Sherlock, Poirot and, sigh, no riddle

Don, I am so sorry that I forgot to tell you the answer to my last riddle - the one that said clickety clack whir hum… You guessed right it was the electric typewriter. And no, the answer to  my latest riddle is not an old-fashioned jukebox, but you are darn close – it’s a multi-stack CD player. Carpet? Hadn’t ever thought of bald carpet before, but I do know when I step on it.

 

 

I have to apologize. I have been focusing on solving the riddles of the final papers of my students and I have not had time or the energy to write a new riddle or to solve the ones you gave. Please leave them up for another week so I can take a shot at them.

 

Hound of the Basketballs? What an interesting fantasy that would make! If it's done from first person from the dog's point of view - what a story that would make!

 It’s interesting that you should talk about Canon Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. I’ve never, gasp, truly enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes stories. But I do have to admit that I thoroughly enjoy the new Sherlock Holmes movies and the Sherlock Holmes TV series called Elementary. Personally, I was more of an Agatha Christie fan. Hercule Poirot is a favorite in this house. I remember hearing a comment that Agatha Christie hated Poirot because of his attention to detail. I have an old copy of Agatha Christie’s Murder in Retrospect on my desk. When I’m fumbling around for words, plot, deceit, I’ll read a little bit of one of the stories; it seems to help me focus.

I’m in the process of writing the rough draft for my latest Tracker story. I’ve been struggling with the point of view – so far it’s been written in third person, but the more I read it, and the more I edited, I realize that first-person is the way to go. So sometime in the next couple of weeks, I will be rewriting 20 some odd pages that I’ve got done so far. I’ve noticed that first-person will cut out a lot of the explanation I have going on which seems to be dragging the story down.

 I followed a blog off twitter by Veronica Sicoe on point of view – she talked a bit about tension coming from immediate experience in the first-person point of view while in third person the reader gets to witness a clash of perspectives. She talks about how point of view “offers the reader a way to experience the world differently than he does every day, ”and how it affects experience of the reader. Even though Sherlock Holmes is written in third person omniscient, I always felt information was left out; that it was even withheld from the omniscient point of view. Poirot, however, is third person. The focus is on the actions and behaviors of the characters which make it feel more real. For me, even if the character is off world as in science fiction , I need to be able to relate to them. I guess I’m one of those touchy-feely type people – I want to be able to empathize or have compassion for the characters.

Well, it is time to get back to the grading.

Have a good week, everyone.

Carolyn

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