Analogies

Today in my creative writing class we were reading an excerpt from Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, and personally I've never read the book, but it's the scene where the two animals (whatever they may be, I can't remember) are walking into Mr. Badger's house after being out at night, and they are hurt. We were talking about all the different brilliant techniques he uses to describe this little Hobbit hole (it's not actually, but it does remind me of that scene in The Hobbit (i.e., the book, just in case some of you thought of the movie first) where Bilbo's Hobbit hole is being described.

Grahame uses a lot of techniques that make me almost as intimidated as I was by F. freaking Scott Fitzgerald's excerpt from The Great Gatsby that I mentioned in the last post. Except WitW was meant to be read aloud to children, evident from the intrusive narrating; when the narrator of the story interrupts in first person in the middle of a third person book. This is part of the scene we read:

"Conversation was impossible for a long time; and when it was slowly resumed, it was that regrettable sort of conversation that results from talking with your mouth full. The Badger did not mind that sort of thing at all, nor did he take any notice of elbows on the table, or everybody speaking at once. As he did not go into Society himself, he had got an idea that these things belonged to the things that didn't really matter. (We know of course that he was wrong, and took too narrow a view; because they do matter very much, though it would take too long to explain why.) He sat in his arm-chair at the head of the table, and nodded gravely at intervals as the animals told their story; and he did not seem surprised or shocked at anything."

The sentence in italics is the intrusive narration. I never knew what that was called before today, and I always wondered and thought it was a bit out of place. And now I realize! It's common in children's novels that are meant to be read aloud! The writing is obviously a bit above standard style, maybe even elevated, but kids process words different when hearing them, rather than seeing them. It makes sense.

Even in The Hobbit J.R.R Tolkien butts into his own stories sometimes (from what I remember), and I think it's more common in books published in from 1900-1940, at least from what I've read. Probably later books, too. But I don't think I've ever read a book published in the 90s or 2000s that has intrusive narrating.

So this whole intrusive narrating thing is fascinating to me, and I'm honestly not sure why. I don't think I'd ever do it in my own stories, but it's a good thing to know.

Anyway, back on the road I was originally going down. It's seems I took a detour. You're probably wondering why this post is called "Analogies," and I will tell you why, dear reader (Kate DiCamillo calls her readers this in the intrusive narrating in her book The Tale of Despereaux...Okay, I'm done now).

We do this thing in my creative writing class where we take turns bringing in a page of writing that we think is good writing, and we have to talk about why we think its good writing. Well, today, a friend of mine brought in an excerpt from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou (which I haven't read either...my have-to-read list is getting higher by the minute). It's the part where the narrator is describing Mrs. Bertha Flowers. We were talking about types of comparison-metaphors, similes, and analogies. My teacher was giving an example, and she said:

"Emma is to her pencil as a priest is to their cross. It's their everything, how they express themselves..."

or something like that. Anyway, I really liked it! I have to admit, I do my writing with all ten fingers on my Macbook Pro keyboard 95 percent of the time, but it's a nice way to describe my relationship with my pencil, which is a love relationship, if you must know. I love pens, mostly, but I do love pencils.

My teacher is the best. I only started taking the class at the beginning of the semester and I've already learned so much. Huzzah, my dear readers!

I'm sick and I tried to drink Emergen-C, but it tasted almost as bad as fermented orange juice. Have you ever had that? Of course I didn't knowingly or intentionally drink fermented fruit juice; all I know is that it was disgusting. And swallowing nighttime cold & flu relief soft gels felt like trying to swallow a freaking MARBLE, and I'm not sure if it's because my throat is sensitive and swollen, or they really are huge. I dunno. All I know is that I'm glad to be missing school tomorrow because I have a test in English and a quiz in Chemistry, both of which I can make up very easily. And besides, I need to catch up on a lot of stuff. Stuff meaning homework, basically. And Tumblr. Ha.

This has been a long blog post, it feels like. Mostly because I've been writing it for an hour while my immune system charges ahead to attack the Cold inside me. Sorry I'm being weird. I'll go now. Happy analogies, dear readers!

