Tuesday, October 13, 2009

meta-roles

We're workshopping a story today about a helicopter pilot in Allied occupied West Germany. It's filled with detailed descriptions of post-Nazi Germany, but also a twist which promises to get mixed reviews. The third person character, McKay, is also writing the story, which is being reviewed by his wife Suzan.

She is making various suggestions to McKay about revising the story. This is a meta approach attempting to make the reader an self-conscious party. The couple also discuss later details in the story, which foreshadows those events.

At the chapter's conclusion, Suzan asks McKay what she looks like as a character.

"Are we sitting down at a table? Are we drinking wine? Is it red or white? Do I look lovely tonight? Are you serious about sailing our boat to Hawaii?"

"Sitting down, red wine, very lovely, quite serious."

"Oh," she said. "Will you pour me another glass please?"

Interesting technique. But does it fly?

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