#project etc

[lauallawritingblog]

I can confirm I finished my NaNoWriMo yesterday and I am so happy I could cry

[lauallawritingblog]

I've just made a reference to Lauren Bacall who by the way is the most beautiful woman that has ever existed and I'm afraid people won't know who she is, but it's fine, because at least my friends from college will know

[lauallawritingblog]

Me: I'm not good at descriptions and I'm not gonna describe in full detail what my characters wear to a fancy ball because the reader will never know what I'm picturing

Also me: downloads mods in the sims of ball gowns, creates the most accurate representation of what I envision, then proceeds to check websites of weddings to be able to describe them

[lauallawritingblog]

Suddenly, tropes are coming into my NaNoWriMo story. Now it is the fake dating and I have two girls as the protagonists of this. I am actually proud of myself

[lauallawritingblog]

NaNoWriMo 2019

I guess I am participating this year. I am already 30000 words into a novel, so I'm hoping to finish it, or at least be close to it

[lwgsquad]

How We Relate to the Novel

Jacob Dinis

To me, the most relatable aspect of Julie Doucet’s memoir is the beginning where she is still living in Montreal as an art student. She has the same worries and a similar outlook to me, in the sense of wondering if the classes have merit and if they will lead to a good job. I particularly relate not specifically to the memoir, but to Doucet’s recent outlook - I worry if one day, game design will feel like a grinding, monotonous job rather than my passion.  My New York Diary is sort of like a dark look into the future that I think a lot of students look into, and I think it’s sort of eerie, because to me it feels like Julie was someone who maybe wasn’t ready to make big life decisions at her age and suffered for it. It makes me wonder a little if I am ready to make those decisions myself, but serves as a good wake up call as to what the world is like, and that I have to be careful in my endeavors so that I lead a happy and successful life.

Kael Sarmento

For me, one of the most relatable aspects of the memoir is how Julie had to deal with the relationships in her life. She had a low self esteem, and so she always ended up conceding on points, or putting herself down in order to put her partners on a pedestal. I feel like I have also had this issue in my own life, and am constantly struggling with building up my self esteem so that I believe that my thoughts and feelings are valid and important. I’ve really had to work at being more in charge of my opinions, and making sure I don’t allow myself to get walked all over because there is a piece deep down that makes me feel like I am not worth it. I think it’s encouraging, however, that Julie was able to overcome this issue in her life, and realize through the help of her friends from Montreal that she was being taken advantage of. Knowing that it’s possible to move on from this is very encouraging.

Jordan Goulbourne

After reading this memoir I found that I related quite a bit with Julie’s thoughts on art school. I took Art Fundamentals at Sheridan several years ago and it felt strange and boring. It was interesting seeing Julie go through a similar situation of being an adult that is being taught simple painting techniques and other courses that basically amounted to arts and crafts. I wasn’t aware of how strange it was until I saw it through Julie’s eyes and now it seems so bizarre. I also saw a reflection of myself in how Julie lived in Montreal as I can be quite a slob. I’m not nearly as bad as her new york boyfriend who had cockroaches, but I can be pretty messy. Reading this memoir was somewhat of a wake-up call in that regard and heavily motivated me to clean up after myself more and to lead a cleaner lifestyle.

[lwgsquad]

Annotated Bibliography

Firecracker Awards. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2019, from https://www.clmp.org/readers/programs/firecracker/

This is simply the website for the firecracker award, which gives insight into the award that Doucet won for her work on My New York Diary.

Doucet, J. (2019, January 19). "I Really Had to Reinvent Myself": An Interview with Julie Doucet. Retrieved from https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/i-really-had-to-reinvent-myself-an-interview-with-julie-doucet/#!

This is an interview conducted by the Los Angeles Review of Books with Julie Doucet, giving insight into why she left the comic book industry, and reinventing herself as she returns to drawing. She also talks about her influences in Hara-Kiri and Charlie Hebdo.