Here's some analogy humor for your daily appreciation and entertainment:

HALLELUJAH, Ghost crystals and thermochromic pencils, My Antonia, and F. freaking Scott Fitzgerald

MY WRITER'S BLOCK HAS BEEN CURED!

This is a momentous occasion, my dear readers. I've eaten the most ridiculous amount of chocolate in the past few days, and drunk an abnormal amount of English breakfast tea (which I've recently discovered is very delicious), and finally I've had my huge story idea epiphany! I've let my mom and sister read what I have so far, and they think it's really good, and I think it's really good, not to brag or anything. I could feel a huge idea like this one coming on for a while now, and BAM! I heard "What You Wanted" by OneRepublic and I suddenly started writing random crap down like I usually do when I get a great idea.

Music is the source of all inspiration.

Anyways, thank God that dry spell is over. Geez, writing was like trying to brush your hair after going on a motorboat with your hair down. It hurts and it takes forever., and it doesn't even look GOOD afterwards. Anyways...

Hallelujah for a few other reasons, too! I got a 100 on my chemistry exam, and apparently I get a "ghost crystal" (whatever the heck that is). Last time I got the highest grade in the class I got a thermochromic pencil, which basically means a pencil that changes color when heat is applied to the surface. It's purple and when you touch it (i.e., if your hands are warm enough), it turns pink. It's wicked cool! Of course it's so freaking cold in Maine...

...so my hands are never warm enough to change the color of a thermochromic pencil. Alas, it sits in my "Little Miss Princess" mug on my desk, waiting for the warmer days of summer.

If I'm feeling spontaneous enough maybe I'll give you a few chapters of another book I've been editing, and one of my friends is currently reading to make sure it doesn't suck. According to her, it doesn't. Yay!

Right now I'm reading My Antonia. I never really expect myself to like classics, but Willa Cather's writing is contemporary, in a way. Not to say that it's bad writing, because it's quite the contrary. But it's a lot easier to read than Charles Dickens or Emily Bronte. Although both were brilliant, their works are so insipid. I haven't read much of either of them, but even excerpts I've read are hard to read. But that's just me. I don't know, maybe I'm ignorant. One day I will give both Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, and Jane Austen another try.
Anyways, MA is really good so far. I'm at the part where Mrs. Shimerda and Antonia come over near the end of winter, and Mrs. S is complaining that she doesn't have any of the things Jim's grandmother has, and says that she would basically be better at life if she did, so Jim's grandmother gives Mrs. Shimerda an iron pot. It was comical, in a way.

I LOVE IT!

In creative writing class the other day, we read an excerpt from The Great Gatsby, and we kept picking apart each little detail of it and basically pointing out all the reasons why F. Scott Fitzgerald is the most amazing writer to have ever lived.

And I was so intimidated by the sheer skill in which he writes! There are conceits (elaborate metaphors), sensible illusions, beautiful descriptions of color, killer adjectives, and so much more that makes you picture everything like it's right in front of you! We read the scene where Nick Carraway first walks into the Buchanan's living room. It's such a beautiful passage.

I need to stop using the word beautiful so much.
BUT HE'S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL WRITER. IT'S NOT EVEN FAIR.
Well, it probably is.

Well, I'm afraid I must go, because Supernatural is on in T-minus 35 minutes and I need to wash myself. Later, jerks. Happy reading! :-)

Boredom and Writer's Block is....

The WORST combination!

Because, you know, you don't want to be bored, and you don't want to have writer's block either. And when a writer is bored (if they are ever bored) they usually write, but they can't if they have writer's block.

This is my situation as of now:

I'm at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport waiting to board flight 598 to Boston-Logan International Airport so I can get in the car and my mom will drive us home to the snowy oceanside town of Brunswick, Maine. I am bored and I also have writer's block (as I have had for many days now, almost a week) and my flight isn't supposed to leave until 2:15 PM and right now it's three 'till one o'clock. That's an hour and eighteen minutes!! How will I survive if not by staring at Microsoft Word for long minutes waiting for my long-expected epiphany??

I guess time will tell, as it does with all things.
Emma out.