Last week (two weeks ago? Tough to keep track at this point.) I posted something about "understanding" what a profile is, or how to go about writing one. I have since realized that I still am very confused. For the first draft of my profile I wrote essentially the chronology of my subjects life, with what I thought was a separate theme braided in. I was happy with the draft, but after receiving comments I quickly learned that I was still very far from the elusive "profile" and was left thoroughly miffed. I am still grappling with these questions: what is a profile? and how do I write one? These frustrations have run me head on into one of the worst writers blocks of my life and I have not been about to produce a second draft of my profile. For like of a better word, this is incredibly frustrating for me.
But how does this tie into this week at all? How does this pertain to Telling True Stories? Well, I looked to this weeks reading with hope that I might find something enlightening enough to lift my writers block and allow me to get back on track with this course. I was left semisatisfied.
Coincidentally enough, it was Jon Franklin that provided the most helpful advice from this weeks reading. On page 127, in the third full paragraph he asserts,
"While the writer must draw a true portrait of the character, its can't ever be a complete one; no writer can capture a whole person. Every person is involved in many parallel, consecutive stories. I am a writer, teacher, gardener, father, dog owner, and husband. A story about me couldn't possibly include all those elements. The reporter usually ends up choosing just one facet of a persona's life. In a story about a music teacher and her mentorship on one student, her personal life doesn't matter. If the story is about her life as a barfly six nights a week, then mentoring of the student probably doesn't figure in the story. A writer chooses what matters."
This hasen't helped me to nail down a second draft just yet but it has allowed me to think of profile in a different way. Profile is not about painting a complete picture of somebody, it is about sharing one of their stories or facets of there life and allowing readers to use that as a window through which to examine that person. I know I just said that this wasn't terribly helpful but physically writing out that last sentence lead to tremendous break though. I have to go try and write a second draft with this inspiration. You've all just witnessed the creative process.
TL;DR- I am sorry for being behind, I have hit a roadblock in the quarter/ in my writing and I am doing my best to get back on track. Fortunately, Jon Franklin saved the day again and I am feeling inspired. Going to go write a second draft.
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