What comes out at 3.47am (post-it note to self: drink less coffee)
It started as a rash around the bottom of my monitor. Mostly references I didn't have time to check and questions for later consideration:
As it spread to the upper edges, motivational tips began to appear:
It began to creep from screen to pin-board to wall, then not just in books but all over them, and a few even sprouted in surprising places like the back of my phone and in pockets I never used. I found them stuck to the bottom of shoes I only wear 'out' and, in the kitchen, ingredients for saffron chicken were accompanied by pithy quotes from Barthes and McLuhan. The back of the door developed a reminder of my deteriorating mental state:
I really became concerned when I woke one morning to find my bedside table alive with lurid yellow notes like a swarm of paper butterflies – noisy thoughts I'd released during the night. Yesterday, I scratched an itch at my collar and my hand returned with a note attached:
In the shower last night, I looked down to see a pulpy yellow lump bleeding inky ideas down the drain. This morning, I dreamed I had a post-it note epidermis – millions of scaly yellow reminders obscuring what used to be a pink fleshy person. This is worse than the time I reached into my handbag for a pen and produced a mouse. It has to stop.
As it spread to the upper edges, motivational tips began to appear:
It began to creep from screen to pin-board to wall, then not just in books but all over them, and a few even sprouted in surprising places like the back of my phone and in pockets I never used. I found them stuck to the bottom of shoes I only wear 'out' and, in the kitchen, ingredients for saffron chicken were accompanied by pithy quotes from Barthes and McLuhan. The back of the door developed a reminder of my deteriorating mental state:
I really became concerned when I woke one morning to find my bedside table alive with lurid yellow notes like a swarm of paper butterflies – noisy thoughts I'd released during the night. Yesterday, I scratched an itch at my collar and my hand returned with a note attached:
In the shower last night, I looked down to see a pulpy yellow lump bleeding inky ideas down the drain. This morning, I dreamed I had a post-it note epidermis – millions of scaly yellow reminders obscuring what used to be a pink fleshy person. This is worse than the time I reached into my handbag for a pen and produced a mouse. It has to stop.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
What affect does the inclusion of the notes have? Does it contribute significantly more than if I'd typed the messages? Immediacy. Trueness to form. I went back and reduced the size of the 'keys' note, because I think it works better smaller - to discover that after reading the text before it has more impact? If I were doing this in book form, I'd put that on the following page to delay the 'reveal' - manipulation of pace and reading experience by holding out, like a dramatic pause?
Comments
I think you're right about immediacy. And I think you're more likely to back-scan and read the images alone a second time - and maybe they lodge in your memory in more complete form than text would.
Btw, have a copy of 'The invention of Hugo Cabret' and it is truely a thing of beauty. Reading it now -haven't yet made up my mind whether it breaks new ground. Enjoying it, though...
And I've finally posted to More than words. Phew.
Greg
PS. When you've typed up your trial workshop notes, would be interested to have a looksee.
Greg, I think the 'back-scanning' point is important - one of the recurring themes in a lot of the books I've looked at is memory (loss), and using images as a tool for memory recall is a whole dissertation in itself (that I'm sure has been done but I don't need any more to read right now!)I had to refer to Wikipedia to figure out what anarchic hand syndrome was (I like that it's sometime called Dr Strangelove Syndrome) and I wish mine would develop to writing more than post-it notes!
Thanks to both of you for comments, it's always great to get some feedback.
http://www.gandy-gallery.com/exhib/joseph_grigely/exhib_joseph_grigely.html
Cris
xx Nicki