WINTER   2013   

Work for Week 5

Write a poem or story in the form of a diary, or diaries.    As with other fictive texts you’ll need to think of a context, a setting, some sort of unusual event which has set the diarist a problem, he or she has to do something about.   The diary is essentially private so the diarist can not only record the crisis that needs to be dealt with, but also intimate feelings about,  self instructions/encouragements/flagellations and so on.

You could have two diarists, each face with some sort of problem about the other, but speaking about it only to themselves, unable or afraid to express their love, hatred, intentions towards the other person.   The two diarists could have completely different ‘takes’ on the situation, or the way Diarist A represents him/herself could contrast with the way Diarist B represents him/her.

A diary is a very good way of using cinematic style ‘cuts’ in the text, so that we have to ‘assume’ events which the diarist has not recorded – the details of the murder, humiliation, conquest -  just reactions.   You can also use this as a way of creating surprises.  Suddenly realize. . .

REMEMBER the idea of this task is not JUST to write an imitation of a real diary, but ALSO to shape it into a whole narrative.