sincerely sarcastic sentiments

With a strong voice and a love for telling stories, this is a blog for one of my college writing classes . raised by wolves, surrounded by buffalos for the past four years. san diego is home, but i'd set up camp anywhere

[laughingsquid]

A Sweet-Faced Baby Sloth Finds a Camera From His Bed and Takes a Bunch of Selfies

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

I've never considered myself a storyteller....

If you asked me a couple of months ago, I would never have identified as such. But now, having taken a  Digital Storytelling class, I realized that we are all storytellers. There isn't one medium that classifies it, that's the best part! Regardless of your style, expressing your memories is some form or another, allows you to understand those memories. The stories I wrote about for this class were stories I have shared many a times, but it wasn't until I workshopped some of that, that I was able to realize how they helped me develop who I am, not only as a storyteller but as a person. 

As a senior in college, you go through a lot of change, you're about to enter the real world, whatever that is, and it's honestly terrifying. You are an emerging adult, no longer and adolescent, yet the things you identified yourself as, we're heavily rooted in the identity within your upbringing. I was just this crazy weird chic from San Diego, missing the ocean, but exploring the mountains. Now I've realized I am an endearing, wacky, relentlessly fun loving spirit that thrives off of connections and experiences with others.  This is a time of exploration, your college years are when you develop your own identity. Storytelling has helped me to do just that, and I encourage you all to find some time rework some of your own memories. See what you can find out about yourself. 

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

Graphic Story Telling

Comics are a totally new medium for me, I’ve dabbled in art for many years but never really got into comics. I used an application called Comic Life, which allowed me to focus more on the story I was conveying rather than the art I was drawing. This is the story of when I conquered my fear of open water diving, and simultaneously was able to mark off the number one thing on my Bucket List; swim with a whale shark.

The hardest part of writing a graphic memoir was deciding what imagery and dialogue to use. It’s so easy to put filler into your writing without realizing it, but making a graphic memoir forces you to simplify that. I don’t know what I would have done without reading Making Comics by Scott McCloud, my story began very jumbled and way too detailed. But I learned to remove the redundancy of my comic and find a creative way to allow the viewer insight into what was going on in my head. That was the most challenging part, because my story wasn’t a conversation with someone but rather an inner monologue, so I had to find a way to portray that visually. My original draft was a hand-drawn sketch, but I figured that since I had actual pictures of the experience, that using and app like Comic Life fit my style much more. I encourage anyone working on a graphic memoir to not focus on the art of it, but rather the story. It’s an intimidating process to begin with, but as you break it down step by step, it becomes not only manageable but also fun!

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

A Flash of Reality by Lizzie Buncher

Cinematic Storytelling

This was the hardest of memoirs for me to write because I was writing it as it was occurring in my life. At first I felt like this was the last thing I wanted to be doing while I was taking care of my mother from a three states away, but then as I began to write about it, I realizes how therapeutic it could be. This is the story of one of my most humbling experiences, which has forever changed my outlook on family dynamics, love, and resilience.

I began to construct this memoir shortly before my twenty-first birthday, the time in your life where society truly begins to view you as an adult. I thought I was an adult the second I turned eighteen, but the truth was, I was still the daughter of my parents. I will forever be a daughter, but through this experience, I learned what that truly meant as an adult, humility and reciprocal compassion.

Writing this memoir as a cinematic screenplay truly allowed me to paint the story as it played out in my mind, a beautiful coming-of-age story about a strong daughter and even stronger mother who raised her. The most challenging aspect was figuring out what I wanted to portray to the reader, what I wanted to show them about myself. I chose to go with the approach of depicting a personal triumph but then realized my story was much more than that. It was an entire coming-of-age character enhancement. It wasn’t until I used Johnson’s le Menu activity that I really was able to identify myself, my role, the my impact in my own writing. I needed to map out myself, before I could eloquently share myself with my readers. I encourage you to pick up a copy of Crafting Short Screenplays that Connect by Claudia Hunter Johnson and work through the Le Menu activity as well as others; it will not only help your writing, but help your personal discovery as well.

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

Frantic and Freezing by Elizabeth Buncher

GRAPHIC STORYTELLING

This was my first “memoir’ style story I have ever written. Sure I ‘ve written things down in journals and diaries over the years, but this was the first Memoir I ever put any work into. I decided to use my favorite road trip story, one that I still get teased about, because it was something I am very familiar with but have struggled in telling the truth about. I used Shimmering Images by Lisa Dale Norton as a tool to help me write this, and ended up discovering a lot about myself through doing so.

My biggest obstacle in writing this story was that I would be publishing the finished product on a public forum. This story of adventure also caused a bit of turmoil amongst some of my closest friends because we all felt the need to blame someone for what happened. This always bothered me because according to the three of them, I am the one to blame, but through my writing process I realized that it no longer bothers me that I am the butt of this joke because it made me a stronger and more confident person. I was able to balance out the most un-biased version of our road trip with the way that I saw it all play out. I realized that I shouldn’t focus on getting specific facts perfect, but rather perfect my perception of what happened. I realized through reading Shimmering Images, that the purpose is to tell my own truths in my writing, and focus on the big picture and how to convey that, rather then the innate details. It’s my story and therefor my truth to tell and I encourage you to develop a similar attitude in your own writings.

Enjoy my truths of the longest road trip of my life, which ended in self-realization and self-respect both in the moment and in each retelling. 

[gamechangershow]

Throwback Thursday: Disney Edition 

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

yessssss , I'm feeling inspired

[creativenarration]

For the CDS Format:

I have the most ideas for this, but not enough images for all of them so that will probably determine the end result. The primary one is the nigh my friend called us to tell us he was going to commit suicide, New Years Eve of 2010. It was an extremely intense night, and the...

