aspects. However what is strange about this particular short story is that Carver never provides names for his two main characters, which are the narrator of the story and the narrator's wife. This concept certainly adds uniqueness to the way in which the plot builds up throughout the story. As a result of this the character's conflict is presented more dramatically than how it would be presented if the names of these characters where given. In the story the conflict in which the character's face is a dramatic one, the blind. Carver is successful at making his story more dramatic by using this specific concept. Carver is able to describe his characters in a different way by using different aspects that comprise a short story mainly conflict and use of description. By presenting this conflict Carver is able to reveal more about the characters rather than just stating a simple name.

Short Story Writing Techniques

Pacing in a story is what gives us a sense of time and how much has passed. It is a tricky device to use and writers that do indeed use it well create some of the best stories ever written. Unlike novels, short stories have an innate difficulty when it comes to a sense of time. It is difficult for writers to pace a short story and still make it feel as if time has passed. This is especially true in the short story Emergency by Denis Johnson. The time elapsed in this story is roughly 24 hours and throughout the story you can feel that sense of time passing, even though the story is only a few pages long. Moreover, the Johnson does an amazing job of pacing this story through the narrator who is also stoned out of his mind. This is an incredibly difficult and well executed task seeing as how throughout the story, the reader felt a sense of time passing the way someone stoned would feel time passing. Because Johnson paced the story so well, the reader also got a better feeling of how the narrator was perceiving the world. Johnson used different ways to do this. One example is that he would transition things calmly, something you would expect, and then out of nowhere, a very abrupt transition. This gives the readers a feeling like the narrator was completely zoned out, and out of nowhere noticed that something else was going on. Johnson also paces the story well in that he combines exact times with general phrases. For example, he says "Around 3:30 am a guy with a knife in his eye came in, led by Georgie." Since the setting of this story is a hospital, the exact time of 3;30 makes sense, but since the narrator is rapidly losing track of reality, the word "around" really gets that point across. He also paces the story rapidly by saying "We drove for hours, literally hours." In doing so, Johnson is able to take this story in a completely different direction. Johnson paces this story well, and it works very well to his advantage.

Writing Techniques

           One of the key writing techniques that I picked up in the short story, “Emergency” by Dennis Johnson was the ability to really imagine the character’s voices.  Instantly, just after reading the first sentence of the story, I could recognize the tone of the characters and what sort of person I was going to be “seeing.”  The reader is given the time and place the story is taking place, even though the main character is a tad ambiguous as are the details of when everything takes place.  We know the main character had been working in the emergency room for three works, it was the year 1973, and this was all, supposedly, “before the summer ended.”  The story is written in different time fragments based on the wording at the beginning of each paragraph, such as “I’d been working…” “I was hanging…” “Back in the O.R.,” or “Around 3:30 A.M…” etc. 

The time intervals seem to mesh into one another, the same effect nights in a hospital can have.  The first scenario begins with a guy coming into the emergency room with a knife stuck in his eye – everyone, even the patient, seem very calm about the incident admitting that his wife was the one who stabbed him, and “[he] didn’t want to call the police unless he died.”  The doctor doesn’t know what to do entirely, and everyone who has a specific position doesn’t even know how to directly respond to the emergency.  All the two main characters do is take more and more of Georgie’s pills that he sometimes steals from the hospital’s cabinets.  Thus, from this one sentence we are unsure whether the events taken place are hallucinations by the characters or if it is indeed reality. 

The narrative is mainly composed of constant dialogue between the main characters. We are given no other name for the main character other than his “unfortunate” nickname of “Fuckhead,” and his friend Georgie.  Throughout the entire story, Georgie cannot seem to remember exactly what time or place they are in, or he forgets certain events, which plays tribute to their drug usage.  The author, Dennis Johnson, works well to be able to teleport his readers swiftly to any place or time, even though some areas of the narrative leave one’s mind behind.  I feel that the confusion adds to the entirety of the story for a number of reasons mainly having to do with how one sees through the mind of drug addicts, or what it is like to be on drugs.  The events occur so quickly and haphazardly because of their condition.  At one point in the narrative, they are driving and Georgie accidently runs over a pregnant rabbit.  He tries to save the bunnies by cutting them from the mother’s stomach and talking about how he will raise them and take care of the bunnies; at the same time, the main character admits that he is unsure of how the rabbit got into the picture or whether it was from one time or another.  In any case, through the characters drug-induced moments, it shows another side of them that many people ignore when they picture “druggies.”  For instance, Georgie is tied to the idea of constantly wanting to save people.  Even if he imagines saving rabbits or people, or being empathetic in certain events in the hospital, he still thrives upon a philosophy on saving lives.  Thus, Dennis Johnson attracts readers through a different perspective that many writers do not take us through, while also incorporating a creative time and place combination that compliments what the characters are experiencing.    

Short Story Reflection

Getting into the short story unit, especially right after poetry , was a bit difficult to accustom to the change. I saw poetry as saying the most possible with the least amount of words. Both use figurative language, specific diction and syntax, and especially drawing attention to details to get their story across. From the stories we have read, my favorite is probably “A Story About the Body” and this is technically not under the short story category at all. However, it manages to express everything and make the reader feel within sentences. The key difference  between poetry and stories is that in stories you have more room to expand, to really get into detail. I've realized that a short story can be from a paragraph to ten pages long, like "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" by Joyce Carol Oates. In class we’ve gone over the main components of a short story: context, characters, and conflicts. However, these simple prerequisites can be interpreted in an endless amount of ways, and I find it crucial to know what you want to write even before you pick up the pen. At least for me, I constantly find myself changing the storyline. It’s infuriating but at the end I always find myself leading to a cliché, and I have yet to find a way to combat this propensity. Having so much room to expand opens all kinds of doors, some of which are better left closed. Believe it or not having too many options can be problematic. One thing that catches my eye in short stories is the fact that the author is able to paint a whole world for the reader, paying attention to detail. And I guess all writers due that regardless of the genre, but in this story this world is fictional, and we get to stay in it for a while. It’s not too long like a novel, and not too short like a poem. Instead, it is a happy middle. In my opinion, it requires a lot of talent to find the perfect balance to bring those elements together into a successful short story. 

Blog 6: Short Story Writing Techniques ~ (Joyce Carol Oates Writing Style-)

I believe short stories are much harder to write than a novel. It has to send its message while being short and sweet. The short stories that we have read in class were actually amazing. But the one that actually spoke to me and also made me uncomfortable was by Joyce Carol Oates, "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been." I loved how the short story explained everything to the readers without giving any details of Connie getting raped or how even she got murdered. Oates describes everything so on point that it wasn't hard to understand what was going to happen at the end. I found her writing style quite journalistic as well as there were very few redundant dramatic embellishments. But her writing style definitely gives the reader those vivid images in a way that has a mysterious importance in it. Details such as Arnold's sunglasses give the readers that speechless emotional tension and everything becomes weightier. Oates made a simply short story so very powerful by her descriptive diction and imagery and made it real while keeping it interesting at the same time. She also uses a great deal of dialogues when she introduces her two main characters Arnold and Connie. The one thing that I absolutely loved about the story is how Oates portrayed Connie having these two different kinds of personalities. At home she was way different than what she was when she went outside. She always loved attention but never know that the whole concept of "attention" will hit her with Arnold Friend. As the story is written is Connie's point of view the tone of Oates writing is quite sympathetic towards Connie as she only discusses her thoughts, desires, and feelings. The tone definitely gets serious once Arnold is introduced and it keeps getting intense as it progresses with the threat of violence, rape, and murder.