Yusuf: Science Fiction Novel

Due to last week's unconventional structure, the IP team was privileged to meet with new (albeit temporary) iPeople from grades 8 to 12.  One of the students who graced our building was freshman Yusuf K.  A polite and quiet young man, Yusuf came to us desiring to work on a science fiction (#scifi) novel.  He informed us that his course load does not permit him much time to work on the piece, so he wished to capitalize upon the week's freedom in order to generate substantial material.

After reading several of his drafts as well as discussing the writing with the artist, I am convinced that Yusuf holds immense promise.  Without giving too much away, I wish to share some details of his story.  Through the narrator's commentary, the reader learns of a mechanized planet that resembles something of District 13 of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games Trilogy.  Barren at the surface, yet a highly developed military complex beneath, Siferith is an enormous planet that is said to dwarf galaxies.  One product of this civilization is the Tribulis, a horrendous machine stolen from the narrator and insidiously reappropriated.

Yusuf weaves strong visual descriptions throughout his prose, evoking images of plants and landscapes that are perceived holistically and felt immediately.  He is no novice of lore, for while editing, he constantly spirals back to earlier pieces in order to thicken the soup, to add events and details of his world's history.  To continue his expansion as a writer, he would benefit from an in-depth exploration of punctuation and may want to consider the "show" vs. "tell" rule.  He and I began this work with me modeling the process.

Of course, this partnership lasted for but an instant.  The drawback - no...the necessary product - of explorative, innovative periods such as last week's is the residual questions that remain suspended, tantalizingly, in front of the mind.  What if this week's structure became the modus operandi for a school-wide curriculum? What if this freshman-soon-to-be-sophomore continued this intensive work by joining IP?

What if...?

What do you think of Yusuf's work? Do you have a question for him? Please post in the comments section below.

Description of 1st image:  A graphic of Cyberton of The Transformers:  The Movie (1986), a mechanized planet not unlike Yusuf's.  Picture located at www.ign.com.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the image above.

Khaled: Alisa Kwitney &​ Graphic Novel Writing

To hone his writing abilities as he generates content for his graphic novel, Khaled (known as "K.") has enlisted Kildonan's Literature teacher Alisa Kwitney (@akwitney) as his advisor.  Kwitney is no newcomer to the genre.  Author of more than six books, former full editor at Vertigo (@vertigo_comics), and former editor at DC Comics (@DCComics), Kwitney continues to maintain an active presence in the world of comics and graphic novels even today.  She approaches her professional relationship with K. with an indefatigable sense of humor and a stress upon endurance.  No less importantly, she has given K. a new framework in which to write.  Below she discusses the mindset with which a writer must approach that structure:

When you're writing a comic book script, you're writing with a very specific reader in mind -- the artist. The artist is your first and probably your most careful reader, because she or he will have to go back over your panel descriptions again and again. Your artist will have to study your words until he or she sees them from all angles and can draw them on the page. So, in order to write well for the artist, the writer has to become the artist.

Before his advisorship with Ms. Kwitney, K. composed his graphic novel using typical prose.  His narrative consisted of long, descriptive paragraphs that encouraged the reader to generate, in his/​her mind's eye, every image.  Since his working relationship with Ms. Kwitney, however, K. has learned that images place certain constraints upon his writing, for better and for worse.  He has abandoned his uninterrupted prose for an organizer that allows him to think in shots, in panels, and in pages (not unlike a cinematographer).

Those panels that an audience finds visually stimulating are quite surprising.  A panel in which a character walks down the street or engages in a prolonged car chase is frozen (unlike in a movie).  The image, despite its narrative potential, is unexciting for its repetitious visuals.  A panel in which a character busts through a wall executes an abrupt action that does not repeat.  The image is exciting AND possesses narrative potential.  Ultimately, K. continues to experiment with this "visual writing" by playing with silences.  He is starting to explore what an image can say without the accompaniment of words.

What do you think? Do you have a suggestion or question for K.? Please post in the comments section below.