Doucet, J. (n.d.). Julie Doucet. Retrieved from http://2dcloud.com/julie-doucet-interview

This is an in depth interview that gives a view into Doucet;s thought process in creating her novels. She talks a bit about how she feels out of touch with modern comics and about how creating comics became work for her.

Mok, A. (2016, April 25). "The Starting Point": An Interview with Julie Doucet. Retrieved from http://www.tcj.com/the-starting-point-an-interview-with-julie-doucet/

In this interview Doucet talks about her experiences as a French Canadian writer and some of her influences and opinions on the memoir format. She talks about how she needed to try different forms of art, which was a large contribution to her quitting comics.

Doucet, J., McInnis, A., Gamache, L., & Gravel, E. (2018, December 14). Montreal's Julie Doucet revolutionized comics - then she walked away. Retrieved from https://montrealgazette.com/entertainment/local-arts/montreals-julie-doucet-revolutionized-comics-then-she-walked-away

Moore, A. E. (2019, March 02). Julie Doucet is done making comics. Retrieved from https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/julie-doucet-is-done-making-comics/Content?oid=61397235

Again, talking about her choice to leave comics and more about her work as an underground artist. It also talks about how she’s happy to let others inherit the comic-making torch and be an inspiration to others.

Why I’m Happy to Be a Starving Artist in NYC

https://mic.com/articles/46209/why-i-m-happy-to-be-a-starving-artist-in-nyc#.AW87ftHqK

Smith, Jonathan. “Why I'm Happy to Be a Starving Artist in NYC.” Mic, Mic Network Inc., 14 Oct. 2015, mic.com/articles/46209/why-i-m-happy-to-be-a-starving-artist-in-nyc#.AW87ftHqK.

This article touches on Jonathan’s move to New York and all of the struggles he endured within living conditions and money. He talks a lot about the experiences he learns from and why it helped him become a better person and artist.

Why Write a Memoir - There is Purpose in Your Words

https://thecalmspace.com/2010/05/why-write-memoir-there-is-purpose-in-your-words/?fbclid=IwAR2cttBpOgl9BKVQaitpDkUKCS62-EV-iWaR1j4ST-kgzvVqRK_5jxDNN3E

Mackison, Bo. “Why Write Memoir? – There Is Purpose in Your Words.” The Calm Space RSS, thecalmspace.com/2010/05/why-write-memoir-there-is-purpose-in-your-words/.

This article expresses the importance of authors creating memoirs. It mentions that it become theoretic for not only the writer but also the reader. It also touches on the fact that memoirs can be a teaching moment which is also very evident within Julie Doucets story.

Why Graphic Novels are more than picture perfect

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/jun/13/graphic-novels-rachel-cooke?fbclid=IwAR1FtpYbnhX70RY-14LTHflfGDSvqvejjr7RzaN6qCUeRMIjfynP4EzxRiM

Cooke, Rachel. “Why Graphic Novels Are More than Picture Perfect.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 12 June 2010, www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/jun/13/graphic-novels-rachel-cooke.

This article expresses the misconceptions of a graphic novel and the stigma attached to them. Rachel Cooke, expresses how important they are in terms of illustration a story in an interesting way. It’s clear that even in My New York Diary the illustration of a comic is able to represent the experience had in a visual way.

Character Growth vs Character Development

https://medium.com/@shabazzmalikali/character-growth-vs-character-development-b77bc524385c?fbclid=IwAR1FtpYbnhX70RY-14LTHflfGDSvqvejjr7RzaN6qCUeRMIjfynP4EzxRiM

Malikali, Shabazz. “Character Growth vs Character Development.” Medium, Medium, 26 Aug. 2017, medium.com/@shabazzmalikali/character-growth-vs-character-development-b77bc524385c.

Within a New York Diary there is a lot of growth Doucet goes through within her time in New York. This article expresses the differences between growth and development within a character. There are a lot of obstacles Doucet goes through that reflect upon her growing as a character rather than developing.

