mahogany: Archive

Mondays

I’ve got a case of them, once today is done things show start looking up!

Apr 26, 2010

Writing Class

I had to write about my ideal text I would write. I actually want to do it, kinda

I put it below, sorry about my horrible writing skills. It is kind of cheesy because I want it to appeal to my teach as well but here it goes..

When I first discovered Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I fell in love. The thought of writing my own novella has always been a dream of mine. Not only that, but I want it to be made into a movie adaptation. In a perfect world, Wes Anderson would somehow be interested in making it into a movie, and it would be an independent movie extraordinaire.   I have always admired his ability to make the reveal the true beauty in the mundane things in life.

My idea of a story would be a sad and deeply relatable coming of age drama. As the days pass I try to relate things that happen to me to the movies I’ve seen, but the two worlds hardly coincide so I would enhance the story a bit. My story involves things that have happened in real life but it wouldn’t be a biopic. Inspiration comes from reading stories like Daniel Clowe’s comic, Ghost World, An Education memoirs of Lynn Barber and the movie and Me Without You directed by Sandra Goldbacher.   These stories follow the lives of young women growing up and living life.

The novella would be unconventional. It would follow the life of a girl living her life through her last few teenage years. The main character’s name would never be stated; maybe some things that happen to her have actually happened to you, so you could put yourself in this character’s life for a moment. In this novella having a love interest would not be the main focus. The main character constantly analyzes and observes everything around her, and maybe only about ten percent of what she is thinking is actually spoken aloud to her best friend, Lyzette. The story is told by her talking to her best friend (who is hardly around due to distance and a boyfriend whom she is madly in love with) on the phone. The scenes in the story are visualized in this girl’s mind, but are edited as she talks to her best friend, because the main character feels that there is a lack of interest on the best friend’s part (again, all she thinks about is her boyfriend). This story has no heroes, but is full of protagonists (everyone in her life) instead.

Obstacles involve having the mental capacity of living with the fact that things never come easily in life. One thing that would be over exaggerated would be all the unfortunate mishaps, since this would be told from her point of view.   Even though this seems depressing, that is what makes the story funny. The character realizes how bad things are, but somehow always sees that there is a positive future. The story would feature tons of awkward pauses, with a nice soundtrack to accompany it (featuring: Elliott Smith, She & Him, The Drums, Boat Club, The Velvet Underground, Devandra Banhart, Joy Division, Talking Heads and so on).

I want the reader to feel as if they truly know this character while reading this story. Reading this story should almost feel the same as that one moment in a friendship where the friend is first getting close to you. Your friend is letting you know private and personal things, without expecting much interaction besides actually listening. The story is meant to be heartbreaking and emotional. I want it to be appealing to a wide range of people. In reality it would be for teens going through this important time in life, but it would appeal to an older audience because they have already lived through the experience and would appreciate the reflection. It is meant for anyone willing to try to understand someone else’s feelings instead of his or her own for a change. The message to be taken from this is that people need to know that no matter how bad something’s are, it is going to be okay in the end.