13 Comments

This task altered my relationship with Clarice Lispector just so you know, and she hasn't yet forgiven my judgement.

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(and my own work, which is a good thing, and hard)

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How did it change your relationship with Lispector, lol?

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It made me look at first person and even pronouns differently. Found the journal entry from that day, “Yesterday I sat with Lispector's Hour of the Star and a 100pg slice of Infinite Jest and chose (what most resembled) a chapter from the former, highlighting every pronoun of the protagonist. My appraisal was quick but through pages 15-24 there were approx. 254 she/herself/her's along with 33 references to the protagonist as "the girl”” and the reason I compared the authors, well they were two I consider transformative within arms reach but Dave was less pronoun heavy ANYWAY the drown the I challenge was very useful and destructive for me in the best way imo. Nothing could ruin my relationship with Lispector after The Passion to be quite honest. Should I have read The Hour of The Star BEFORE vandalising it tho? Yea

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I WANT YOU FOR THE LITERARY RENAISSANCE!

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Let's get this literary wave going!

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We Are Here. Drop the I. Start on the U.

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Original:

Perhaps I could’ve stopped the ship. I could’ve given the sailors a sign to man their oars, and steer away from the light. I wonder if it would’ve even helped, or if Poseidon had fixed our course. I had no idea that the golden glimmer was a legend, a monster, who would make her way from the sea back into the stars.

Revision:

Perhaps the osprey could’ve stopped the ship. The bird could’ve goven the sailors a sign to man their oars, and steer away from the light. Maybe the fish hawk even wondered if it would hbe helped, or is Poseidon had fixed its course. Even an osprey’s sharp eyes did not know that light was a legend, a monster, who would make her way from the sea back into the stars.

Revision:

I learned how third-person weaves in opportunities to replace I with other vocabulary.

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Every ‘I’ is a choice. Good video.

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Brilliant. This got my writing wheels turning. I’ve written two first-person books, and I am writing a book in the second-person.

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Ian you can’t miss so many great recommendations especially, “Burned Man on Texas Porch.” Getting rid of the “I” for first person or naming the character for third can be difficult but there’s so many examples you give to help us out. I’m looking forward to the next outstanding video and maybe even a fiction challenge in the future that incorporates poetry.

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I started this last night, got two pages done after three hours, will continue tonight

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Don't worry about MY judgment of you, IC. Great vlog as always. And - yes- I am writing my OWN shit in response to your ideas. Please keep doing what you do ... Thank you!

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