This was your most powerful installment yet! Part of the magic is that we get to study at the feet of H and G alongside you and Katherine. The lessons around power and greatness are profound. Whether or not H ends up being some kind of disappointment as a teacher and a human, we as readers are better for the timeless wisdom that has passed from G to H to you.
This story become a page-turner and I find myself waiting eagerly for the next installment!
Chad, this is exactly what I hoped. I will have failed this process if that doesn't come through. Our coming together was a great gift to me and if I can pass that on, it makes it all the more worthwhile. Capturing the "both/and" aspect of these relationships is tricky and important...Probably anyone who has ever loved a teacher and maybe been disappointed or disillusioned ultimately can relate. When we get there, I will also want to convey what that part of the experience was like with the nuance it deserves. Even to say disappointed is not quite right. We shall see. Thank you for being on the journey with me! US.
I'm new to your story and commenting as I go, but I have to share my own personal preference for this memoir thread of your narrative: I like it when you write in first person.
For me, it provides an opportunity to identify with the narrator's experience. The continual writing of "she" feels artificial to me. In writing memoir I know the importance of keeping the boundaries between the "I" as the *author*, the *narrator*, and a *character*, and a bleed between these separate identities weakens the writing. Perhaps holding this awareness is key, but for me, the "she" adds distance. I do love the writing in present tense though - there is always an immediacy in the present tense that is enjoyable.
I offer my feedback, "on the table" meaning of course that you get to choose what you may want to pick up, or not.
Hello Camilla! Your comment is the second request to go back to the "I" narrative. When the first reader, Emma, made that comment she also pointed to relatability, intimacy of transmission of experience and (she included) vulnerability. I responded to her that I would consider it...but that the 'she' actually IS more accurate in a way because I am no longer that version of myself and also Katherine feels so present in the writing of "my" story it feels sometimes like SHE is telling it.
That said, the last chapter that focused on me (chapter 12) did keep dragging me into a first person voice and I will always heed when I am dragged somewhere by the muse (or at least try it). So this week, as I write my own story...I will see which feels more TRUE to me. Thank you for sharing your preference!
This was your most powerful installment yet! Part of the magic is that we get to study at the feet of H and G alongside you and Katherine. The lessons around power and greatness are profound. Whether or not H ends up being some kind of disappointment as a teacher and a human, we as readers are better for the timeless wisdom that has passed from G to H to you.
This story become a page-turner and I find myself waiting eagerly for the next installment!
Chad, this is exactly what I hoped. I will have failed this process if that doesn't come through. Our coming together was a great gift to me and if I can pass that on, it makes it all the more worthwhile. Capturing the "both/and" aspect of these relationships is tricky and important...Probably anyone who has ever loved a teacher and maybe been disappointed or disillusioned ultimately can relate. When we get there, I will also want to convey what that part of the experience was like with the nuance it deserves. Even to say disappointed is not quite right. We shall see. Thank you for being on the journey with me! US.
Dear Schuyler,
I'm new to your story and commenting as I go, but I have to share my own personal preference for this memoir thread of your narrative: I like it when you write in first person.
For me, it provides an opportunity to identify with the narrator's experience. The continual writing of "she" feels artificial to me. In writing memoir I know the importance of keeping the boundaries between the "I" as the *author*, the *narrator*, and a *character*, and a bleed between these separate identities weakens the writing. Perhaps holding this awareness is key, but for me, the "she" adds distance. I do love the writing in present tense though - there is always an immediacy in the present tense that is enjoyable.
I offer my feedback, "on the table" meaning of course that you get to choose what you may want to pick up, or not.
Hello Camilla! Your comment is the second request to go back to the "I" narrative. When the first reader, Emma, made that comment she also pointed to relatability, intimacy of transmission of experience and (she included) vulnerability. I responded to her that I would consider it...but that the 'she' actually IS more accurate in a way because I am no longer that version of myself and also Katherine feels so present in the writing of "my" story it feels sometimes like SHE is telling it.
That said, the last chapter that focused on me (chapter 12) did keep dragging me into a first person voice and I will always heed when I am dragged somewhere by the muse (or at least try it). So this week, as I write my own story...I will see which feels more TRUE to me. Thank you for sharing your preference!
S