Wednesday 2 May 2012

Hemingway: An Experiment in Structure and Form.


I was reading a Will Eiser book on graphic story telling and visual narrative and i came across a bit where he talks about the structural difference between comic books and the pannel strips in newspapers. Where comic books have resolutions most of the time. Told like conventional stories or film narratives. Panels could be seen to be most representational of real life. Each strip leeds onto the one next, so there is no closure in the way that comic books do.
I've always liked the idea of doing comic books with no real resolution and just a glimpse into some characters lives. How they live, what they do on a dy to day existence. To be more like life.


Another thing i found interesting in the previously mentioned book, was about the famous Ernest Hemingway idea of the shortest possible story.
The story is:
'For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never Used.'
It's clever because this is all the information you need to let the reader do the rest. It's easier to understand the narrative that could be surrounding these words.
Eisner says 'It would not be hard to write a larger story around this core. The power of this story lies in the skill with which the selection of the "touchstone" points are made. They co-opt the reader and immerse him or her in a sea of memory and experience. Cleverly, it forces the reader to "write" the story.'

He then goes on to provide a three pannel visual to evoke a setting. This gave me an idea of trying my own version of this using the same methods.

My story is simply:
'Flat for let. Haste needed.'

I to provide some visuals...
It would also be an interesting experiment in form to do the some story in different ways. Like as a whole page.
I drew a small thumbnail of how this could work...


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