Workshop Notes

Notes to self re: narrative devices:

to write something in which the perspective of one protagonist (or the narrator) changes gradually and to an extreme degree, which creates a big turnaround in the meaning of the utterances of other protagonist. the words of the 2nd are constant and do not budge - perhaps giving the initial impression of sturdiness or trustworthiness - which, only as the story unfolds, begins to shouw up as, at first slightly flawed and later, with growing importance - entirely ridiculous credulity...

possible eg's

mmm, a regular mmeting of two men at a bus stop - one says that he is going to work in a certain place, doing certain things, changing over time... place ceases to exist - stories continue (the immediate fraudster discovery)

an equally regular meeting where by the credulity of one char's claims has some second context for being checked, 3rd , fourth etc... building two sets of falsely competing claims - a good mdel for crime fiction or classic: "Whodunnits?"

or - two friends have alegiances tested as one moves from being one thing (in common) to another by definition of social construction.

eg - two men sympathise in cafes over mutual frustrations with the CSA. Then one man gets his kids full time and loses his job. As the other man continues to complain about having to contribute financially, the first man sees his understanding or partience diminish as his empathy for 'the other side' grows....

NOTE: WHERE ARGUMENTS COME FROM - this is a great way into looking at narrative construction - in terms of what builds dramatic tension - later workshops might cobver 'ways of telling' - Re- create an argument or heated exchange you may have had. Build a very close profile of each protagonist and the character traits/experiences etc that have led them to their belief/ position/ anger etc. - examine in dialogue....