Folks -
a quick note on tonight's second meeting of the group: and first I want to thank everyone for their contributions, plenty of ideas and arguments fizzing around, which is as it should be.
Looking again at Conor's article, and thinking about what we said about it, I reckon that we prompted some rethinking of the approach to the material (even though the finished article is actually due to be published soon!)
But it's always worth having second thoughts, as writer AND as reader. So take time to read it again and revisit our discussion of genre (is this simply 'journalism', and if so what kind of journalism? how would you handle the same material, the same 'characters', if you were writing this as fiction?)
Homework reminder: use one of the 'questionnaire' answers as the starting point - literally, the opening sentence - of a piece of writing about the 'character' you invented tonight. And include a character based on the other photograph on the same page as the pic you used as inspiration - and this second character must ask the question you originally posed to the person in the first photograph.
Clear as mud - until you start writing!
(But just to remind you, I'll post the questionnaire as a comment to this post.)
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When this person is angry, they…
A. Damage the furniture
B. Lower their voice almost to a whisper
C. Walk the streets until they have calmed down
D. Other (please state)
When this person was seventeen, a girl told them…
A. They would look better if they lost weight
B. Tomatoes were actually poisonous
C. Her sister loved them, once
D. Other (please state)
When this person eats…
A. They have a tendency to dribble, slightly, from the corner of their mouth
B. It is almost always alone
C. The cutlery must be absolutely spotless
D. Other (please state)
If this person came into money unexpectedly, they would…
A. Tell no-one, buy nothing, and develop a tic in their left eyelid
B. Buy their mother something she always wanted (please be specific)
C. Understand that some tragedy was around the corner
D. Other (please state)
When this person undresses, they…
A. Turn off the lights
B. Pretend they have an appreciative audience
C. Fold their clothes on the dresser as neatly as a hospital bed
D. Other (please state)
When this person imagines being arrested, they…
A. See themselves as a martyr, perhaps St Lawrence or St Joan
B. Thinks about what their mother would say
C. Becomes sexually aroused
D. Other (please state)
When this person is lonely…
A. They feel guilty
B. They remember the imaginary friend they had in childhood (please describe)
C. The rest of the world must suffer
D. Other (please state)
When this person contemplates childbirth, they…
A. Are physically sick
B. Feel sorry for those who must suffer through no fault of their own
C. Can’t help think of flowers (please describe the flowers)
D. Other (please state)
Cruelty to animals makes this person…
A. Promise to be a better person in future
B. Remember what happened when they were twelve (please be specific)
C. Imitate the sound a pigeon makes
D. Other (please state)
The sight of young people in the streets makes this person…
A. Glad to be alive
B. Glad to be the age they are now
C. Quiver with barely-suppressed envy
D. Other (please state)
This person has reason to believe…
A. In the Devil
B. That their mother had an affair
C. That they are actually dead
D. Other (please state)
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