Each day offered a lecture by a mentor, an immersive excursion to inspire us to incorporate sensory details in our writing, free writing time, and four opportunities to exchange informally around the delicious food prepared by kind host, Sultana Nahar, and the friendly staff at Hermitage Srimangal. At the start of the residency, participants met with their mentors to discuss their novel-in-progress based on a submission they provided ahead of time. On the last day, participants met again with their mentors to discuss any new direction they wished to pursue following their residency experience. All those present also had a chance to read out loud a short excerpt from their work-in-progress or recent publications.
The first lecture, given by Julia Phillips, author of Disappearing Earth, shortlisted for the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction, encouraged us to articulate “What is my Story About” in a succinct premise sentence, or logline, for our projects. It should address:
Who?
Fighting whom?
Over what?
To make this exercise even more interesting, I’d like to compare loglines to clotheslines using pictures I took in Bangladesh to record the beauty of clotheslines and celebrate the work of everyone involved in doing laundry:
ABCDE
What should an ideal logline look like, A, B, C, D, or E? Let me know what you think in the comments.
Here are the premise sentences for my two manuscripts, crafted using Julia’s method:
Our Fifth Season – manuscript completed in 2021 after six major drafts; not yet sold to a publisher:
South Korean screen star, Adam, faces a baffling murder charge at home while Joanne, the American woman he loves, desperately tries to help him even though he has severed all ties between them.
Firefly – my current novel project, now in its 2nd draft; this is the project I sought to improve at the writers’ residency with the help of my mentor, Omar El Akkad:
Firefly, a courtesan in 17th-century Korea, finds that she must destroy the man she loves if she wants to avenge her family, executed by his father in a political purge.
In my view, a logline should look like clothesline D and give focused information rather than too much, too little, or too diffuse.
Do you have a logline for your narrative project? Does it answer the three key questions listed above? Please share!
This wise saying is literally carved in stones outside Kyobo Bookstore’s flagship location at the southern end of Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul. Kyoto Books was founded in 1980 and currently has ten stores in seven South Korean cities.
The lovely picture above was taken by a dear “older sister” (onni), Mel, during her latest visit to the Land of the Morning Calm this past April.
And now, for a brief Hangeul revision, decomposing and re-assembling the characters and their romanized equivalents into syllables, remembering that an “ㅇ” at the beginning of a character group is silent:
*****
ㅅ + ㅏ = 사 = s + a = sa
ㄹ + ㅏ + ㅁ = 람 = r + a + m = ram –> saram = people
ㅇ + ㅡ + ㄴ = 은 = eu + n = eun (topic marker) –> saram+eun = people (topic)
*****
ㅊ + ㅐ + ㄱ = 책 = ch + ae + k = chaek –> chaek = books
ㅇ + ㅡ + ㄹ = 을 = eu + l = eul (object marker) –> chaek+eul = books (object)
*****
ㅁ + ㅏ + ㄴ = 만 = m + a + n = man
ㄷ + ㅡ + ㄹ = 들 = d + eu + l = deul –> mandeul = create/make (verb)
ㄱ + ㅗ = 고 = k + o = ko –> ko = and
*****
ㅊ + ㅐ + ㄱ = 책 = ch + ae + k = chaek –> chaek = books
ㅇ + ㅡ + ㄴ = 은 = eu + n = eun (topic marker) –> chaek+eun = books (topic)
*****
ㅅ + ㅏ = 사 = s + a = sa
ㄹ + ㅏ + ㅁ = 람 = r + a + m = ram –> saram = people
ㅇ + ㅡ + ㄹ = 을 = eu + l = eul (object marker) –> saram+eul = people (object)
*****
ㅁ + ㅏ + ㄴ = 만 = m + a + n = man
ㄷ + ㅡ + ㄴ = 든 = d + eu + n = deun
ㄷ + ㅏ = 다 = d + a = da–> mandeunda = create/make (verb)
*****
Thanks for the picture and double thanks for helping me with the Hangeul/English, mel-onni!
p.s.: Gwanghwamun Plaza honours two of Korea’s greats. One of them is King Sejong the Great, credited with commanding the scholars of the day to devise Hangeul, a phonetic script that the average person could learn in a day, in contrast to Hanja, which takes many years of study to master.
In choosing the five instrumentals to feature in my precious half-hour of airtime, I had three goals: put listeners in a happy mood; include tunes I discovered via Jazz FM yet heard only once or twice – rare gems; and introduce fusion pieces I love.
Special thanks to Dani Ewell and William Heaton for their help with the show!