How Graphic Memoir Can Demystify Structure

https://writingwomenslives.com/how-graphic-memoir-can-demystify-structure/?fbclid=IwAR09HVT5zbJdElV3BSX7Piy2FoyNcZPsXg-sHqFrHch83ceVxAq9PtYzdPw

Bousquin, Marilyn. “How Graphic Memoir Can Demystify Structure.” Writing Women's Lives, 25 Jan. 2013, writingwomenslives.com/how-graphic-memoir-can-demystify-structure/.

Since memoirs are about events that occur in someones life, it’s often hard to create an order in which a reader can understand this stage of their life. In this article Marilyn expresses how she was able to structure her mess of an experience in to an organized memoir. Within My New York Diary the structure and organization work so well within what she is trying to express.

Julie’s Personal Website

Doucet, J. (n.d.). Biography. Retrieved from Julie Doucet – For Fun: http://www.juliedoucet.net/html/bio.html

For writing about Julie’s early life, I decided that it would be best to go to the source - her personal website. It’s always important to look to the original source when you can, because a primary source will often be more accurate then any secondary sources. Having access to her own story on how she grew up and what she’s currently doing was greatly helpful to writing an accurate Bio.

Information on Le Biennale de Montreal

Biennale, (29 Mar. 2019), Retrieved from https://www.bnlmtl.org/2019/03/what-will-happen-to-la-biennale-de-montreal/

This article posted by La Biennale talks about what has happened to the organization and what the future holds for it. I thought it would be interesting to look into because they had reached out to Julie to ask her to join. As a prominent part of the Montreal art scene, I thought it was important information when looking into Julie who is still active in the Montreal arts community

Chute, Hillary. “Life or Something Like It.” Artforum International, 25 July 2014, www.artforum.com/slant/hillary-chute-on-julie-doucet-s-my-new-york-diary-47566.

I chose this review to use because it was clearly written by a person with knowledge of who Julie Doucet was and was familiar with her works. I also chose it because of its analysis of the memoir and its relevance to the topic.

Doucet, Julie. “‘I Really Had to Reinvent Myself’: An Interview with Julie Doucet.” Los Angeles Review of Books, lareviewofbooks.org/article/i-really-had-to-reinvent-myself-an-interview-with-julie-doucet/#!

This was an interview with Julie that I referenced in the interviews section. I believe that it was a good one to use because it seemed to really make Julie think about her answers and challenged her. While it challenged her though, it also felt like a more normal conversation where the topics of each question flowed from Julie’s previous responses.

Doucet, Julie. “MY NEW YORK DIARY by Julie Doucet.” Kirkus Reviews, www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/julie-doucet/my-new-york-diary/.

I chose this review because it was a short, sweet and to the point review of My New York Diary.

Kind, / Library. “Grotesque Dollhouse: A Close Reading of Julie Doucet's My New York Diary.” Library Kind, 16 Oct. 2018, librarykind.wordpress.com/2018/03/01/rotten-dollhouse-a-close-reading-of-julie-doucets-my-new-york-diary/.

I chose to use this article because it features an extremely in-depth analysis of Doucet’s work that goes far beyond what my level of comprehension was. It was interesting to read about the metaphorical insights that the author found and I felt they were representative of the critical reception of the memoir.

Official, Partizan. “MY NEW NEW YORK DIARY - Short Film - Julie Doucet & Michel Gondry (2008).” YouTube, YouTube, 8 July 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-vs5hZu744.

This is one of the few times that Julie has been in the media and so I thought it would be fitting to use, especially because it relates to the topic.

Rollmann, Hans. “The Compulsive Artist: An Interview With Julie Doucet.” PopMatters, PopMatters, 24 Feb. 2018, www.popmatters.com/the-compulsive-artist-an-interview-with-julie-doucet-2495446385.html.

This was an interview in which Julie discusses her career as a comic and her reasons for quitting. I thought that it was a good interview to use because it was the only interview I found in which Julie touched on how her work being seen as feminist annoyed her. I thought that that was an interesting bit of irony.