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. 

Arnold Friend: The Cat Torturer

Character: Arnold Friend

Place:  Shaw Middle School on the West Bank

Conflict: Arnold Friend, the cat torturer, goes to school on the West Bank and wants the chemistry kit from his Science teacher.  It’s hard to get the Chemistry kit because it’s for eighth graders and he is a sixth grader – plus the school is low on money, so there aren’t enough kits supplied in the school for him to get.  Not to mention, the school is locked up, which makes it even more difficult for him to retrieve the kit – so, he has to steal it.

First scene: 

Arnold Friend watches his cat, Diablo, through the screen door.  Diablo is catching lizards, batting them between his paws, when a bolt of lightning fries him and the lizard.  Arnold’s eyes crinkle.  The lizard skitters behind a flowerpot, but Diablo doesn’t move.  Arnold kicks the door open and checks the cat’s pulse.  He needs Diablo alive.   

Reflections

I took many art classes in high school and participated in critiques. I was exposed to several environments where piers review each others works. My prior experience with this dynamic has made me appreciate a healthy atmosphere for critique. Our poetry workshop was a nice place to be able to give desired constructive criticism to my classmates. I enjoyed how we began critiques by saying positive things about the piece then followed by specific advice on how to make our poems better.

I appreciated deeply the critiques I received for my poem. I'm in an experimental stage in my writing. I am applying things, like meter and rhyme, to my poems in which I have never done before. I used these techniques to serve a purpose and try to convey a message. From my classmates, I was able to see what was communicated to my reader. Sadly, all my classmate-edited poems were messed up by the rainy week, but I audio recorded my workshop so all was not lost. Workshop was a surprisingly pleasant experience and I don't know why I was so nervous about it.