Comments on: The “Oral History” format http://www.writingiscake.com/2008/05/27/the-oral-history-format/ That tasty, tasty hobby... Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:01:43 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: M. Jaynes http://www.writingiscake.com/2008/05/27/the-oral-history-format/comment-page-1/#comment-70 M. Jaynes Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:29:32 +0000 http://www.writingiscake.com/?p=40#comment-70 You know, I too like the oral history format but it reminds me of Italo Calvino's If On A Winter's Night where the reader can never really nail down the 'real' author because the writer keeps 'killing' him off. I was curious to know with which character Palahnuik most identified or most lent his 'voice' to and just when I thought I had found it...bam! it was gone again. It did make for very interesting reading though and I may try to play with the format a bit. You know, I too like the oral history format but it reminds me of Italo Calvino’s If On A Winter’s Night where the reader can never really nail down the ‘real’ author because the writer keeps ‘killing’ him off. I was curious to know with which character Palahnuik most identified or most lent his ‘voice’ to and just when I thought I had found it…bam! it was gone again. It did make for very interesting reading though and I may try to play with the format a bit.

]]> By: roger http://www.writingiscake.com/2008/05/27/the-oral-history-format/comment-page-1/#comment-61 roger Sun, 01 Jun 2008 01:40:49 +0000 http://www.writingiscake.com/?p=40#comment-61 nice post. i started world war z last year but got distracted. i enjoyed the format very much, it is tough to do in movie format, usually it is used to get things started or minimally inserted, cannot think of a film that uses it from start to finish. nice post. i started world war z last year but got distracted. i enjoyed the format very much, it is tough to do in movie format, usually it is used to get things started or minimally inserted, cannot think of a film that uses it from start to finish.

]]> By: Jeff http://www.writingiscake.com/2008/05/27/the-oral-history-format/comment-page-1/#comment-60 Jeff Wed, 28 May 2008 04:22:31 +0000 http://www.writingiscake.com/?p=40#comment-60 The oral history format really intimidates me as a writer. I liked Rant quite a bit, and hear that Chuck Palahniuk's new book, Snuff, is in the same format but with even more characters. A few times in Rant I would think that maybe he was cheating in mushing characters together, but then I'd see the different dialect, cadence, or catch phrase that set them apart from the others. I wonder if they are written all at once then divided up later just to keep the author sane. The oral history format really intimidates me as a writer. I liked Rant quite a bit, and hear that Chuck Palahniuk’s new book, Snuff, is in the same format but with even more characters.

A few times in Rant I would think that maybe he was cheating in mushing characters together, but then I’d see the different dialect, cadence, or catch phrase that set them apart from the others. I wonder if they are written all at once then divided up later just to keep the author sane.

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