Day 859: 5 Minute Freewrite: Wednesday - Prompt: insider

mgaft1 (67)in #freewritehouse • 5 years ago (edited)

For @mariannewest in @freewrite

When writing a story the hardest part for me is a character's back story. Why? Because I am not an insider to American or, in the grand scheme of things, to the Western culture.

When I was growing up, from an early age I was spoonfed with the ideals of communism and the practice of socialism. I was a member of all kinds of young communist leagues starting from the age of 7 and on. I was supposed to read and be fairly familiar with the important works of Marx and Lenin and what has happened on different congresses of the Soviet Communist Party. I was supposed to condemn the evil influence of decaying capitalism and greet the confident gait of the most progressive societal formation that gave me such a happy childhood.

Fast-forwarding to today, when I finally have some spare time to write, I find myself an outsider to the culture where I live. By that, I don't mean I don't watch movies or TV shows, isolated from taxes and bills.

But I don't know what makes the western person tick. I can't travel to his childhood and understand, in which way has he or she been brainwashed, what they have been spoonfed, how the world was opening up to them.

You might say...well why don't you write about your childhood and your country? Ah... because Americans are not interested. Well not completely. But there are only certain roles that a foreigner can assume in the American fictional universe. It could be either a person who has suffered from communism and who looks up for the Western world as a panacea. It could be a comic relief character who speaks in broken English and does silly things. Or it could be a spy or a gangster.

I recall reading the novel of a German writer Erich Maria Remarque by the name of "Shadows in Paradise" about german antifascists who escapes Nazi Germany and ran to America. One of these people worked at the movie studio and had to play Nazies. He despised this role but was said by the director that he's still would make a better nazi than an American actor would. )

The protagonist by default could only be an American. That's why I love "finish the story" contests so much, where the backstory is already taken care of by the first writer and it is so easy to fake your insider knowledge.

#freewrite #writing #life #mind #memories #culture #childhood

5 years ago in #freewritehouse by mgaft1 (67)

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freewritehouse (67) 5 years ago

The joy of writing (and reading) fiction is to insert ourselves into other peoples lives!

Thanks for joining in the Daily Freewrite! Do you know about the Freewriters Community (hive-161155). It is run by the @freewritehouse and it is a place you can post your freewites (and you'll find the daily prompt there, the new Freewriters Daily curation newsletter and lots more things. Please consider posting to the new community (instead of using freewritehouse as your first tag please use hive-161155)

Have a lovely day!

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mgaft1 (67) 5 years ago

Thank you! Yes, I am a member of this community and currently am trying to reinstate ongoing we-write contests. This prompt allowed me to outline the reasons why I value that so much :)

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wakeupkitty (75) 5 years ago

Why should you write about the western person? It would be a good start if you stop thinking of every country in the Western world is the same. If I watch American films I feel an outsider too. Not many Dutch people will recognize their lives in it.
It's filled with scolding, drama queens, cursing, antisocial behavior, greed, religion is not our thing and it's very hard to believe they are good Christians.
In the Netherlands, they say the USA is the biggest madhouse in the world.
Write about your own experiences, put something of you in it. If it comes to it all humans are equal. We are all raised by parents or grannies, went to school, were brainwashed, suffered or had fun, we read and read, write and wonder, feel and this has nothing to do with the Western world, communism or freedom.

!trdo 💕

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trendotoken (59) 5 years ago

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mgaft1 (67) 5 years ago

Thank you!

I ended up doing this. However, where can I set the place of the story? I cannot set it in USSR because this country no longer exists. I cannot set it in Europe as I haven't lived there and don't know the first thing about it except for general stereotypes and my own cultural memory. So I have to set it up in America, even without mentioning where it is set.

But again I have difficulties with creating a valid back story, as I haven’t been exposed to American schooling in my early childhood as well as I haven’t been exposed to American cultural stereotypes, its propaganda, and anti-propaganda, its cultural tidbits, perceptions, and values. I lived in this country for a while and learned quite a bit. Still, without this exposition, it is hard to have a profound understanding of "my fellow Americans", their motives and their internal world and often when I write about them I feel like an imposter. In fact, it is hard to come up with the start-up circumstances to a story, as my cultural experience would limit me to just a certain predefined set.

That’s why it is so interesting for me to participate in “finish the story” contests where the startup circumstances are given as well as the outline of the characters. I can proceed by using the “budding” method; by just follow the logic of the characters and the narrative, and attempting to imitate the style. )

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