Project: Typewriter.

[ZeeAk]

First of all, I know a lot of you guys won't venture off Newgrounds to review pieces that are linked externally from the thread. I completely understand, and often have the same policy. That's a large part of the reason I've so far refrained from posting this here, if I'm honest. That said, I want to give it a shot anyway.

Project: Typewriter is the result of both a challenge a little creativity. It's actually a university project, for my Introduction to Creative Writing class. We were told to experiment with the medium of writing, and the allure of my typewriter just was far, far too much. About an hour and a lot of mistakes later, the above product emerged.

I'm actually pretty happy with it, but that may be because it represents a significant departure from the way I usually write, and I feel that it worked; even a little bit.

I'd upload it here on Newgrounds, but the very nature of the project and the way this site handles images doesn't render that entirely viable. It's just more natural and dynamic the way I've structured it, I feel. But, without further adieu, I'll link it again, over its Blogspot page so that you can have a look if you'd like.

Go nuts.

[DeftAndEvil]

I don't get it; I read about half of the first page and it really didn't make sense. It seems like a short epistolary work between (what I assume to be) a guy and himself (via the typewriter). I don't realize the significance of the numbers (dates?) beside the paragraphs. The guy writes one paragraph per day? Why are the pages so wrinkled? Why are there two pages? A bit of clarification and direction would be greatly appreciated.

[4urentertainment]

At 5/23/11 03:56 PM, DeftAndEvil wrote: I don't get it; I read about half of the first page and it really didn't make sense.

That's what I thought too, until I read them both.

[DeftAndEvil]

I don't have the fastest internet in the world (despite having a good pc, I have the most basic service) so I was frustrated while the page loaded. Clearly the second page contains the responses to the first page; but, my patience ran out.

[ZeeAk]

At 5/23/11 03:56 PM, DeftAndEvil wrote: I don't get it; I read about half of the first page and it really didn't make sense. It seems like a short epistolary work between (what I assume to be) a guy and himself (via the typewriter). I don't realize the significance of the numbers (dates?) beside the paragraphs. The guy writes one paragraph per day? Why are the pages so wrinkled? Why are there two pages? A bit of clarification and direction would be greatly appreciated.

It's designed in such a fashion that the first page is only half the story, so by your own admission, you've only read a quarter of the whole. That said, I do understand your frustration.

In terms of clarification, - and I hate to feel pretentious - I'm trying not to ruin anyone's response to it, because everyone seems to see it differently. The numbers on the pages are, for the most part, superfluous, but yes, they are dates.

[tactful42]

God I need to buy a typewriter. When I get my own place that's objective numero uno.

[ZeeAk]

At 5/27/11 10:23 PM, tactful42 wrote: God I need to buy a typewriter. When I get my own place that's objective numero uno.

Mine is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

[Coop]

Wow, finding some free time for a bit of reading is a godsend - this piece is fantastic and the way that you can develop it is wonderful.

Go forth and write some more - is the protagonist fighting a battle with their own mind, or someone else? Would the second protagonist respond in perfectly formatted spell-checked and gramattically correct Sans-Serif?

[ZeeAk]

At 5/29/11 11:44 AM, Coop wrote: Wow, finding some free time for a bit of reading is a godsend - this piece is fantastic and the way that you can develop it is wonderful.

Thanks for the feedback Coop; both here and on the Blogspot page. I really appreciate it.

Go forth and write some more - is the protagonist fighting a battle with their own mind, or someone else? Would the second protagonist respond in perfectly formatted spell-checked and gramattically correct Sans-Serif?

I did have a specific plot in mind when I wrote the piece, but everyone seems to be reading it differently, which I think is really cool. If you do wanna know what I had in mind, though, I'm perfectly happy to explain the process behind the writing of it.

In response to the whole 'write more' thing, I have considered writing a follow-up piece, but I'm not sure how I'd do it. I've had a few ideas, but they'd be more like a spiritual successor than a sequel. That said, I'll definitely consider it, and keep you posted.

[Ice-Crane]

Well, this certainly is an interesting piece of work. I could interpret this in two ways.

In a way, it seems like the protagonist has some sort of an inner critic that always watches over to make sure he doesn't make any mistakes.
The crumpled page maybe symbolizes the real concreteness of the protagonist, showing that he has been affected by the world or whatever (seeing from whatever force was applied onto that paper). And maybe the clean, second page symbolizes the abstract side of the protagonist, the inner critic, unaffected by the physicality of the world.
Anyway, over time, the critic becomes more watchful of the protagonist and he is becoming too aware and pressured by this critic that he is making more mistakes. He wants the critic to leave, and it does, but then he wants it back.

Let's see...but after reading through it a few more times, the last few words on the crumpled page says "But I'd rather have you both." I don't know if "both" referred to the holes and the critic but if not, my first interpretation wouldn't quite fit..though that's how I saw it first.

Second way I could interpret this is that there are three parties in this work. One in the crumpled page, the second in the other page, and the third is the writer watching over this whole process and also seen through the hand printed words.
Maybe the conversation was just with the protagonist's present self and the past. Maybe he made mistakes in the past and it's haunting him, it wants him to learn from the mistakes and be stronger, but it's causing holes in his thoughts. Maybe his past hurt so much that he wanted to forget and did. Then maybe he realized that he couldn't live without it and that he wasn't himself without the past but it's gone now. So he writes with a pen, wishing it would come back.

But wow, I honestly don't know. Could you please explain what you had in mind as you wrote this? I would really appreciate it.

[ZeeAk]

At 5/30/11 03:19 AM, Ice-Crane wrote: But wow, I honestly don't know. Could you please explain what you had in mind as you wrote this? I would really appreciate it.

Well, if I'm honest, you seem to explored to a greater extent than I did.
The two pages represent the two halves of his psyche; he's got a violently split personality. The clean page is his more submissive, peaceful side, where the crumpled side is the opposite. The numbers of the side of the pages are dates, which weren't particularly relevant - it was more of an inside joke with myself, aside from the last two entries. If you look at the dates, they're actually written several months apart, and so they became a way to telling the passage of time.

The holes in the writing of the piece were actually moments when the typewriter has having mechanical issues. There's only two legitimate errors, and one intentional one in the entire piece. The intentional error towards the end, where the word 'you' becomes just an 'o', in an attempt to symbolise the fact that he was struggling to come to terms with the fact that he's losing a part of himself. That said, I'm not sure how well it worked.

I used the pen to show that he was personally seeking out the part of his mind - the part of himself - that he'd exiled. He wasn't just typing it on a machine anyway, he was scrawling away at the same piece of paper that he was using to communicate with that lost part of himself. It was designed to show that he saw the paper, and tried to use what was written down to bring that part back.