Last Friday I had an idea of something that could develop into my final project for this class. I want to put this idea on paper, and flesh it out a as a means of moving it forward.

I would have my project brought into 3 parts.

Part 1: Will be the Short Story, Currently I’ve been having these ideas for stories that centre around people learning something about themselves or confronting some deeper personal issues on the beach. The first idea that I had, centred around two old high school friends running into each other in the township. The second, which I think it the most potent idea, has two narratives, the first is about a recently divorced man and a morning he spends at the beach after he sleeps with a random stranger. The second will centre around the stranger, and her night at the Casino before ‘picking up’ the Man. I could envision this project going to around 2000 words.

Part 2: I would like to adapt one of these moments into a short 1-2 minute film, as a way of visually supporting the writing.

Part 3: I would like to film some kind of video essay, potentially with me in the RMIT greenroom, talking about how water/the beach function in classic texts and how my short story and visual piece (and the world I have created) fits in with this.

When I do write this, I’ll need to think of how my world fits in, or doesn’t fit in with these worlds. I don’t need to make this a super strict or academic video essay. But I do need to a main objective, and I think if my objective is simply to compare and contrast (my world and these famous beach worlds) It should be relevant.

E.G This is this world, This is how the world relates to the protagonist, then this is my world and this is how my world relates to my protagonist.

Reveals a truth/Baptism of sorts.

The Swimmer, by John Cheever, whose works largely concerns himself with the decay, the rot, behind the beautiful charade of suburban American middle class life. Depicts its protagonist on a pristine, dreamlike summers day. The protagonist sets himself a goal to symbolically through a sea of pools to his own, the day symbolically (again that word) grows colder and the protagonist begins to comprehend the truth behind his world, that indeed his world his fake and friends are pretend, rather surrealistically, his old life, or his old idea of his life, fades away. It’s also a stripping away of his ego. Maybe in my short story, the lead character of mine begins to learn something about his past? Maybe he too needs to lose some ego? This example would be of the beach, as a place of renewal. The Beach as a place of moving forward.

Other Beach Texts

• Cloudstreet (It plays an untrusting God)
• Rabbit Run (no water, no renewal)
• Mad Men
• The Wind in the Willows
• Heart of Darkness
• Of Mice and Men (a place they go as a refuge and ultimately to die)

How will the idea of world influence my writing? Think about this as I work on my piece.

What inspiration can I draw from when creating this world?