Metacognition: Readin Michael K

The first sentence grabbed me right away. It established how we perceive his face for the rest of the novel. No matter how anybody imagines how K looks, everyone will see him with the harelip. Moving on... everything seems to hold the same value or importance to the narrator, to Michael, and to the reader. "His mother is sick." Mkay. "The house is devastated." Mkay. "He wanted a permit." Mkay. It's hard to find out what is significant and what is not... but the story is easy to retain, so I feel as though I can just hold on to thoughts and organize them and decide later. Also, we don't see a whole lot of Michael K's thinking. We see what he does, what he sees and hears and smells and tastes, but not how he feels about it. Or at least not yet. But even though we have not yet peered into the Mind of Michael K, we can still learn so much about him from what we are told... There's just more "figuring out" to do. I like this book so far.

Metacognition: FInishing a Short Story

Thursday Night... I knew what I wanted to happen in my short story next... I even had some idea of what I wanted to happen after that. I knew exactly what my characters would think of the situation i throw them into, so I started typing. Soon, however, I just found myself typing, "Mollie did this, and that's how she felt about it." I've never read a short story that just told me everything that went on, action and emotion both. So, reading my story, I thought, Is there anything to discuss about the story? ANd I decided I needed to make it less final, less literal. I need to make sure the story can continue after the text stops. There needs to be some feeling to leave with the reader, not just a "That's all, folks." I'm getting there, it just needs a little more work.