In Great Rock n’Roll Pauses, a diagrammatic story is told through the author’s point of view as the daughter in a family consisting of herself, her brother, her mother, and her father. She tries to explore the different behaviors of her family members, trying to make sense of their actions through a PowerPoint presentation. The main source of conflict comes from her father’s inability to understand or try to connect with her brother, his son, about his interests. Albeit unusual, her brother is interested in the pauses between songs. Her father does not understand and blows up at him one day and her brother cries. There are also little conflicts between the author and her relatives, things like her father’s negative behavior or her mother’s obvious favoritism towards her brother.  

The conflict is eventually resolved when the father asks her to take a walk and he calms down. He comes back home and tries to connect with his son once more. Or at least not get mad at him. The characters change inwardly because their actions and thoughts change not their appearances. The diagrammatic format lends itself to this story by being able to express whatever emotion it wants to convey through the images the author puts together. She can replicate a physical or mental wall between her brother and herself just by placing a rectangle in the middle of the screen with dialogue on either side, things like that. Or the seriousness of a situation with harsher colors and less imagery. 

The ideas that I want to try out for my own diagrammatic story waver more on the writing side. Specifically, the part in Drucker’s Diagrammatic Writing on page 10 when she mentions the blank page produces anxiety from the audience simply for being empty. In my own writing, I tend to keep important sentences in their own line, even if it does not create a paragraph. It adds an important tenseness to whatever I am writing. I would love to try and create small images or words going in wonky directions or fonts to convey my story as well, not just the words. Things like keeping a steady rhythm by keeping words in the same spot and suddenly changing where they are to break the flow. Making words huge or small depending on the context of the story, anything at all to enhance the meaning. 

Helping our audience to intake information is getting easier. We have the power of film, VR, and video games to change how we display information. However, this is a first for me in how to read a story. The use of diagrams was interesting, I at first didn’t like it. I didn’t know where to read, what to read next, or what had importance. But the more I dove in, I found it more accessible. The diagrams helped with world-building. Since the information about the character has to be in a linear fashion, we can pick and choose where to read it. Even though the conflict isn’t intense, we are attached because of the characters. The battle of growing up and being distant from our parents. We drift away as we get older, our love will always be the same but as people, we grow. Forming lives of our own and understanding who we are in those ages. My favorite slide is when Alison goes on a walk with her father. Both characters are their most vulnerable. Alison is afraid and the dad shows his late-night retreat. In how I will shape my story, adding any visual to add to the story is a must. Graphs and charts bring life to the dull space of just words, so adding anything is a must for the story. 

Wow! What a read. I absolutely adored both Great Rock n’Roll Pauses and Diagrammatic Writing. They really tickled my brain in unique and almost thrilling ways.

The plot of Great Rock n’Roll Pauses centers around the narrator’s family. It indicates the struggles they go through in a diagrammatic fashion. We see the Blake family through Allison’s eyes. She tells us of her older brother Lincoln’s fascination with pauses in older rock songs, of her father’s absences and gin and tonic crutch, and her mother’s attempts to bridge relational gaps while being in them herself. The conflict in this story comes from these relational gaps, which everyone struggles with sometimes, adding an interesting spark of relatability for many readers, most likely. It appears that the solution to this conflict is simply time, and allowing Allison’s self to realize how much she truly loves her family.

Allison, being our narrator and audience surrogate, is the character we can see most explicitly change throughout the story. She begins as what seems to mostly just be a 12 year old girl. There isn’t much to grasp at the beginning, save for her observations. But as one clicks through Great Rock n’Roll Pauses, the layers are peeled back on not only Allison but her whole family. She transforms from just an observant kid into our protagonist, surrounded by family strife and relational gaps. The pictures of each family member come more into a crisp focus, with more and more becoming implicitly revealed. The dad is shown to care about his family, but struggles with drinking and anger issues. We see him struggle to connect with Lincoln, but take a walk with Allison to come down. We see the mom attempt to mediate and focus on her art to avoid focusing on her familial troubles. We see Lincoln really focus on his rock pauses, to the point of connecting with little else.

