1: I learned about letting the reader have imagination when it comes to reading the text. This book was very difficult to get through in the beginning because the sentences were short and choppy. There wasn't much room for me to picture a setting, and it was all "tell not show". I love long and elaborate sentence structures, so this was out of the box for me. For example ( at the testicle cancer group), "Marla. Oh, and Marla's looking at me again, singles out among all the brain parasites. Liar. Faker. Marla's the faker." However, these sentences were supposed to let my mind wander with a bit of a base, which I found out in the end where my imagination was let free. I realized why I imagined what I did which was actually the point of the book. Since it was about the human condition, I was a part of the thought process the author was talking about. After wondering throughout the entire book what the deal with Marla was, I created my own idea, which was responded to by the author's words. There was lots of build up into the actual response, but this is the closest quote I could find that wasn't 45 pages long: " I pinch myself. I ask Marla how we met. "In the testicle cancer thing," Marla says. "Then you saved my life." I saved her life? "You saved my life." Tyler saved her life. "You saved my life."" It was quite amazing, actually, to realize this. I definitely want to try this in my own writing to make a message stick with a reader forever in such a unique way.
2) I learned how to truly develop a person with multiple personalities. The story I am working on deals with the same sort of thing as Olivia is Olive, and Tyler is the narrator. Sorry if I just gave something away. I suspected the Tyler narrator connection early on, but it was never clarified until the climax of the book, an insanely impactful one I might add. I realized how many quirks and mannerisms each person in the duo has to have to make them separate people, but what they also have to do to make them the same. Realizing how to differentiate my characters has been very difficult for me, and reading this book helped me realize some effective tactics. I'll include a quote where Tyler and the narrator are different, and one where they are the same to pinpoint their similarities and differences. " How I met Tyler was I went to a nude beach. This was the very end of summer, and I was asleep. Tyler was naked and sweating, gritty with sand, his hair wet and stringy hanging in his face. Tyler has been around a long time before we met." This quote shows how they are two separate people and how they met. Even though only a few sentences, we know a lot about the two, but we don't know what the importance of their meeting is. "I love everything about Tyler Durdan, his courage and his smarts. His nerve. Tyler is funny and charming and forceful and independent, and men look up to him and expect him to change their world. Tyler is capable and free, and I am not. I am not Tyler Durdan. "But you are, Tyler," Marla says. Tyler and I share the same body, and until now, I didn't know it. Whenever Tyler was having sex with Marla, I was asleep. Tyler was walking and talking while I thought I was asleep." Super powerful quote showing the dynamic between all three important characters. Settles the imagination, and makes Tyler and the narrator different, yet the same, something I would like to improve on in my own writing.
3)I learned about writing a message through actions instead of "flat out words". Obviously this is a book and there were words that wrote out what was going on, but this book speaks the message through the character's actions rather than directly stating it. This is an aspect of my writing that I would really like to work on, as it makes the theme more powerful and truly stick with the reader. The reader can assume why the character's are making the choices they are through imagination, similar to my first topic, and infer the message in the end as the author leads the mind to the "answer." There really is no answer in this book, it is all the reader's interpretation of the human condition the author is trying to let show through. For example, ""Every time we do these little homework assignments, " Tyler says, "these fight club men with nothing to lose are a little more invested in Project Mayhem." Tyler kneeling next to my bed says, "Close your eyes and give me your hand." I close my eyes, and Tyler takes my hand. I feel Tyler's lips against the scar of his kiss. " A very small look into the story as a whole, but lots to learn from it. These man that work for Tyler have nothing to lose, so they have everything to lose, because it has no value. This is a topic explored in the book that is very interesting to me. I would like to use the author's tactics in writing messages like these in my own writing to convey a much more impactful point.
2) I learned how to truly develop a person with multiple personalities. The story I am working on deals with the same sort of thing as Olivia is Olive, and Tyler is the narrator. Sorry if I just gave something away. I suspected the Tyler narrator connection early on, but it was never clarified until the climax of the book, an insanely impactful one I might add. I realized how many quirks and mannerisms each person in the duo has to have to make them separate people, but what they also have to do to make them the same. Realizing how to differentiate my characters has been very difficult for me, and reading this book helped me realize some effective tactics. I'll include a quote where Tyler and the narrator are different, and one where they are the same to pinpoint their similarities and differences. " How I met Tyler was I went to a nude beach. This was the very end of summer, and I was asleep. Tyler was naked and sweating, gritty with sand, his hair wet and stringy hanging in his face. Tyler has been around a long time before we met." This quote shows how they are two separate people and how they met. Even though only a few sentences, we know a lot about the two, but we don't know what the importance of their meeting is. "I love everything about Tyler Durdan, his courage and his smarts. His nerve. Tyler is funny and charming and forceful and independent, and men look up to him and expect him to change their world. Tyler is capable and free, and I am not. I am not Tyler Durdan. "But you are, Tyler," Marla says. Tyler and I share the same body, and until now, I didn't know it. Whenever Tyler was having sex with Marla, I was asleep. Tyler was walking and talking while I thought I was asleep." Super powerful quote showing the dynamic between all three important characters. Settles the imagination, and makes Tyler and the narrator different, yet the same, something I would like to improve on in my own writing.
3)I learned about writing a message through actions instead of "flat out words". Obviously this is a book and there were words that wrote out what was going on, but this book speaks the message through the character's actions rather than directly stating it. This is an aspect of my writing that I would really like to work on, as it makes the theme more powerful and truly stick with the reader. The reader can assume why the character's are making the choices they are through imagination, similar to my first topic, and infer the message in the end as the author leads the mind to the "answer." There really is no answer in this book, it is all the reader's interpretation of the human condition the author is trying to let show through. For example, ""Every time we do these little homework assignments, " Tyler says, "these fight club men with nothing to lose are a little more invested in Project Mayhem." Tyler kneeling next to my bed says, "Close your eyes and give me your hand." I close my eyes, and Tyler takes my hand. I feel Tyler's lips against the scar of his kiss. " A very small look into the story as a whole, but lots to learn from it. These man that work for Tyler have nothing to lose, so they have everything to lose, because it has no value. This is a topic explored in the book that is very interesting to me. I would like to use the author's tactics in writing messages like these in my own writing to convey a much more impactful point.