Today is the last day of my experiment! If you’re reading today for the first time- the short answer is that my posts this week all sort of rely on one another, and conclusions will be drawn tomorrow. My goal has been to tell one little piece of a story but four slightly different ways.
A tale as old as time…
Boy meets girl, manages to lose them, amazingly gets them back again…
Trite.
Cliche.
Been there done that…Well- we were going down the trite and cliched path- why wouldn’t I include that old chestnut…oops…there I go again…
But Dear Reader back to our story, where we find our hero wondering how to get the woman of his dreams back…
How did he lose her? you say. Well that’s a very good question. There are all sorts of ways that I could answer that, but suffice it to say, we often lose the things that we fail to pay attention to. And then of course, once that thing is lost, we realize how very important it was.
How does he get her back?
Will he conjure up the right words? Will he do the right deeds? Will he convince her the errors of his ways? Flattery, artifice, brutal honesty- which trick will he pull out?
Will our man get back the woman?
Or will the woman say “Enough is enough”?
hhttps://wakinguponthewrongsideof50.com/2021/10/05/and-now-for-something-completely-different-part-2/
https://wakinguponthewrongsideof50.com/2021/10/04/and-now-for-something-completely-different/ https://wakinguponthewrongsideof50.com/2021/10/06/and-now-for-something-completely-different-part-3/
Waking up on the Wrong Side of 50 
Hmmm, so we have a narrator today rather than the 1st person perspective. So right now just telling, not showing and a tiny bit more backstory. I’m comfortable with that as a small lead in, but now I want a combination of the guy from day 1 and 2 to appear with his own thoughts and fix the situation!
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That was one of my thoughts…at where in the story do you want these things to appear? How is the snippet changed depending on where it’s found in the book? And yes…writing an entire book in this style would be really difficult, unless the narrator voice was really really strong, and the reader is more interested in style and language than the story. But, it was fun to write this snippet…
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Writing isn’t just tossing words onto pages? Darn. I’m one who wants a nice balanced mix of storytelling and knowing my characters voice personally. I have to see the story through both eyes but too wordy is off-putting as well. I personally am too wordy. I don’t want to read my own writing!
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Lol!! You’ve given me so many more questions!!!
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I’m always up for that!
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😉
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That’s it?
What? No misanthropic ritual murder of “Meet Cute.” No shout out to share how there ought to be damn Federal legislation outlawing Social Media Ghosting, since actions most surely speak louder than words.
No Beach Read rip and read about how not to trespass against gender and today’s sexual shake and bake. No bun in the oven generational cautions, or live and learn life lesson on it’s a guy thing, a girl thing, or whatever is currently cooking on Social Media.
And speaking of Social Media, you got me stewing because you must have stooped to thumb texting part four of this series via smart phone.
It’s basically a calorie free post when concerning what you articulated as a goal. Which I read as finding a way to better show, not tell, a character in the act/process of thinking.
But in fairness, in re-reading the three previous post and threads, you were sorta making it all up and developing a theme(?) as you went along. Which is what writers do. And I guess I’m O.K. with that. And I had some fun and enjoyed your effort, LA.
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Ahhh…this was supposed to be a series of posts about how we read as about how we write…and what does the author owe the reader…and as it was an experiment, I see where I made mistakes…let’s just hope I learn from them…I will tell you that you are the genesis of this week….six months ago you commented about writing for readers vs writing for writers. That post garnered much interest and many comments, which led me to this week of posts. As for all the questions you posed…I would be happy to tackle any and all of them if that would interest you…though, as for the meet cute, I think that stratagem has a definite place in my world
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what does the author owe the reader… if anything, the fiction writer owes the audience but a base level punchline to that long running joke of the willing suspension of disbelief… sure, genre conventions demand tropes to rope the dopes, but I don’t think a fiction writer is indebted in any way to the reader.
If anything she owes the fabrication, the grand lie, the known untruth, a story structure strong and interesting enough to house a garden path allowing that willing suspension of disbelief to be betrayed by a reader who, via the telling, gains a bit better understanding of what constitutes an actual universal truth.
That is, if there is such a damn thing? And I have my doubts.
You got a storybook in you, LA… why don’t ya tell it.
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If I can find it…I’ll write it. Oddly, while I know my blog isn’t fiction, someone commented about my posts this week….saying blogs should be fun….and this week wasn’t fun….so I’ve been inserting the meaning of that as well
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I saw that BS thread…you took that crap to heart? Some of your post are, to me, infuriating, but in the main and by far LA, your website and regular comment crew are a blast. Embrace that, and post what the hell you like.
This week was fun, a bit different, but nothing wrong with that.
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To heart? No. But you have to at least consider comments like that. While I do like to get people’s attention sometimes, and I don’t shy away from saying things that I know may infuriate people, I don’t want to do it all the time
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And you don’t.
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I will admit that that particular post is the last post I thought would inspire vitriol…😆
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I was stunned as well. But you handle it, and well I thought, in your usual engaging way. Pay it no never mind. And see ya.
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The narrator brings together the other posts, but I believe the first person POV is more compelling. Interesting project.
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I have more questions than answers
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If the man was willing to say “I’m sorry” without any excuse, then his love should recognize this miracle and forgive him.
I failed to consider the style of writing, because I’ve read all sorts of things. I guess I would accept any style that pushes the story line along and engages my imagination. You’re a winner in my book. I’ll read any post you write.
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Thank you💗
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I felt this narrator version was the least satisfying as a reader. I’ve seen that sort of thing work okay in movies, but maybe not as useful in a book.
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Is it too impersonal for this type of story?
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I’d have to know more about the story, but it seems so to me.
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Well, well. Let’s see. I’ll say, enough is enough. That’s how it feels anyway. Wait a minute here….this is your blog, and you always do the gray area. Hmmm. Changing my answer. I say neither. Something else happens. Great job on the posts this week, LA. Fun. ❤️
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Thanks. Sometimes you have to change it up a bit
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Another different perspective to tie it all up. I think I liked your first 2 posts the best, but yet the 3rd was really good too. LOL! They are all different, so its hard to compare. I like this style too with the narrator, but it left questions, begging for an answer. The beginning of your novel? 🙂
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No. This was a thought exercise for me as to what readers look at when they read
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