Reading Inventory
How have the texts we've read influenced me? How have they changed me as a writer, as a person? I have hear a personal look back at the relationship I have had with the vanilla scented paper of my youth. Check it out!
|
A Reading Proposal
Proposal
My writing is primarily fiction. I am working on two major works this year. I have finished the first draft of my Young Adult Novel. This story is built within the confines of a cult and creates altering POV characters. The characters are at first didactic, created in the idea of an antithesis character than through exploration the characters become less opposed. The creative bones of this writing are complete but it could use some more enhancements. I feel in order to move through with this book the following works will be helpful: Friedrich Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy.- In particular, my story is a misery fiction, (think Push, by Saphire). This work will help me not only by exploring the depth of human suffering and the seesaw of good vs evil, but also the mimetic side of the story. Nietzsche’s reflective nature aligns with my own aesthetic emotion, particularly in this story, where I am reflecting the tragedy of abuse on teenage girls. My story has mimetic elements within the structure, but could use something that greater shows the mirror of society as a whole. Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita- In the nature of writing a dialectic story, it makes sense for me to read Lolita. One place where my own story falls flat is it is written from the altering perspective of two different girls who are involved in an inappropriate relationship with an older male authority figure. I have tried to use the girls to witness about each other and tried to make him something a little less than evil. I think understanding the controlling values of a man who falls in love with a young girl would help me to better create a dialectic story. American Dreams by Sapphire- A collection of poetry- Sapphire –While this particular collection is out of my comfort zone because I don’t read a ton of poetry, it also helps with the actual proposal of my book. One of the things I had to do was come up with books that were in the same vein as my book, I chose Push because of how it is brutal yet uplifting as one of my examples. However, I feel having the added exposure to Sapphire’s work will help me to better represent the similarities. Neil Gaimon's American Gods- I think the nature of my story being mythological and Gaiman’s story being mythological combined with the concept of a modern day mythology contradicting with the old tradition would offer an interesting insight into possible ideas. My character is making a literal journey through time and tradition. Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five- The idea of time travel is played out in Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse –Five, I feel this could help me with the synthetic aspects of the story. I am having trouble with telling a time travel story, because the loop needs a defined space, devices need to be employed to keep a reader on a scattered non-sequential timed story. I am hoping by analyzing this work I will be able to either apply his technique or an altered version of his technique. Carver, Raymond, Where I'm. Calling From: Selected Stories- Carver’s main character is going through sobriety, not for the specific alcoholism but for the ideas of regret, I think it will help add to my character. My main protagonist is going through regret. He is a young man in a relationship with someone who has been damaged from her father’s suicide, and her mother’s bad coping skills from the suicide. I have my main protagonist regretting that he was not there more for his girlfriend, I am writing a story with strong messages of regret and redemption, I feel like Carver’s story will help me with the thematic undertones of the story. Stephen King's On Writing- I think as a craft memoir, King’s book will give me practical advice on things like shortening my sentences, I often write long winded and need to edit for that. I also think because his aesthetic emotion is similar to mine it will help me to get a clearer concept of my own style. The Metamorphosis Kafka, Franz. I read this years ago and have to read it again this semester for another class. I think this will help in getting a stronger grip on how to handle transformations and the mimetic quality of writing. La Casa Soto- . I have had a hard time with the idea of “writing” having many uses in technology. I have been curious about E-literature that takes the reader on a moving artistic journey. I think to understand the dimensionality of creating this type of literary art will help me to produce this same type of complexity. What I liked about this piece in particular is that it is cause & effect dependent. My Mayan Boy story (without a title, yet) will explore some of these same concepts. |