Both authors were very interesting. Personally I do not read in my spare time, and the last time I did I was reading books about romance or just "teen fiction". Listening, and reading, pieces by the authors introduced me to types of literature I was unfamiliar with. Daisy Johnson focused on horror and based her stories around where she grew up. When she read her work aloud to us, I really appreciated the way her words flowed. Yes, this should be true of all authors, but her words were mystical and added to the emphasis of the type of work she writes. Unfortunately I could not grasp her main scenes of horror from such a short reading, but I still appreciated the fact that she found interest in her surrounding areas and could turn that into a work of fiction. One aspect of the time with Daisy I really enjoyed was when she explained her writing technique. Daisy referenced another author, Stephen King, and said she followed similar exercises he does as well. She told us how King will write a character, and write what he wants to happen to a character first, before he comes up with a story line. Daisy also follows this pattern which allows her to know where her stories are going to end. Daisy also mentioned how she gets comments on her unique sentence structure, but said this is most likely because of her dyslexia. After talking with her, we spoke with Rebecca Schiff. I enjoyed this conversation much more than the one with Daisy because I was able to follow her work more easily and consistently. She was very authentic, and very rare, and I enjoyed that because it was different. She spoke about things most people are uncomfortable speaking about and turned it into fiction. She read us a short story about a woman who slept with multiple men, but never felt comfortable in her own body, and also never found "the one". This made me question the sexuality of the character because maybe she did not feel comfortable with men, but could have possibly felt more comfortable with women. I also found humor in her work and found myself laughing a few times during her reading. Reading her work directly from paper was harder for me to follow, I was able to follow it very easy when she was reading aloud. One thing Rebecca mentioned included that "things going wrong, when writing about sex, are good. Erectile dysfunction is good! Premature ejaculation is good!". Even though she was referring how to write good sex scenes, I feel like the idea of things going wrong being a good thing is valid for life in general. Whether you are a writer, a chef, or a student, mistakes are how we grow and learn. Writing about the awkward moments during sex draw in the reader's attention, also because it is relatable. Another fun aspect to Rebecca is she was down for anything, she even showed us her new apartment. I enjoyed hearing from both the writers but personally connected more with Rebecca.
This is how I pictured Rebecca's Story as she told it.
I never heard of the Fenlands before Daisy so I had no idea what to expect them to look like.
Brielle,
ReplyDeleteYes, it sounds like both writers had something different to offer, and I agree with you that it's sometimes easier to listen to a story than read it. I like hearing that you were able to laugh out loud at Rebecca's stories--that means that she's probably also a very good reader. I agree with her point that you mention about how you should write about things going wrong...That's what can make a story interesting, especially if what goes wrong isn't necessarily a tragedy, but is just funny and awkward and interesting. I also like that you include visual elements in your post, and gave me a sense of what you were picturing as Rebecca was reading.
yes I felt the same way about both articles
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