Monday, November 20, 2017

Tyler and Nort

I spent two hours in the testing center to take my research methods final today. I think I did very well, which is great news. And I won't have to take my final during finals week. I can just focus on getting my final research paper done.

I also had my latest piece critiqued in fiction writing today. This was my piece about the five-year-old grim reaper named Nort who accidentally showed up to his first assignment too early, and made a boy who had been considering suicide stop himself just in time. The two of them bond over comic books, with Nort being confused that the guy in the comic who looks like him (the super villain) seemed to be hated by the other characters. The main character, Tyler, then finds out that the decision of whether he'll go to heaven or hell will be decided by Nort's sister- A fact that Tyler isn't enthusiastic about since he's rather sexist and has often made derogatory remarks about women, and wanted to break up with his pregnant girlfriend. Overall, not the ideal man, and probably not someone a girl would look upon favorably.

Several people liked my story, and I think everyone loved little Nort. My ending was rough, which was understandable. I'd sort of rushed it since I'd finished this submission the morning it was due, and I'd reached my 20 page limit. I literally filled up every line.

I was surprised, however, when my teacher insisted that I needed to remove the suicide element from the story completely, because the rest of my piece was "too humorous" and I clearly wasn't treating suicide with the seriousness the topic deserves. She said she didn't believe my main character wanted to commit suicide since once he changed his mind, he mused that it was a good thing he didn't kill himself since the lights and air conditioning were on and the power bill would be high. Why, she asked, would he be concerned about the power bill when a moment ago he had stormed into his apartment and prepared to kill himself? Very unrealistic. Because people who consider suicide are always thinking rationally, obviously.

My teacher also mentioned that it was completely unrealistic for Tyler to get his girlfriend pregnant when he seems like a rude, lousy person who would never be able to get a girl at all. Okay, but... These things happen sometimes, right? It seemed reasonable to me. Anyway, I'll have to figure out what to do for my rewrite eventually, but I won't worry about that today.