Description of 1st image:  Alisa Kwitney, pictured.  Image located at www.alisakwitney.com.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the above photo.

Description of 2nd image:  A draft of a comic book in-progress.  Image located at www.wikihow.com.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership over the above photo.

Khaled: Graphic Novels & Fantasy

Khaled: OCPD

As he progresses further and further into his graphic novel, Khaled (affectionately known as "K.") has begun to refine the characterization of his protagonist, Desmond.  Possessing both the spirits of Order and Chaos, this man is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and oscillates between stoicism and wildness.  He also happens to possess OCPD:  Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder.

OCPD is NOT to be confused with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  Whereas OCD is specifically an anxiety disorder, OCPD is a personality disorder marked by an overwhelming desire to control one's own environment.  As defined on psychology.com, it is "characterized by a preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and mental and interpersonal control, at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency."

K. found OCPD through a humorous song produced by the YouTube channel Rhett and Link (@rhettandlink).  As they go on to explain in the following video, however, neither OCPD or OCD are a laughing matter.  And this pain is EXACTLY what K. intends to bring out in his graphic novel.  How he will do so remains to be seen...

Khaled: The Hero's Journey

"The Hero's Journey," pictured above.  Photo located at lincoln.debbieyoon.com.  Kildonan and its IP program claim no ownership of this graphic.

Ever the fantasy and graphic novel aficionado, Khaled (affectionately known as "K.") has been researching American mythologist, lecturer, and writer Joseph Cambell (@jcf_org).  Until his death in 1987, Campbell explored comparative mythology and comparative religion in such works as The Masks of God, The Power of Myth, and The Hero with a Thousand Faces.  K. found the latter particularly fascinating in that Campbell proposes a sort of pattern according to which, hypothetically, all fantasy narratives unfold.  He termed this form "the hero's journey" or "the monomyth"; this second term is especially meaningful in that it imbues this structure with progenitive power as a sort of "parent" to all fantasy stories across the world. 

Theoretically, "the monomyth" holds that fantasy narratives consist of twelve to seventeen steps:  (1) the call to action, (2) refusal of the call, (3) supernatural aid, (4) crossing the threshold, (5) belly of the whale, (6) the road of trials, (7) the meeting with the goddess, (8) woman as temptress, (9) atonement with the father, (10) apotheosis, (11) ultimate boon, (12) refusal of the return, (13) the magic flight, (14) rescue from without, (15) the crossing of the return threshold, (16) master of two worlds, and (17) freedom to live.  As the following graphic shows, this journey occurs between two worlds:  the "known," or ordinary, world and the "unknown," or supernatural, world.  Though various scholars and writers warn that "the hero's journey" can act as a catch-all that prevents genuine literary analysis, "the monomyth" does seem to support such well-known narratives as George Lucas's Star Wars and J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

"The Hero's Journey," pictured above.  Image located at en.wikipedia.org.  Kildonan and its IP program do not claim any ownership of the graphic above.

How will K. incorporate this structure into his own evolving fantastical narrative? Any questions or recommendations for K.? Please post in the comments below.

For an "IPian"-esque graphic of "the hero's journey" resembling an octopus, please see below.  Picture located on thethinkingbusiness.com.

Khaled: "The Observer Effect" and "The Double-Slit Experiment"

 

Khaled (a.k.a. "K.") is currently characterizing his graphic novel's protagonist according to "the observer effect."

Many scientists and laypersons know this theory through the double-slit experiment, an investigation in which electrons are fired at a wall through a plate containing two slits.  In the following educational video, physicist Fred Alan Wolf (a.k.a. Dr. Quantum) (@Doctor_Quantum) gives a user-friendly overview of the experiment and its implications.

As one faculty member of the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign says, "The act of making a measurement of the electrons path [involved in the experiment] fundamentally changes the outcome of the experiment."  The IP faculty remains excited to see how K. will integrate this idea into his project.