The diagrammatic nature of the storytelling allows us to experience these revelations of character at a slow pace, and to feel them in a swirling vortex of time and plot. I know that second part may not make sense, so let me explain. Because of the nature of diagrammatic storytelling, as shown in the first reading, we can experience several things at the same time, unlike traditionally linear stories. We can see several characters at the same time, doing different things. Because of the layout of many slides, we can see different plot points or bits of history within the same breath. For instance, on slide 32, titled Mom’s “Art”, we simultaneously get glimpses of why Allison’s mom makes art (the bronze colored text boxes) and snippets of daily life for the Blakes. I believe that this story was masterfully told, and made for a wholly unique way of being told.

The plot of “Great Rock n’Roll Pauses” is about a family existing together, and how the daughter perceives everyone’s interactions. I would say the main conflict comes from learning to relate to an autistic family member or a dad that’s not often home. Everyone finds their own way to relate to each other and this makes the story relatable, each person in the story adapts differently and acts human. The diagrammatic nature is effective in conveying a child’s view of family interactions because it shows how each part of something is as important as the whole, and depending on how you read it different views and meanings can come to light. The graphs at the end of the narrative are great at showing that the dad found a way to engage with his son and created a commonality. It does a great job of showing, not telling, as the main character points out earlier that “charts should illuminate, not complicate.”

Small Deaths Movie:

This film seems to be focusing on a girl, each chapter being a stage of her life. It seems to be giving the audience a feeling of what is going around this character. The audience can only see and hear what is happening, it also gives the audience an open idea of what can happen later on in this character’s life. The first chapter is Ma and Da, which for me means mother and father through the eyes of a child. The warm colors around the house evokes some kind of feeling, for me warm colors are comfortable and have feelings of happiness. The parents seem to have some kind of conflict, especially when he did not answer her question about “coming back tonight.” For chapter Holy Cow, the sound together with the curiosity of the two girls exploring the area evoked familiar memories from my childhood. There will be different feelings coming from the audience while listening to the sound of nature. The only color that I see contrasting with the other is red, especially coming from the cow’s blood. The Joke chapter, one that was hard to follow for me, especially the joke from her friends. The only thing I noticed is how the character’s emotions are well put into the situation that is happening in that room. Also, giving the audience the feeling of wonder when the main character is walking up the stairs not knowing what we will be seeing next. 

The structure of this story is simple and can be followed by the audience. The story doesn’t have many conflicts that are visual, maybe there are more internal conflicts coming from the main character, especially when we don’t know what was going on in her house when she was a child. The ending is opened for the audience to interpret, which gives us more room to create our own assumptions. 

She & Her Cat:

This film has an easy structure and story to follow. The narrator is the cat and his point of view of what is going around his surroundings. If these were only images with no narrator explaining what was happening, I would have a different idea of the story. It is intriguing how the cat narrator describes the sounds and the smells, especially because those are the two senses that are well developed in a cat. The black and white color scheme made it feel sad and emotive. There is a conflict that the audience is not aware of, just like the narrator. In this situation we are given the freedom to fill in a situation that might have caused the girl to leave the cat behind. We don’t see her face, but we see her body and listen to the cat’s description of how she is. A surprising ending coming from this story, something that maybe some saw coming, but I did not. Having a narrator to guide the audience can be helpful in some situations or stories, and having a narrator as a cat is even more interesting for some people. This story evokes the cat’s feelings, to which he sounds grateful for everything she has done and given to him. I hear no remorse coming from the cat at the end, it seems to be something that he in a way understands why she left.

After watching the story “She and Her Cat” it was fairly clear that there was some missing structure or plot points when comparing it to the Aristotelian structure. This doesn’t take away from the story this video tells however, it just uses a different method on telling a story. I would say I couldn’t tell if there was a clear central point of conflict which is what threw me off. Instead the story focused around building through micro events and observations from another’s eyes. This story is told through the cat’s perspective but I still feel as if the main character and what the story is about is the girl herself. With no clear conflict either, the story doesn’t fail to evoke emotions as even I was drawn in with some worry and sympathy for the girl as the cat started noticing things about the girl. I think there is still clear observable structure points we can see in the type of story  and one that also follows its own set structure and patterns.

