Reading Response Week 7

The segment on dialogue was really helpful both in validating the use of lots of dialogue, and using large chunks of it, and also in helping to decide when to use it and when it can be most effective. For example, dialogue as the “punch line of a joke” or the most explicit way we can convey the subject’s life or story was helpful in thinking about the strategies with which it is worked in really enhance the story. Like Marin said, we are not telling the subject’s story from our perspectives or what we have heard, we are telling it from the perspective of the narrator and people who know the narrator, so quoting IS really important.

I think coming up with an ending is something that I’m struggling the most with, so it was nice to hear some strategies such as “bringing the story full circle”. It was also helpful to understand the importance of an ending, because part of me thought maybe no one would notice if it just dropped off… so that’s something I am continuing to work on in revision.

I also feel I am clos(er) to conveying strong character and scene through thoroughly describing exactly what I experienced, and building character from a climactic moment (when we is tasting the work of his students) and then explaining how he got there. This is such a cool process for building character, and I hope I am somewhat accomplishing it.

Finally, reading about voice really helped to synthesize the point of these assignments for me and understand that even though I am trying to capture little details of this character and this story, ultimately the writing does have to fall into my own voice. Sometimes when writing about very distinct characters I feel pressure to recreate or deliver their personality through my own writing, but instead, the writer strives to do this by capturing them in their own writing style. That is important to remember.