My second blog entry I based upon reflection of the Willow Patterns
24 hour book and how actually the whole thing/process/book made me feel. I feel
like expressing how I actually felt about the chapters and some of the
content that was written by each of the authors. First of all I loved
how the stories were all small chapters and every time you finished
reading one you knew that there was going to be something completely
different to follow. It wasn’t just an ordinary novel that is more times
than not based on that one single story; where chapter after chapter
the story would evolve around the content and you would find out more
and learn more as the chapters go on. Willow Patterns was just a
completely different angle with new beginnings each chapter
every single time. Yes, the story was based around certain features and
topics for the writers to include but I found that each and every
author’s version one was so different and cleverly written, so
distinctive from the next!
I must admit, not all of them
tickled my fancy and I even thought in my opinion some may of gone a
bit too far with the imagination, extending into almost erotica
content! But then again this is a university subject, we are not
little children anymore and the authors are incredibly talented and good
at what they do; they had no restrictions on writing and were free to do and act as they wished. My comments about them being quite full-on and
confronting is probably quite an uneducated comment in the writing world
on which I really know nothing much about. I am not prudish either so
it just must be my lack of experience with writers and how far their
imaginations can go.
Gilkey (2008) explains 4 parts of creativity. This is the creative process and its 4 distinctive parts.
1. Preparation
2. Incubation
3. Illumination
4. Implementation
A
writer, for example Gilkey (2008), explains preparation as writing,
reading or revising earlier work. This process is necessary to plant the
seed that leads to the 2nd process. These authors on the project for
Willow Patterns, prepared beforehand by thinking about the assignment
that was put before them and planning what they may write about. I feel
that they would have had little time to prepare, the real preparation
was knowing about the project and that literally once they entered the
State library they had only that 24-hours to create something great.
Incubate is the process for the writers to work on their ideas, and develop a
story. They were not distracted by the busy outside world, rather in
their own world working at a fast pace.
Illumination I think
would have been when these writers established a story, established
their ideas and they began writing so furiously trying to get all those
ideas in their head on to paper (or The Wall).
I think we all know
what that implementation process entailed for the writers. This is when
their work was created, published, out on the shelves, and online for
the public to see. Their work, which was done in a hectic 24 hours, was
now complete. I guess this would of been the proudest moment for them on
this one particular project as I’m sure all writers consider their work to be a
proud moment to commemorate.
I’ll mention briefly a
couple of my favourites. There were 2 chapters that I fancied quite a
bit, chapter 5 ‘A strange Way to Catch Barramundi’ by Geoff Lemon. I
enjoyed how it was a change from the usual Library scene where
everything happened there. It was still revolving around the major
floods but it was a complicated story about 2 brothers and a wife, the
wife became trapped for days upon the flooding and had gone missing. One
of the brothers was married to her while the other had been in love
with her for years. It was a complicated web of love and after the wife
was found she could not fully regain herself, which was awful in the
end, but I am a sucker for love stories, whether they are sad or not!
I
also enjoyed chapter 7 ‘Uninterrupted Study’ by Christopher Currie. It
was just humorous to read a chapter about classic uni students stuck in a
group, not knowing who each other are and trying to get a whole
assignment written in one day. Everyone has different personalities, has
places they wanted to be, are different in their perspectives of work
ethic and it was quite easy to relate to being a uni student myself!
What
was yours? Can anyone share with me their experiences with the book and
how it made them feel? I would be quite interested to know, I bet there
are a few different answers!
I don't think it's an uneducated comment to make. It was an incredibly confronting story for me, too. I kinda like stories that I find jarring or confronting, because it's a chance to look at why I have such a strong reaction.
ReplyDeleteHere's the thing. I can write murder scenes without much issue. Gore doesn't really bother me (until someone else has to read it, then I tend to preface with 'I'm not a psychopath'). So it seems kind of odd that I get squeamish at smut but don't mind violence in writing. Part of my initial reaction came from inadvertently getting my mother to read the book (does anyone like realising they've handed their parent a raunchy story?) but I think most of it came down to some fantastic storytelling techniques from Krissy. I felt for the narrator. Let’s face it, we all know what it’s like to fall hard for someone who doesn’t even know your name. I think that when we see something about ourselves in a character, we start to connect with them, and in a way we put ourselves in their shoes. We see them as like us. When that happens, and then the character goes and does something we can’t imagine doing, we still feel emotionally connected to that character, and we end up asking ourselves some tough and awkward questions about what we would do in similar situations. (I’m sure this is a proper theory somewhere, I just don’t know what it’s called or who to attribute it to. Sorry.)
Here's how I'm seeing that story: in day to day life, yeah, that would be a really creepy moment. But in major traumatic events, people act differently. Would the narrator have been able to see the scene differently if they hadn't been surrounded by death and chaos? That's the question that's stuck with me from that story. I want to know! Was this a normal person turned somewhat dark by the chaos around them, some sort of kinky that my brain would never have thought of, or a broken soul given a chance to act out their feelings because of all the chaos?
As for my favourites, I loved chapter 1, 'Here Today' by Angela Slatter. I'm loving supernatural elements in stories at the moment, so I thought it was a great way to start the book. My favourite, though, was chapter 3, 'Mandala' by P.M. Newton. I'm fascinated by the idea of mandalas, so I couldn't wait to read it.