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

Such a tragic event on such a loud and chaotic night I think would do really well in CDS format. Adding audio for this could create very strong juxtaposition between the festivities and the intense nature of that phone call. It would also be very powerful to work with using color vs black and white with the imagery. I'm very interested to see how you decide to put it together.  As far as the bear story goes, that will be so great as a comic! also-you're not alone on the struggle with deciding a story for the animated short, I think we all are. The sand dunes could be awesome though, especially with some original jams in the background or something. 

[courtneycallanwrtg]

Story Ideas for the Remainder of the Semester (week 7)

For my CDS style story I was thinking about doing it on my ex-boyfriend who passed away because I have a lot of pictures that would work for this and I can talk about it better than I can write about it. 

For my graphic memoir I was thinking about doing it on why I love my hometown so much.

For my animated short story I was thinking about doing it on how much I love to bake and I would show the different foods being made and maybe coming to life. 

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

I one-hundred percent support using that story for your CDS story. I think stories of that nature are much better told through more direct depiction and personal images would really bring a strong emotional connection into play, no matter the reader. Especially if you were able to focus on something specific that will always stay with you that you learned from him, such as a quote or lesson, or outlook on life. I look forward to seeing how it develops. 

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

Imagine, depict, enhance....

Work shopping my running list of stories has been very telling in which to depict visually, audibly, or dramatically. I’ve noticed that there are certain stories that elicit different senses. As far as my CDS story, the one that’s stands out most visually and that could be depicted through direct first person storytelling was when I saved my roommates life freshman year. I see vivid images or snapshots in my head when I reflect on it and hear my thought process as the event played out. I think a series of images would make this story come to life through dramatic imagery.

I think the more graphic telling in a comic based format would be reserved for my phobic encounter in the woods. I am absolutely terrified of wolves and found myself in a very overwhelming scenario where I had to put fear aside and come to terms with the reality of my position. There of course is a bit of comic relief that would work great for a comic as the entire scenario was overly dramatic in a comedic way and that is easily played upon in comics.

As far as an animated short I debated using the story I decided upon for CDS, but am also juggling a couple of awkward moments that could be fun to retell. But it’s very hard to retell sarcastic comedic moments. So I might have to go with something a bit more dramatic. I’ve played with some more introverted depictions of altered realities, because I have a couple of very lucid dreaming experiences. But I am not sure how I would really put those events to words.

Happy work shopping!

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

a funny college remix I made

checkout this interactive story :)

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

"17 hours later, racing dawn"

Cover Photo for Cowbird

[my inspiration for my first digital memoir]

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

show and tell

of course i'm more drawn to stories that SHOW me what's going on versus one's that TELL me, but actually writing that way proves to be a bit more difficult 

the difference is clear, yet i clearly tend to babble. I've found that if I think about a story in terms of scenes, like in a movie, I can think more about the crucial aspects. 

The excerpt from Digital Writing 101 "Using Writing to Show, not Tell", suggests that you write your story similarly to how you would write a script. Focus on the dialogue. This helped me a lot in rewriting my story for Cowbird, even so far as to create a time log to show the vast amounts of monotonous time spent in the car waiting. 

quick. crisp. dialogue. 

^^that's what I need to work on. As Bell puts it in "How to Write a Dazzling Dialogue", the key is fictional dialogue. 

These few excerpts helped me:

"dramatic dialogue should always be a compression and extension of action"

"dialogue is not real-life speech...it is stylized...for a purpose"

focus on the conflict dialogue between two characters

Time to write!

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

Smile for the Camera! 

Oh I hated having that stupid Sony videocamera in my face ALL THE TIME

That stupid red blinking light, telling you to put your happy face on, you'll cherish these memories in your later years 

my dad always managed to get right in front, block a couple people, make a scene, but DONT WORRY because HE GOT THE SHOT

sometimes maybe a little too close-up 

But now, thank god for those videos because I would't remember half of my childhood adventures and accomplishments if we didn't have em. And don't worry, there are complimentary photo albums too!

In all seriousness, this might be a fun way to dive into story telling. I've been wanting to compile something in regards to my grandmother who turned 100 in August. She isn't much up for sitting through numerous blocking red light sessions, but to go back and use old footage would be a great way to get around that.

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

Hitchhiker's Guide by Jari Järvelä

loved this cowbird story as well for #week5 

the simplistic language style made the piece so bold and strong.

Simply expressed, objectively absorbed. 

That is what I hope for in my storytelling.

To be continued....

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

Don’t Fall In Love With Your Monkey

Week Five's Lesson: "Always Stop for Gas"

So inspired by this story, i love that it begins with a warning, like you had one thing you weren't supposed to do, and you did it. I feel like i could use a lot more of these blatant statements in my writing, it could serve as a little bit of comic relief! Ari Handel is great, this was actually nice to listen to, where as a lot of audio can get very obnoxious-very quickly.

His personality is so apparent through his story, the way he interacted with the monkey, mixed with his inner thought process. Blatantely calling himself out on his screw-ups and downfalls, all in terms of the process of falling in love with this monkey. 

The way he incorporated his dialogue is great as well, not specifically quoted in, but thrown in just at the right moment, right when the audience may want some sort of insight. 

[babblingbunchercollegeclass]

cloudy with a chance of brainstorms

thinking about which story to put to words for cowbird, these three made the top of the list

1. when i came face to face with my fear of wolves

2. watching my dad take a hard hit to his head at 75, off his horse

3. the other woman, we'd been dating for 4 months-but he's been with her for 6, and i had no idea