Proposal

I'm writing this story under MIT's 21W.799 Independent Study in Writing. To qualify, I have to write a proposal which is then approved by the Committee on Writing Curriculum. So, I wrote the proposal today.

I will, over the course of the semester, write a 50,000 word story. I have planned and discussed a schedule with my Faculty Sponsor, Prof. Helen Lee. I will write 5,000 words per week, for three weeks, edit the accumulated 15,000 words for one week, and then repeat this process three more times during the semester.

The story will be about a woman who is pursuing her sister, who has kidnapped her child. She enlists the help of the protagonist, and together they travel south through the U.S. to Florida. The story will focus on the changing relationship between the protagonist and the woman as they travel, and the obstacles they face in reuniting the woman with her daughter.

I want to study two narrative elements in this story: the structure of dreams – how to convey the feeling of a dreamstate, and what effect dreams can have on waking actions – and the unique setting of Florida. I want to experiment with capturing the unreality of dreams and presenting the many forms a dream can take. The coast of Florida, where I grew up, has a wealth of natural and man-made environments that can provide a setting for these dreams and the reality that exists outside of them. The connection between dreams, the real world, and the decisions the protagonist makes will be a thematic thread throughout my story.  

Hopefully, this gets approved and I can get going.

I have no doubt that the story will change dramatically from this proposal. In the last week, I've already increased the importance of dreams far beyond what I initially wanted to do. I'm reminded of Junot Diaz's advice. He said to let your story grow up on its own terms, not on yours. You may want your story to be a doctor, but if it comes home one day, and it's got massive shoulders, and it's wearing a baseball uniform, and it's got a bat and glove, you have to let it play baseball. There are some parts that I had from the beginning, that I wanted to work towards, that seem more and more difficult to fit in. But, that's how it works, I suppose.

The Book of Jon

My working title at the moment is The Book of Jon. My plan is to write 5,000 words per week over the next four months: three weeks of writing, then one week editing the last three weeks' worth of words. Working on weekdays, this works out to 1,000 words per day. Certainly achievable, even if it's a faster pace than I've had in the past three years. Still, I need deadlines, even artificial ones, to work. This pace will start next week, after a meeting with my writing advisor, though I've already started the story.

I want to experiment with dreams. What do we see in dreams? How do you convey the mixture of reality and unreality that comes with dreaming? How much of a dream do you remember, and why, and how does it affect what you do?

I'm pulling from my own dreams, and how I feel about them. Last night, I dreamed I was on the beach looking out at the ocean. A ship was to my right, a large ship, with masts and sails, moored next to a bridge that stretched on forever. Someone I didn't know was with me, and we were sitting with our backs against a drop in the sand. When I stood on top, it was tall, but when I was at the bottom, it only came up to my waist. Three nights ago, I was running naked through a black-and-white forest at night, until something came at me with a knife. I woke up screaming.

“Dreams are the answers to questions that we haven't yet figured out how to ask.” ~ Fox Mulder, The X-Files

A lot of times, I dream about something I've been thinking about a lot. I've been remembering the memories of the Florida beach I used to go to over and over again, and I see it in my dream. I've also read that dreams are the result of unprocessed stimuli working their way through to your conscious mind (hearing your alarm clock or a television show?). What could that do to a dream narrative?

Another question is what is the nature of fate? Are we destined to do things? Is there a role we must play, and is our course corrected if we refuse? I have my own beliefs, but these are not the beliefs of my character, nor are they the rules by which my story's universe will operate. I want ambiguity, but I'm finding it harder and harder to establish. I feel that I will have to choose a set of rules, then obfuscate until the reader can decide what to believe.

Questions to ask my teacher, no doubt. But for now, I'll continue writing. 500 words today. I like them so far.