Read an essay in which a writer describes writing the same story from several different points of view, just to get down the details. Then she actually writes the story.
Umm...wow.
The story I submitted, the one I've been obsessing over, is the story of the day I met Katie's birth mother. Most of it was posted here at the time. It's written in first person, as it was lived.
By that, I mean--I didn't give a thought to what was in Nancy's mind as she walked up to or through my front door. I wrote about my nerves, my self-talk. I did not mention hers because I couldn't. I have no idea what it was.
What an exercise it would be to write that day in third person, to put on the hat of omniscience and imagine the view from the far side of the mother equation. Of course, it would be pure fiction. But, in its own way, so is the story I wrote, which kind of presumes that mine was the only heart breaking that afternoon.
Damn. AFGO*
*another freaking growth opportunity
4 comments:
Those AFGOs are everywhere! I hope you'll write that story and share it with us.
I love/hate FGOs.
Here's to experiencing AFGOs often.
That you are ready to step outside yourself to imagine another point of view proves you have already grown.
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