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Post by dangerjane on Nov 7, 2007 20:43:26 GMT -5
Anybody else trying to integrate this into their writing? I've been working at it for the last year and a half or so and I'm finally starting to achieve some success. Like since I read To the Lighthouse I've made it a major goal of mine, to achieve that kind of stream of consciousness, that you're really truly following the characters' every thoughts.
So yeah anybody else use or experiment with this technique?
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Post by Oliveman on Nov 7, 2007 20:59:21 GMT -5
No, but why should I? Shouldn't their thoughts be made evident through their actions? ( )
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Post by dangerjane on Nov 7, 2007 21:08:19 GMT -5
That's another technique. Objective narrator. Why do that?
I'll argue that stream of consciousness is the richest way to show a character. Objective narrator is the subtlest. They both have a lot of merit, and they're both really challenging. Right now, though, I'm focusing on stream of consciousness, like Virginia Woolf did, instead of objective narrator like maybe Hemingway.
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Kyle
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~~~~~ Trust Beyond See ~~~~~ "One light will tear apart the night"
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Post by Kyle on Nov 7, 2007 21:24:33 GMT -5
I've thought about doing that, but I prefer mixing the two methods.
As human beings, our thoughts (should?) play a tremendous role in our lives, since it shapes our perspectives, if not our actions. Besides, I want my readers to know why something important has happened even when it isn't reflected by their actions.
However, I don't like to follow all of my own thoughts, nonetheless someone else's. I'll have to read Virginia Woolf's works to see how well that flows.
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Post by dangerjane on Nov 7, 2007 22:07:21 GMT -5
It works if you're...really insightful. So Virginia Woolf has it down. "The Waves" is entirely written inside the heads of six friends at the death of a mutual friend. It's about two hundred pages of pure thought. I'd recommend starting with either To the Lighthouse or Mrs Dalloway, though, because um those have something of a plot.
Tough to start reading, though, because it's really dense with meaning, so if you do decide to give her a try, I'd recommend reading a good sixty pages in the first sitting. It takes a while to understand her writing style well enough that you can stop and still understand when you come back to it.
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tsukiryoko
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There's a Skittle on the floor! Quick, grab it!
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Post by tsukiryoko on Nov 12, 2007 18:38:05 GMT -5
I've tried stream on consciousness writing, and in my experience it works best either in multigenre papers or in first person perspective, particularly during a panicked moment or something like a journal.
I agree with Ms. Slick ( ;D)that it's a good way to show character, but it also tends to give a random, choppy atmosphere to whatever piece you're using it in if it's done or incorporated incorrectly.
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Post by Oliveman on Nov 12, 2007 19:05:35 GMT -5
You also have to consider that in Virginia Woolf's stories, it works mainly because thought isn't static. These long passages of thought are frought with conflict - conflict between different parts of the thinker, conflict bubbling beneath the suface, etc. The plot and the action exists mainly in the thoughts themselves, and climaxs result in conclusions built off that thought.
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Post by dangerjane on Nov 13, 2007 20:33:55 GMT -5
Well, yeah. She makes it work because she's a genius and she can get all the elements of a story into THOUGHTS, essentially, without making you tear your hair out with boredom.
I think it takes a lot of practice to get stream of consciousness not choppy. It's real easy to throw together a bunch of images of thoughts but it's really HARD to connect them lyrically and compellingly.
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Kyle
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~~~~~ Trust Beyond See ~~~~~ "One light will tear apart the night"
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Post by Kyle on Nov 13, 2007 21:38:30 GMT -5
I would think that would be hard, since you want it to flow, yet seem realistic.
My thoughts are too choppy to put them down on paper. Unless you could use visual elements ... like start in on a rant, then the rest of the page is scribbles and spit...
*jots that down as an idea for the essay he's working on this week for class*
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Post by dangerjane on Nov 14, 2007 15:12:20 GMT -5
It is really hard. Unless, yeah, you can use scribbles and spit cheap
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