“She says they’re precious because they’re casual and meaningless.”

The plot of ‘Great Rock N’ Roll Pauses’ unfolds through the slight interactions and dynamics of a family, as portrayed through diagrammatic slides. This is the most immediate quality of the story- the sequence and meaning of each diagram within the slide isn’t always immediately intuitive, and often provokes rereads. While each text item or symbol is linked, you often have to process the connection yourself, as opposed to a medium like the novel, where the content is instantly sequential. The elements of plot reveal themselves through analysis and connection of phrases and character in each diagram.

The main instance of conflict in the story comes from Lincoln’s fixation with pauses in songs- an obsession that his father fails to connect or interact with. There are other conflicts, like the mother’s past and art, and the relationships between each of those in the family, though the thread of Lincoln’s fixation remains the core.

The conflict is resolved when Alison, the daughter, goes on a walk in the desert with her dad after he shouts at Lincoln. The two discuss how the father can improve; The thematic conflict of the passage of time and existential fears is also resolved by the end of the walk, as Alison dreads that her own home and family won’t be waiting for her by the time they arrive (an unfounded fear, which leads to an understated and comforting ending).

The character’s changes are internal, and are often revealed through Allison’s interpretations of their behavior: She assigns meaning to dialogue, action, and geography, in a method enhanced by the visual layout of each diagram. This all prompted my own thinking on how to structure a diagrammatic story- I really enjoy how the author trusts the reader to dissect the writing. There is a threshold of engagement that I find rewarding and would love to replicate.

[ I’m not sure if it would fall under diagrammatic storytelling, but this kind of reminded me of ‘What Football Will Look Like in the Future,’ which is a really cool online narrative you should check out! ]

The short story “Great Rock n’Roll Pauses,” by Johanna Drucker, follows a young family living near a desert and the struggles they face in their relationships. Through each slide, we’re given different details about each family member and the ways they feel about one another. The conflict revolves around the son, who has a special interest in the pauses in songs. While the family supports this, the father struggles to find it useful and snaps at the son, causing him to cry. The mother comforts him, while his dad, embarrassed, goes on a walk with their daughter. In the end, the father learns how to embrace his son’s quirks and illustrates this by creating graphs of different pauses in songs. 

The changes the characters go through are internal, particularly the father. He learns how to accept his son the way he is and to encourage the different hobbies he enjoys. The diagrammatic structure of the story allows for exploration of its plot and characters in a unique way. Facts and quirks about each person are revealed through small blocks of text that allow the reader to envision the character without long, detailed paragraphs. Each piece of information and where it is placed feels intentional. I think this is a benefit of diagrammatic writing that shines through in this piece. You can choose specific, vivid pieces of detail that paint a picture for the reader and organize it in a way that quickly tells you about a character or storyline. 

A few ideas from this piece that inspired me was the way that the information is laid out to tell you something about a character. One example of this is on the slides about the mother’s annoying habits, clearly written by the daughter. The numbers attached to them, such as bad habit #48, tell the reader a lot while saying little. We can see from this that the daughter is critical of their mother and is often irritated by some of the little things that they do, even if they’re not important. Aspects like these make each person multi-faceted in just a few words. Overall, I found the story to be a fascinating exercise in the different ways that you can structure a plot and how that influences the tone and emotions it delivers.

Hello everyone,

The story Great Rock n’Roll Pauses tells the story of a family who live in the desert. This family consists of a dad, who works as a doctor. A loving and supportive mom. A 12 year old daughter (and author of the story). And lastly, there is the older brother of the family–Lincoln–who has a hyper-fixation on pauses in rock and roll songs.

