Reflection on writing

Reflection on first draft
Spoiler alert!


Giphy

Introduction

To be honest, I do not really feel like a writer but I did enjoy writing this little story. I have tried to use some of the advice we have been given so far, such as using detail to drive the plot or develop the character. However, I do feel this needs a little work as some parts of my story are quite explicit. By this I mean that I am telling the reader rather and showing them. Also, there is also no dialogue in my story which could perhaps be included where the boy meets the drone. I think I will wait for the initial workshop before pondering this further.

Perspective

I wanted to experiment with different perspectives throughout the story to delay the reality of the situation. The story starts in first person, then switches to third, then to first person of a different character outside the scene. After this we switch back to third person then first again. The final letter addresses the reader as if they were the character. What perspective is this? I do not know if any of this works or if it just confuses the reader, but I will find out soon. Over the next few weeks on this course we will be doing a series of workshops in which our writing will be scrutinised. After each session we can try to take on board what was said and improve on the original.

Escher

I think I have an innate fear of the workshop as it reminds me of this video from the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.

Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

Getting started

So how did I get started on my story?

My story is actually based on someone I know and most of the details have come from the experience they are going through. The story is basically about an unwanted teenager who has been abandoned and found refuge in a virtual world. In reality, this world is the world of MOOs on PS3 with games such as GTA and Destiny.

GTA

I noticed the way he has developed a community of friends online which seem to have replaced the ones in the real world. They can even phone each other up through the game controller and arrange to meet up within the game. He also left school but is now attending a private school to catch up, fingers crossed. I do not really believe that these worlds are to blame for dropping out of school, but they do provide a convenient escape. In fact, if used properly, games could be used as a form of therapy in the future. From this reality I wondered what would happen if you could earn money in a game and what the consequences would be for society.

I had this idea in my head for a week or so but didn't write anything down, then my mum told me about an article in the guardian where an eagle was being used to catch drones. For some reason, before she had even told me, I had decided I was going to combine it with my story. This was because I felt that I needed some kind of restriction to get going, as explained in my previous post.

Time and place

My story is set in a kind of parallel universe rather than the future. I say this because the world is a mix of present and future. On the one hand, the technology seems quite advanced, even if it does already exist. On the other, the buildings in the city and decor of the house are very much present day Naples. This idea of slightly shifting reality is extremely well demonstrated in the Black Mirror series and I had this in mind as I was writing my story.

Black Mirror

Almost transmedia?

I wanted to take advantage of the blogging platform to include some fairly abstract images, use different fonts, integrate a Voki and make use of hyperlinks. In fact, these rather tentative steps into a more transmedia presentation of writing have most definitely whet my appetite for more. It's exciting to see the way a story can become non-linear or move between different media, for example videos and text to speech generators. Come to think of it, the first book I ever chose to read at primary school was a choose your own adventure story, about elves, if I remember correctly. I've actually tried using these types of stories with my classes, but up until now this has been mainly on paper.

Here is an example of a selection of video adventure stories I used as inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/user/chadmattandrob

There is also a website for the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy with a vast array of resources and an interactive story/game based on the books.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/game.shtml

And here is a link to the original radio broadcast.
http://www.induceddyslexia.com/hitchhiker.htm