Story Structure
“Yes,” said Addie, great granddaughter of Addie Kline, twin sister of Betty, script girl who disappeared. “She went for a hike and never came back. Search teams looked, but they didn’t find her.”
“Where was this?” Bernie said.
“Death Valley. She was working on the Greed shoot. My great grandmother Addie was never the same, my mom told me. Apparently she felt that part of her soul was missing. I just wanted to know if you found out anything. I don’t like stories without endings.”
“Stories without endings is the modern way,” Bernie said.
“I know,” Addie said, “but that seems perverse to me. Our lives have a beginning, middle and end, so why shouldn’t the stories about them have the same structure?”
“I don’t know,” Bernie said. “This is above my pay grade. Are you a professor or something?”
Addie smiled. “In training.”
“Got any money?”
“Some. Why?”
“We’re going to need some heavy equipment, a backhoe maybe, for a day or so.”
“What for?”
Bernie turned to me. “I think Chet knows.”
Oops. Hadn’t really been following this, mostly on account of some interesting scraps I was finding under the table.
Tags: Addie, Greed case, script girl
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 7:43 am and is filed under Chet The Dog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
3:10 am on October 28th, 2009
Wow! Bernie is going after the skull….he doesn't know he is going after the skull….but he is going after the skull!
3:43 am on October 28th, 2009
Yes!! The skull might be found. Chet will show Bernie the way and Bernie is so smart he realizes that.
(Chet, tell Addie that there is nothing "perverse" about metafiction as a story structure. And stream of consciousness as a writing technique is really very realistic. If she is going to teach in the humanities, she needs to be open to many things, including open endings…which are different from cliff-hangers.)
4:42 am on October 28th, 2009
I like a story with a beginning, a middle, some more middle, a little more beginning.. Well you get the idea. Hate to get to the end of things. Like marrow bones. Not that those are ever really finished, but after the middle is gone it just isn't the same.
11:14 am on October 28th, 2009
B. Stover, I agree with you about structure in today's literary paradigm. I don't think we ever really recovered from the likes of _Catch 22_; post-post-modern is in. Open endings feel, to me, more true to life.
Lady Doodle Dog, that is profound!
Wojo likes the middle, too. He likes being *in* the middle. In the thick of it. When other dogs are running after balls, he's running after them! When retriever pups want to play, he herds them to the edge of the water! When a high-speed collision with another pooch seems certain, he's sailing through the air over the almost-crash! And taking a tremendous nose dive. Into the mud. Or, several nose dives. Well, all over the shoulder and along his side, really, but I'm sure it'll come out with brushing. The point is, Wojo likes the middle too. He showed me at the dog park today.
3:06 am on October 29th, 2009
Me? Profound? Why thank you Rebecca.
7:32 pm on November 6th, 2009
B. Stover, Not sure I understand the term 'metafiction.' I looked it up in dictionary.com, but it was a little too circular for me. If you have the time, could you clue me in?
Rebecca, just today, someone IM'd me to suggest reading Catch-22. How weird is that? Not sure I would understand it, but I'll be browsing for Heller's book in the stacks at the library.
…ivy
P.S. Sorry, Chet. I am digressing here, and I'm really lacking in understanding. geesh.