#withastolenlantern

[aandrezel]

Let's never do this, but I'd be totally in if you ever want to get matching "it's you it's me it's dancing" tattoos complete with the weird like, monster character from the music video.

Let’s never do that, but YES.

[aandrezel]

#24. You definitely switch POV perspectives and I'm curious as to the rationale.

24. Do you prefer first or third person?  Why?

There are a couple of different reasons why some parts of Mementos are third person and some are first person. Jan and Ferdinand’s parts are in third person, but the narration is colored by their thoughts and perspective. In Ferdinand’s case, this is because he’s just the kind of person who is so... deliberate that I find it’s a good way of conveying the sense of distance with which he handles even himself, and particularly his emotions. In Jan’s case, it’s because he’s spent SO much time alone in his life that his internal monologue is a way of having a companion and keeping himself entertained. An internal kind of external consumption, I suppose? Mary’s use of the first person is more complicated. There is absolutely the fact that she would think of her thoughts as her thoughts, and prefer the directness of the ownership conveyed in “I”. But there are... other reasons, too, which the reader discovers as the story unfolds. All three choices are very intentional, though.

[aandrezel]

4, Mary.

4. If you could have one power/attribute/etc. of this character, what would it be?

Several hours of my time every day are spent in contemplation of the phrase, “I don’t want it; I have never wanted it,” and the implications thereof. Would I want the truly awesome responsibility of Mary Smith? I don’t know. I don’t think so, but I do certainly seem to be fascinated by the question.

On the more familiar scale, I recently wrote a short description of one of our characters as:

“He’s really somehow the combination of all of them: Helena’s straightforward, generous practicality; Ferdinand’s brilliance and caution; Mary’s fire and genius and impatience and indomitability; Jan’s curiosity and humor and gentleness and exuberance; Mikhail and Parnaße and Elsa’s sense of selfless dedication to a higher authority.”

Fire and genius and impatience and indomitability. I’d settle for even a fraction of Mary’s.

[aandrezel]

@withastolenlantern Oh the administration knows actually and it’s completely fine? I am a very weird combination of various degrees of ‘out’ at work.

[aandrezel]

22

22 (Truth) - Three things I’m looking forward to:

1) Seeing you on Sunday!

2) Going for lots of walks when I get home to Pennsylvania.

3) Sending out another Mementos update in the next week or so.

[aandrezel]

[aandrezel]

[aandrezel]

@withastolenlantern — I know you didn’t specifically ask, but I figure you’re always here for new and terrible song associations with Gert de Leeuw.

“And when the crowd becomes your burden / And you’ve early closed your curtain / I’ll wait by the backstage door / While you try to find / The lines to speak your mind / And pry it open / Hoping / For an encore / And if it gets too late / For me to wait / For you to find you love me and tell me so / It’s okay / You don’t need to say it—“ Fiona Apple, I Know