Notes: August 2007 Archives

Flashbacks only work if all the characters have them. Including Michael? He doesn’t really have a previous life of interest, though. The Helen flashbacks are interesting since we see her perspective on stuff we’ve only seen from Tim’s POV.

It’s a structural problem that the scenes work well in Helen of Santa Zita, but not so well in NFFN. So maybe they should be cut out? Or only included in the Helen-only path through the novel? One thing that’s interesting about the original version of NFFN was its immediacy—lack of back-story, flashbacks or context. You were just plunged into the characters’ live as they unfolded.

In a sense, COTH, 1989 and tdp are like a trilogy about Tim’s life (with HSZ and DSW being companion volumes). They don’t overlap in time or plot. In that sense then, 1989 is like Empire Strikes Back or Two Towers. A middle volume, with all that that entails. The plot of 1989 should deepen and complicate the plot of the overall trilogy. Also add some disillusionment and darkness, like in Empire. Tim loses something vital, that he can’t get back. Maybe learns something about his past/father that disturbs him, forces him to look at himself and think about who he really is.

The continuous narrative arc in the trilogy is Tim and Helen. In 1989 Tim becomes disillusioned with Helen, and it leads him to stop hanging out with her by the end, until she helps him in his hour of need and they rediscover the connection that binds them.

CotH is about the head, 1989 about the gut and Volume III is about the heart. To put it another way, CotH is about ideas and the intellect, 1989 is about desire and lust and Volume III is about love, courage and will.

In a sense, one challenge of 1989 is not much changes absolutely for Tim by the end. He starts friends with Helen and Jessica, ends with him friends with her. He is changed internally, made less innocent, made into an artist (perhaps). However it is the middle volume of a trilogy. Tim discovers within him both a capacity for good and for evil that terrifies him.

But where on earth can this go in Volume III?

Not the message, since that's cheezy. But the meaning--created by the act of reading. The reader has been seduced by Santa Zita in  Vol. I (City On the Hill) and betrayed in Vol. II (1989.) If CotH is Star Wars, and 1989 is the Empire Strikes Back, does that mean Vol. III is Return of the Jedi, with all that that entails (Ewoks, Darth Vader suddenly turning good, etc.)? If CotH is thesis, and 1989 antithesis, then Vol. III must be synthesis and integration. Both for the characters, but also for the reader's relationship with the writer, and the work.

Jessica not a POV character in Vol. III? Should she be? Not sure, though it would be interesting. Helen and Jessica no longer live together (do they?) but they are starting to grown apart. Jessica is interested in her social work, and helping children. She has a definite career in mind.

Point of view in Vol. III should follow these rules:

• Every scene change should involve a change in point of view—ie, POV charcter never repeats from scene to scene
• Never go more than three scenes in a row without returning to character’s POV. For example, if the first scene has Michael, second Tim, then the third returns to Michael, the fourth has to go to Helen, it can’t go to Michael or Tim.

What are the character’s goals in Part I?

• Helen: Hang out with Tim again and get over Todd.
• Tim: become creatively inspired and psyched about something
• Michael: find a way to get closer to Helen and become known to her

If Tim isn't hanging out with Helen, why would he take Michael to her house? So maybe they should hang out during Part I, but it's awkward, at first. Then why doesn't Tim go to CFL? Still sort of pissed at her? Or she doesn't tell him? Calls him only at the last minute and Tim doesn't get the call until too late? She called him right after he left with Michael, or was in his room.

Napa weekend is like Easter Sunday. Friday at noon Karen calls Tim and says she’s not going to go. Tim gets really angry, fantasizes about breaking up. Enraged that he can’t make her do what he wants. Tim is in Hell until Sunday morning. He passes out in the vines, (hides in a cave?) Michael and Helen find him.

Does this mean Tim is Jesus though? And Helen and Michael are his disciples? Parodic anti-Jesus maybe.

What's the cave? Utility shack by the pool? Why would Tim pass out in there?

Tim never really realized how vulnerable Helen felt. She seemed so capable and confident, with friends, center of attention. She felt very alone, though. She didn’t have her family to go back to every weekend if she wanted.

What makes Tim finally realize this? Their talk after the Napa weekend? Or before?

I: When Did the Snake Enter the Garden?
II: The Deep & Savage Way
III: Come Bite the Apple
IV: Wanderday
V: Open Your Eyes
VI: The Sword of Fire
VII: North of Eden

Not sure about the last one—I think the sword of fire should be the last

Do the eden themed named work, though? Since right now Vol. III ends with the characters still in Santa Zita.

Something with exile? Out of Exile?

A Different Way to Paradise

South of Eden?