Here’s my playlist, for your enjoyment:
Out of the Cool, an Andrew A. Melzer composition played by Norm Amadio from his 2010 album, Norm Amadio and Friends
Intimate Strangers, a Roger Chong composition played by The Roger Chong Quartet, from the 2013 album, Live at the Trane
Glad, a Steve Winwood composition, played by Traffic, from their 1970 album, John Barleycorn Must Die
Ryshnychok/Earthly Mother, a P.I. Maiboroda composition interpreted by CANO – Cooperative des Artistes du Nouvel Ontario / Cooperative of Artists from Northern Ontario, on their 1978 album, Eclipse
The Aged Paulownia Hides Its Melody (Freestyle Ver.) (동천련로항장곡[산조Ver.]) from The Painter of the Wind Soundtrack, 2008.
Bonus material
Track 1
Norm Amadio is a native of Timmins, Ontario, and Andrew A. Melzer is also the composer of Canada (we love you) / Canada (notre pays), chosen as theme song for Canada’s centenary in 1967.
Musicians on Out of the Cool:
Norman Amadio (piano)
Reg Schwager (acoustic guitar, electric guitar)
Phil Dwyer (saxophone) – not sure
Guido Basso (trumpet, flugelhorn)
Mat Pataki (percussion)
And possibly also bassist Rosemary Galloway and drummer Terry Clarke
Track 2
Roger Chong is a Hong Kong native who was raised in Toronto and trained musically at York University. Apart from playing the guitar like it’s an extension of his fingers, Roger is also a well-loved jazz educator.
The Roger Chong Quartet is made up of:
Roger Chong (guitar)
Denis Kugappi (piano)
Ken McDonald (bass)
Steve Farrugia (drums)
Watch the Roger Chong Quartet perform Intimate Strangers at the 2015 New Market Jazz Festival. BTW, love the man-bun, Roger!
Track 3
If you attended École secondaire Saint-Joseph de Hull in the mid-seventies you will surely recognize Glad from a dance routine choreographed by our gym teacher, Mademoiselle Turgeon. The upbeat piece gets deconstructed and built up again before veering into a slowed-down, dream-like outro. Cool, man! Oh, and listen for the oh-so-sixties cowbell!
Traffic is made up of:
Steve Winwood – Hammond organ, piano, bass, percussion;
Chris Wood – saxophone, flute, percussion;
Jim Capaldi – drums, percussion
Track 4
Ryshnychok / Earthly Mother is originally based on a Ukrainian poem by Andriy Malyshkoin which a lyrical hero remembers his mother giving him a towel-cloth that signifies his life path.
The poem was later set to music by Platon Ilarionovych Maiboroda, Song about the towel-cloth(Ukrainian: Пісняпро рушник; Pisnya pro rushnyk) also known as Ridna maty moya (My dear mother/Dearest mother of mine), which first appeared on the soundtrack of the 1958 Soviet film Young Years and was later popularized by Dmytro Hnatyuk.
Here is an English version on YouTube. See if you can hear the melody lines that inspired Wasyl Kohut and his band members in CANO for their prog rock interpretation! On the Eclipse liner notes, Ryshnychok is described as “a famous Ukrainian melody of immigration, loneliness and love.”
On Eclipse, CANO is made up of:
Rachel Paiement – acoustic guitar David Burt – acoustic guitar, electric guitar John Doerr – electric bass, trombone, programming Wasyl Kohut – electric violin, mandolin and, for this track, a violin courtesy of Remedy Music in Toronto. Michael Kendel – grand piano, electric piano, synthesizer, vocals Marcel Aymar – vocals, acoustic guitar Michel Dasti – drums, percussion
Eclipse is dedicated to founding member André (Dédé) Paiement, Rachel’s brother, who contributed music and lyrics to the project but was diagnosed with brain cancer before the band went into the recording studio (Eastern Sound Studio, Toronto). André opted to take his own life. The liner notes end with a hand-written dedication: “Dédé, cet album est pour toé, This album is for you.”
Track 5
This piece is played on a traditional Korean instrument, the gayageum, a zither with 12 or more strings.
The gayageum soundboard is made of Paulonia, hence the title of the piece, The Aged Paulownia Hides Its Melody. Paulonia is an ornamental tree with foxglove-like panicles of flowers, and is considered the fastest growing hardwood. Its wood is light, fine-grained and warp-resistant.
This version, called “freestyle,” is from the soundtrack of a 2008 South Korean historical television series, The Painter of the Wind. In the 20-episode series, one of the thematic musical pieces is picked up by the strong-willed female entertainer portrayed on the left, a gisaeng, and spun into a decidedly jazzy interpretation.
The series is based on a bestselling novel by LEE Jung-myung that fictionalizes the rise to fame of mid-eighteenth century painter, SHIN Yun-bok, as s/he (in the fiction, the talented girl must pass as a boy) is mentored by another great painter of the age, Kim Hong-do. This low-resolution YouTube video, set to the same music as my Track 5, introduces paintings from both masters along with screen caps from the series.
Most of the information in this post was pieced together from various wiki sites. Thanks, wiki contributors, from one of your supporters!
Point of View / Josée Sigouin 