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Subject:
From:
Vicky Woodward <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Open discussions on the writer's craft <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 28 Oct 2002 10:40:58 -0600
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First a proviso on Tom Robbins --  He wrote a book that all the Vietnam & post-Vietnam people read, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, which was very far out and extremely intelligent.  That's where I got hooked on him.
The thing about Robbins is -- some of the boundaries many people choose to recognize are invisible to him, and the content in his books can get a bit, shall we say, blue.
Back in the late eighties MTV ran ALL the Monty Python TV shows, one a night each night at 10:00.  Before each show MTV would announce -- "Monty Python's Flying Circus has been known to offend the easily offended.  So, if you are one of them, do us both a favor and don't watch!"
Same with Tom Robbins.  Maybe this proviso is unnecessary, but I thought I'd post it just in case.
About writing structure -- Another well-written book that comes to mind written in second person present tense is Bright Lights Big City by Jay McInerney.  A great book (urban hip) and a huge bestseller by, unfortunately, a one-hit wonder.  I'm writing in third and first person now, but I'm going to try a second-person story someday.  'Cause when they work, they really work.

From: Kent Graham 
  To: [log in to unmask] 
  Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 9:59 AM
  Subject: Re: [PWA-L] Vicky info


  Vicky Woodward wrote:

     I recently finished reading a Tom Robbins novel, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, that I thoroughly enjoyed.  It's written in second person present tense. 
  Thanks, Vicky, for exposing yourself to this crowd!

  Vicky touched on a subject that comes up frequently, one that engenders lots of points of view:  person and tense. 

  The "classic" choice is third person, past tense.  It's the story-teller's voice.  By convention, mystery/detective fiction these days is almost always first person, past (except when it's not....)  Experimental writers seem to be in love with the third or first, present.  But I don't know that I've seen a whole book done in second, present.

  Whattya think?  How do you react when there's a shift from the expected -- mainly to present tense.  What does that do for (or to) the story?  Anyone tried it?  And with what results?  Pains? Madnesses? 
  Discuss it among yourselves.

  Scribite!
  kg


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