Experiment: Writing with literary techniques of Magical Realism
at Big Buddha Viewpoint
Techniques: Exaggeration, Hybridity, Anthropomorphism, Personification, Surrealism and Myth
Experimental Process:
Step 1: Go to the location and begin with exercises that open awareness and focus attention. Practice one of these exercises for 10-20 minutes.
Exercises to practice: Touring the space and writing observations
Happy Meditation – Using what is suggested by the location
I spy – identifying the dominant and marginal images/narratives
Asking/answering questions about the space to oneself or others
Reading, listening to, and researching stories of the space.
Automatic Writing about the space
Step 2: Find a spot that feels good for writing. Set up a video camera, with a view of myself and as much of the location as possible, to document the writing process. Test out the technique of magical realism to create story fragments in relation to the space and what occupies it. Use the observations gathered as seeds to inspire playful writing with each technique. Test out one technique at a time for each experiment. Give the technique a full investigation for 30-60 minutes.
Techniques to use: Myth, Hybridity, Surrealism, Personification, Anthropomorphism and Exaggeration.
Step 3: Ask questions about the fragments I have written during the experiment. (5 minutes) Questions to ask:
-How does the magic function in relation to its realist counterpart, and vice versa?
-How do the two codes correspond with the text’s other narrative elements – aspects such as characterization, narration, and thematics – as well as in relation to the entire narrative web? -How are the narrative and its author and critics responding to their historical milieu?
Step 4: Evaluate how these fragments are operating. Is the text focused more on subversion (magic as a subversive agent), suspension (magic and realism as incompatible – producing textual voids) or summation (materializing and constructing what is missing)? How is that mode of operation related or informed to the space? (5-10minutes)
Step 5: Rewrite and/or story-map these fragments into a magical realism story that is informed by one or more ways of operating and tells a story of what could happen here. (10-20 minutes)
Step 6: Reflect on the processes of the experiment by answering questions. (After the experiment is finished in another location)
-Did the exercises practiced for Step 1 lead to observational seeds that could be developed? Which exercises worked or did not work? Could any of the exercises be changed?
-Did the technique from Step 2 lead to workable fragments? Was the technique challenging to use and why? Does it need to be practiced or understood further? -How was the writing process informed by Step 3 and 4?
-What steps were challenging or could be changed?
-Does this experiment give any insight toward the initial question?
-How do I see these stories through different lenses?: traveler, local, alien(local outsider) -How did this process feel?
Reflection Questions for story fragments:
-What can I verify about this story?
-How does it make me or others consider touristic practices?
-Is the magical component obvious or developed enough?
-Is the realistic component obvious or developed enough?
-What are your thoughts or perceptions about this space after encountering this story? -What parts of the story are recognizable aspects of the place?
-What themes are emerging from writing about this place?
(Only after all of the techniques are completed)
Step 7: Practice one of the exercises from Step 1. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 with all of the experiment outcomes of Step 5 paying close attention to the space. Repeat Step 5 with all of the material gathered. Brainstorm the ways would you present or compile this greater story of the place. (60 minutes)
