Tuesday, June 28, 2011

A Funeral and a Wedding

Fiction and poetry: one emphasizes plot/character the other emphasizes language/structure.  Literary fiction is the grey space.  Canadian literary fiction is the depressing grey space.  In my writing class, one asked why literary fiction never ended happily.  The answer is, the end is near, all is lost, humanity is broken, deal with it.

I encountered Agatha Christie in the library today, and she told me that POV is malleable, motivation is the point on which character, plot, and dialogue turn, and never share your suspicions that someone is a murderer, because if you do, you will end up with a hatchet in your back.  She is brilliant, really.  Thank you Dr. Who for your excellent recommendation.  Though I can see things sometimes that bug me as an Englishy person: for example, After the Funeral probably should have opened with the description of the estate before the two lines about the butler.  Some of the POV transitions are awkward, but once Christie gets into someone's head, it's natural as anything.

Oh, to write as myself and not an "unbiased narrator"!  I try too hard to be brilliant and bland at the same time: if a character acts eccentric within reason, I don't think I should have to justify it based on social norms.  People are weird and unexpected, that's what I've observed.

Look Back in Anger reminded me of Streetcar Named Desire.  No "ALLLLLLLLISON!" moments though.  I wonder if Osborne was reacting to Williams, or what. Maybe Wikipedia knows...

Anyways, Elisabeth and Roger are married now! Dawn and I helped out with the planning, it was a big project but the wedding was lovely, so thankful everything came together and that the bride and groom had a good time!  Here's a picture of the wedding party:
Oh and this was our most social guest, the life of the party:

Mildred!  The flowers were arranged by Dawn, so lovely!

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