*this CR is in response to the prompt about my essential question*

 

I’ve just started my fifth week of senior project work and I’m definitely making progress towards answering my question. Ultimately, I’m confident that I’m close to an answer, I just need to keep working through the project so that I can piece everything together. Right now I have several big ideas that answer my question, so in the next two weeks or so I’ll continue to work and refine these ideas.   

My question was really just asking about the differences in storytelling when it comes to having multiple perspectives (how this can be achieved, and how it is impacted by setting). Something I’ve been paying a lot of attention to during my work on the project is the output of context and information. In light of the formats I am using, it poses a challenge to this aspect of the writing. It’s about finding a balance between what is realistic for a character to say (or write) and what is necessary to inform the reader. I’ve found myself stuck trying to integrate a piece of information naturally a few times, but sometimes it is necessary to have some information in a piece, even if it doesn’t seem perfectly natural.

 I think the intentional omittance of certain information can actually add to the differentiation in perspective. For example, Hanna’s character consistently writes in detail about the happenings of the virus around her and in the news, whereas my character typically doesn’t. This says a lot about our characters as well as the two settings. 

Another key point about differentiating the characters’ versions of the story is that we have a real advantage when it comes to voice and tone, because, as two completely different writers, we both have a natural voice that will inevitably come through in our writing. If I was doing this project alone, I’d have a lot more trouble discerning between the two characters and their perspectives because their voices would likely either sound really similar or polar opposite, neither of which are good or natural options. It’s still challenging to write these pieces, though, because our characters are of similar ages, financial backgrounds, and both live in New York, so there are some times where we’ve struggled to make sure our characters are different enough. 

Another key point is that I’ve found that differences in the characters’ core beliefs, struggles, and experiences can greatly impact a story. For example, in our case, Hanna has decided that her character’s main conflict will be the events of the virus and its effects on the character’s family. Mine, while still acknowledging the virus, will focus the conflict on private internal challenges the character faces, relating to personal relationships and life decisions. This sort of happened naturally after writing the first few journal entries and letters, but the fact that we didn’t both centre in on the same conflict, definitely adds significant depth to our work. 

These are just some of the main ideas that I’ve come up with as answers to my question, and I will likely come up with more as I continue to work.