One of the reasons I am most excited to be studying English is that it’s giving me the vocabulary to talk about stories the way I’ve always wanted to talk about them. For example, for the last week I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the difference between “Narrative” and “Story”, a distinction that’s purely academic but at the same time very significant.
Basically, the “story” is what happens, and the “narrative” is how you tell what happens.
See? Simple. But little things like this make me very happy. The ability to talk critically and intelligently about my work with people equipped with the right vocabulary to help me improve my work is amazing! Or will be, when we get to that point… as it is I’m just getting the foundational stuff laid out.
In three days, the summer term courses become available to enroll for. I’m hoping to do another 2-4 classes over the summer, depending on how Laurier breaks up the terms. At least 2 more courses, though. And with a couple first-year courses completed, hopefully I can do some of the more advanced stuff for the summer. Oooh, exciting!
I’ve also decided that for the rest of the semester, when I’m not doing homework between classes, I’m going to write short stories. It’s a format I still struggle with, and that usually means doing more practice. My current novel has a bit of poetry in it, and that’s been like pulling teeth, but at least I’m trying.
Anyway! Hurray for having the right words for the things I’m trying to do!