One character in search of a genre

Lorri — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:58:58 +0000

Poor, poor Jessica. She’s been following me around for decades, desperately looking for closure. Like the characters in Pirandello’s play, she has been living an incomplete existence, regulated to snippets of experience and false starts and stops.

In reality, Jessica’s different ordeals are a direct reflection of the phases of my own life. In my early twenties, she was a reporter who found herself strangely enthralled by a charismatic serial killer – an interesting testament to my dating experiences. Fast forward a few years and she became the reluctant leader of a planet dominated by religious zealots – a reaction to my changing views about religion. And now she’s finally found a home, nestled among a whirlwind of changes and shifting perceptions about the world I find myself living in.

It’s interesting how a particular character will exist for years, out of space and time, only to make occasional appearances in a story. Like a ghostly phantasm, they wait in the ether, periodically whispering, “Is it time yet?” Jessica is particularly stubborn and has persisted in exerting her presence. She is not one to be ignored, and it was only a matter of time before she found a permanent place amongst the written word.

Yet, what about the characters who haven’t? Do they wander aimlessly, having been cast out onto the fictional winds, or do they take matters into their own hands like the cast of Pirandello’s play, boldly searching for another author to finish their story?

The latter is a little frightening and makes me realize that I had better hurry up and put my hanging characters into action. Don’t worry, Darlene, I haven’t forgotten about you. Don’t leave me! I promise I’ll find you a good home.

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Post tags: characters, Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author, writing

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Falling in love all over again

Lorri — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:41:57 +0000

I’m falling in love with Don Henley’s words all over again. Some say he can come across a bit arrogantly, but his words are pure poetry:

We are like sheep without a shepherd
We don’t know how to be alone
So we wander ’round this desert
And wind up following the wrong gods home
But the flock cries out for another
And they keep answering that bell
And one more starry-eyed messiah
Meets a violent farewell-
Learn to be still

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lorri giovinco-harte » Education

One character in search of a genre

Falling in love all over again