Archive for the ‘BIC HOK’ Category
January 24th, 2009
The wife and I went and saw Revolutionary Road last night. We both thought it was fantastic, and at least one of us would like to read the book at some point. If for no other reason, check it out to see how to handle “conveying a message” or whatever — the story poses some tough questions, but never provides any definitive answers. Perhaps other viewers will disagree with that last bit, but I thought perhaps the characters had multiple scenarios that would have been “the right thing to do,” and the point was that they went about finding their answer in the wrong way. Hm… that’s vague, but I hate spoilers. In any case, I do recommend it.
But there’s the lesson I took away about storytelling: Pose the tough questions, but don’t answer them. Let the reader do that. Make sure the characters are dumb about how they handle the question, but don’t make their answer to the situation be a horrible thing.
September 16th, 2008
Fake entry today. I’m kind of overwhelmed right now. Bullet points!
- Did not get job applied for and was really hoping to get
- Wife offline and phone off — can’t help but worry
- Guy had birthday, age ends in 5 or 0 — cake delicious and moist!
- Applied for two more jobs — one at prompting of friend who says they kind of desperate
Does this sort of entry violate the spirit of “fictional discipline”? It’s a blatant cop-out, but, you know, at least I wrote something. That’s worth… at least a nickel. (more…)
September 12th, 2008
He was sitting in the only chair — the only furniture — in the white-walled room, tapping his feet. Whoever had designed it had gone for the “no discernable exit” look and made everything the same color. There were no doorknobs either, which had to be a violation of some code or other, so he hoped that the place didn’t catch fire.
The woman who led him to the waiting room said his appointment would be “just a few minutes,” but with nothing in the room to gauge the time, he quickly grew bored and resentful that he wasn’t even provided a copy of Highlights for Children.
He closed his eyes for several minutes, then tried to find the door. He thought he saw the rectangular outline, but… something was off. It wasn’t the right size. After blinking several times, he decided his eyes were seeing what they wanted to see. He returned to his seat and resumed tapping.
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