Alida, Kathryn, & Robert continue the conversation about Edwidge Danticat’s book, The Art of Death. How does personal experience inform writing about death? Various elements have important roles in death scenes, including time, imagery, and memory. The process of grief and carrying on. The ordinary instant. Making death authentic. And more.
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SHOW NOTES
Want to read the book? It’s The Art of Death by Edwidge Danticat.
If you haven’t heard it yet, listen to part one of this conversation first!
How will your personal history affect how you portray death? What about if you have never experienced anything as tragic as your character is experiencing? How can you use the element of surprise to turn a story on a death? And how should you use death in Act two? We talk about the problem of proximity in death, and whether or not death has genre conventions. In the end, we all agree that this is a great book, if you are ready to really sit and think about death!
What we talked about:
Use shock to suspend the moment in time. (2:30)
Your personal history will influence how you portray death – including your beliefs. (5:00)
How does the death affect those around the person who has died? How do we make it worthy of the story? (6:40)
Think about the survivor! (8:00)
What if you don’t have an experience that is as traumatic as our characters? (10:20)
How can you feel what you are crafting to be felt by another properly? (13:25)
How do you execute the element of surprise? (14:30)
Death in Act 2? (18:30)
What about tragic events? (23:50)
The problem of proximity. (28:20)
How time creates distance. (31:20)
What about characters who do not care? Who lack the ability to empathize with death? (32:33)
The afterlife, or the aftermath for the surviving character. (36:36)
Do we recommend the Art of Death? (44:30)
LINKS
Things we mentioned:
Gravity
Saturday by Ian McEwan
Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien
George RR Martin
Red Dwarf
Want more about these topics? Check out:
SWRT 26 Introduction to Point of View
SWRT 27 First Person Point of View
SWRT 28 Third Person Point of View
SWRT 094 Multiple Points of View, Pros, Cons
SWRT 072 Killing Your Characters
