tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5403642865904161814.post31013045804900487..comments2023-10-17T05:19:48.148-04:00Comments on Rose-coloured: Plot HypocrisyRebecca Rosenblumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10859985178895250412noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5403642865904161814.post-64713766771983008382009-04-09T13:11:00.000-04:002009-04-09T13:11:00.000-04:00There's a (probably apocryphal) story about Vladim...There's a (probably apocryphal) story about Vladimir Nabokov drawing a diagram of a plot for some of his students. He started out with the inverted check mark, and the dutifully wrote that down, and he added more lines, which they also copied in their notes, and so on, with not one student raising a critical voice, until old Vladimir stepped back, and there on the board was what he had hoped at least one student was clever enough to notice: a sketch of a cat.<BR/><BR/>The real importance of the inverted check mark, as I recall it, was to teach that there must be something underneath all those sentences that the writer is controlling, some kind of structure to lend the thing coherence. That one is just the easiest to build and understand. Sort of a "you must understand and be able to work within the rules before you can be good enough to break them" kind a thing (although no really, since writing isn't, as you point out, that straightforward).<BR/><BR/>I have an inverted check mark story (well, sort of) out for consideration right now, a fact that actually mildly embarrasses me. ;)Augusthttp://www.vestige.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5403642865904161814.post-67008379165788302912009-04-09T11:45:00.000-04:002009-04-09T11:45:00.000-04:00I have never heard of any of this stuff. A drawing...I have never heard of any of this stuff. A drawing to represent the plot??? Inverted checkmark, spiral??? Is this because I took Writer's Craft in summer school??? Fascinating.Frederiquehttp://aplace.typepad.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5403642865904161814.post-9583278161388778342009-04-09T11:28:00.000-04:002009-04-09T11:28:00.000-04:00I like to refer to that plot diagram as "The Conve...I like to refer to that plot diagram as "The Conventional Male Orgasm." Then again, God help you to plot the hills, valleys, and plateau's of a Munro story. Those kids've got to learn.Andrew Hoodnoreply@blogger.com