Monday: A poem

Lanscape that provokes emotion,
rhyme, meter, a motif of water,

Mention a color, it will mean.
Write a poem, mean some thing.

Follow a rule—Fuck the rules!
—beauty may come from a crude word.

Ignore intention.
Subconscious authored, And left—

Something playing at the head:

I killed a tree for this.
With my bare hands, I killed a tree for this.

Some thoughts.

I always thought the abundance of traditional multi-Act, closure based storytelling didn't make sense. Conflict happens in life, but almost exclusively without closure. I know that's what makes closure based storytelling popular. Stories can be worth more than catharsis, I think. I always thought the draw of horror films was not the violence or adrenaline, but that they tend to portray the world more truthfully. In horror, bad things happen to good people and the bad guys are allowed to win. I think that's what attracts people to "gothic" and "grotesque" elements. Sometimes the cruelness and the unfathomable in horror stories becomes an externalization of people's inner views. At least it is worth noting that Horror stories defy certain conventions and seem to have their own rules, but are just as popular as traditional stories.

For later: Collect thoughts on this.

Foods

Storytelling succeeds by providing readers something they want. There are different kinds of "food" to use in a story. "Foods" being different story elements that provide something for the reader. The elements are not unrelated, and when used in a story, always live in context to other elements present. The reason I'm making this list is to have a guide for successful storytelling elements. Presently, I believe the big three: Emotional/Catharsis, Intellectual/Philosophical, and Aesthetic are the most important "foods." They appeal to the "stomachs" of the reader: Heart, Mind, and Eye.

Emotional/Catharsis

Character

Climax

Triumph - A singled out emotion, but integral to many story formulas.

Spectacle

Aesthetic

Music

Intellectual/Philosophical

Sexual

List

READ:

Craig Thompson - Blankets

Return of the Dapper Men

Note of Literature

http://www.amazon.com/Stitches-Memoir-David-Small/dp/0393338967/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290575902&sr=8-1

Stitches provoked several moments of enlightenment. As an autobiography it feigns traditional story structure, engrossing the reader as if it did. But this it's a story about life, and so does not wrap up neatly. It gives me the idea that literature works as long as it feeds the reader in some way. Stitches reveals great truths in the author's life and the events which created them. The excitement of a protagonist in conflict presents itself in the story, but the pith that truly cradles our imagination is the journey of understanding one's own life. A second level of entertainment exists in true literature.

I noticed unique elements of the graphic narrative medium from my reading. Every panel/page reads in context of every other panel/page. For example, at one point there is a splash page of young David standing in the snow looking solemn. Viewed as a single piece of art the meaning of the page would be hard to guess at, but prior pages have given us a context for the panel. Contexts: David had learned his parents lied to him about having cancer, David is older, the splash format emphasizes the panel in the readers mind, David's pose seems special having not been depicted this way in any previous panels, unique coloring in the panel. The context and elements of craft in the page distinguish it.

Context is present in all narrative forms, but graphic narratives juxtaposition of panels and pages imposes a constant barrage of art that relate and tie back to each other.