Not that 8th period classes are boring, it's just that it's the last period of the day; my skin starts to crawl anxious to go home, or things begin to look blurry and I begin to nod off. Walking into 8th period, it seemed like the same routine, just like any other day, but today was different. Today we learned about Marianne Wiggins' way of structuring her book, Shadow Catcher, which acted like caffeine. I was wide awake, on the edge of my chair, anxious to learn more about her structure.
Dwelling on how Wiggins set up her book, my brain went wild. Ideas and questions began rushing into my head the more in depth we looked into her work. Attempting to answer the question of why the book was in three parts, rather than just revolving around "Edward and Clara," my mind went blank. I began questioning why there is a character version of Wiggins AND the author version of Wiggins. Blankly thinking as I was sitting in my chair, I was stumped.
Just like Wiggins said they would, realizations came rushing into my head out of the blue. What Wiggins was trying to portray was deeper than just explaining the story of "Edward and Clara." She wanted to do more than just tell a story; she wanted to show what she thought about "Edward and Clara" and explain her perspective. Constructing a three-part braided story is such an original idea to me. Without a single part of the three-part braided story, the story just would not be complete. Completely changing the book just by constructing the setup differently blew my mind.
I began to think how I did not notice this at all when Tim O'brien's The Things They Carried, as Mr. Allen mentioned he did. Then I smiled to myself because I think I've matured mentally and now capable of understanding this process. One thought kept leading to another as I continued to ponder this idea. I was awestruck at how creative and smart Wiggins approached this book and I knew that this was the best of today.
Although I wish I could make a connection, I can't. This idea is so brand new to me, I did not know how to relate to the situation and I was disappointed. However, I looked past that and began to think how I could use this for my own in the future. I could see myself using this to benefit my writing skills or simply thinking out of the box more. Creativity has always been a struggle for me, but Wiggins inspired me to do more than just the typical student would do. Looking deeper into ideas is what I want to be able to do not only in my future writing, but also in my day to day thinking process.
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