Hatrack River Writers Workshop: "I meant to do that"

This is topic "I meant to do that" in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

Let's say you're walking down the street and all of a sudden a door opens right in front of you. You run into the door, fall backwards onto the sidewalk, and spill several grocery bags onto the ground. The eggs break, the bread gets smooshed, and a bottle of spaghetti sauce smashes over all of it. (You really should have bought the plastic jar.)

"Look before you open a door," you tell the person standing over you.

"But I meant to do that," they say. "I've been wanting to meet you for quite some time."

You notice that they are a very attractive member of the opposite sex and that in another situation you might have asked for their number, but somehow the fact that they meant to do that doesn't make it right.

*******

The same thing is true in fiction.

Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :

Imagine I am chasing you down the street smacking you upside the head with my manuscript. Is that what you mean?

Posted by pjp (Member # 3211) on :

Of course I'd be annoyed and irritated, but I'd be intrigued, depending on what followed "I meant to do that."

Posted by krazykiter (Member # 3108) on :

Lookout, everybody, Christine has been thinking again!

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

If this member of the opposite sex were attractive by my standards, I'd probably feel lucky to have gotten off with only spaghetti stains. But not more than I'd feel dumb for falling prey to such a cheap trick.

The difference between "real life" and written correspondence is that you can't accomplish much by pissing people off in writing. They stop reading your text and...that's that. You lose all power. In real life, most people can't effectively make you disappear simply by ignoring you.

So the analogy isn't perfect. Knocking someone over as a way of grabbing attention works just fine in real life, doesn't work at all in writing.

Posted by Beth (Member # 2192) on :

wow. If someone deliberately physically assaults me in order to meet me, I'm thinking "psycho stalker" and filing a police report, not "oh, how attractive" or "oh, that works just fine."

Posted by mommiller (Member # 3285) on :

I have to agree with Beth, but I would also add a good restraining order to the police report.

If the perp is good looking does it mean it is a lesser crime? Or that it is more forgivable, such as when a favorite author disappoints?

Interesting, although I have to say, a story that falters by a good author is still a faulty story.

Posted by Wusong101 (Member # 3320) on :

mommiller--
it may be a good example.

Posted by trousercuit (Member # 3235) on :

Let's say you're having a conversation with a friend about a very hot topic over which you generally disagree. All of the sudden, he chucks an overwrought analogy at you - the kind that seems to be very heavy in meaning, even though it's not - knocking you back onto the ground. Several of your ideas for future avenues of, um, conversational exploration spill onto the floor, rolling in all directions like disembodied eyeballs.

"That was really uncalled-for, you know," you tell him as you scramble to pick them up.

"But I meant to do it," he says. "I've been saving that up for weeks!"

Somehow, that doesn't make it all better.

*******

The same thing is true in forum posts.

Now please excuse me while I make a run for the door.

Posted by RedSakana (Member # 3127) on :

Ah, but what if it was intentional, but they don't tell you? Instead, they appologize and offer to pay for the damaged groceries and maybe take you out for coffee after? And let's say they've pulled this trick so smoothly that it never occurs to you that they've done it on purpose.

If it never occurs to you to ask whether the author meant to do something, then can't they get away with it? I think the problem arises if you notice that something is off, point it out, and get the response "I meant to do that."

(Note: This is not meant to be an argument that *I* can get away with this. When I knock people down, they tend to notice that I meant to do it )

Posted by The Fae-Ray (Member # 3084) on :

Do you mean this in the literal way? Or is it a comparison?

Using incorrect grammar but saying you meant to do it still doesn't make it right. It may be a style, but you can really only get away with that kind of thing in dialogue, and only sometimes then. And just because [i]you[/] understand the style doesn't mean your reader will. You could confuse them to no end, and never fix it.

Reading it in the literal way now:
If that happened, I'd personally be curious about this person that knocked me over and claimed to know me. Wouldn't the reader be too? As a reader, I'd want to know who this person is. The reader may not think what has happened is right, but if you work it right their curiosity will overcome that sense of unjustice.

Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :

I don't know about meeting hot babes by running into doors, but I definitely get what Christine's saying. You may have meant to do it, but I didn't want it done!

...and sometimes it's over something legitimate (although usually I think it's inexperience). For example, "Eleanor Rigby." It's good music, and disturbingly good writing. But it introduces me to despair over loneliness, which is not something I needed introducing to. So it may be good . . . but not for me.

Posted by pantros (Member # 3237) on :

And this is why I kept that quote:

"Readers are the audience, not the victims."

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

No, they're victims. But you have to find ways to get them to volunteer. If they don't, then they aren't readers, are they?

Posted by CoriSCapnSkip (Member # 3228) on :

Reminds me of the "masher" in "Happy Days" who advised meeting women by running your grocery cart into theirs in the supermarket.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

I just watched a really wretched student film. I mean, it was bad.

The trick? Well, I watched it from the POV of a friend of the students making the film. Let me make this clear, I'm not the friend. Rather, the episode of the show was from the POV of a character who is, in the show, the friend of the characters making the film. I'm watching the film, but listening to his internal commentary on it. His narration made it clear that he was well aware of the film's defects.

Oh, and the students making the film were characters in an anime. That's right, the film; with all these obvious artifacts of bad acting, clumsy cinematography, incoherent writing and scripting, low budget visual effects, and ad libbing, was itself hand drawn one frame at a time (Okay, I know they don't do it by hand anymore, so spare me).

It was brilliant. When the episode ended, I was actually disappointed to find out that they weren't going to do one of these crappy movies in the next episode. Particularly given how my mind was blown by one of the mistakes near the end of the film. It was...amazing. I was amazed.

I suppose that the lesson here is that you shouldn't have to say "I meant to do that". Either it should be obvious that you're doing it on purpose, or it should be invisible.