The conflict of the story revolves around the father and Lincoln. Lincoln is seemingly obsessed with the pauses found in rock songs, and seems to have little other interests besides this. He does not have any friends aside from his family members, and it is due to this special interest of his. His father wants Lincoln to develop interests in other things, so that his son can make some friends and live a more “normal” life. When Lincoln resists his attempts, this leads to him crying and the father regretting pushing his son so hard.

From reading this story, it seems that Lincoln is autistic. Autistic people tend to be extremely interested in only a few specific things/hobbies. These are called “special interests” and Lincoln has a special interest in the pauses in guitar rifts. Additionally, he has difficulty making friends, a trait commonly found in those with autism. Lastly, the scene where Lincoln begins crying and curls up into a ball after his dad gets upset with him gives me the impression that he is special needs.

While Lincoln does not change in the story, his father does change. He accepts his son’s limited interests and decides to be a better father to him.

This story inspired me when it comes to writing a diagrammatic story in one particular way. During the start of the story, it has a slow burn/pace and introduces readers to the characters. There is a lot of characterization, and we get a good idea of each of the characters by seeing all of these details that don’t impact the plot directly. I could write a story where I do the same thing, introducing all of these small characterizations to get readers invested in who they are reading about and to learn more about them.

– Gibson

Great Rock n’Roll Pauses was a really interesting read that kept me engaged and somehow was able to guide the readers eye through the use of text placement. From what I gathered, the story is about a family of four that lives in the desert. The father is at work being a doctor and rarely has time at home. The mother seems to be home during the day taking care of the kids. The son Lincoln is really into pauses in rock music. His dad keeps trying to shift Linc’s interests so that he starts to make some friends. Linc doesn’t react to this very well and starts crying. Dad tries to console Linc and apologize but Linc runs to his room and shuts the door. Dad asks his daughter if she wants to go on a walk. Father and daughter have a bonding moment on this walk and the Dad learns to embrace Linc’s interests by agreeing to help graph out the different pauses. The story ends with images of the charts. The conflict of the plot is the father’s effort of shift Linc’s interests. The text and slideshow aspects of this story make it engaging by using graphics to explain and visualize story elements. A grate example is the slide about the siblings rooms. They are separated by a wall and would knock on it to communicate. The slide displays a 3D box to symbolize said wall which separates the texts for the respective siblings.

For the blog post I had to go with “She & Her Cat” The film doesn’t have a lot of action or drama, but it still manages to be interesting. The film is like the slice-of-life genre. It’s kind of like a diary of their everyday routine. The still shots of everyday items add more to the story building. The cat symbolizes the girl’s emotions and how time passes in the film. Even though it doesn’t have a significant conflict, the film still has a pattern. It’s like a cycle, where the girl and her cat do the same thing every day. It’s a simple film that makes you think about life and relationships differently.

For this week’s blog post, I watched 160 Characters and She and Her Cat. I really enjoyed the one about the cat because of the art and animation, but I also thought the plot and the dialogue were interesting. The narration starts before we meet the narrator, and we assume they are human but it actually is a cat who is speaking about how much he likes his owner. The cat’s love and relationship with its owner is pretty much what the whole short film is about, and there isn’t any meaningful conflict. There is a part where the owner receives a distressing call, but I think that it was just used to give the cat an opportunity to talk about the owner. The thing that gives us a  sense of time and direction is the seasons changing. I think it could be argued that the seasons changing is what drives this plot forward, and the narration of the cat’s thoughts are a result of him spending time with her over the seasons. The cat’s view of her never really changes, which I think shows a lot about the cat’s character. It shows he’s loving and loyal, and is a narrative pattern in this film. I also watched 160 characters, and I really enjoyed the way montage was used to show the daily life of the narrator. The plot is driven by the woman finding an old phone, and we see most of the plot and dialogue through texts she sent to an old boyfriend. The plot really isn’t about her, though, and is actually about the kid that they have together and the want from her to have the dad in the kid’s life.

The film I wanted to discuss in my blog post was the short film “160 Characters”. I chose this film because it was the one I was the most interested in. The story presented in the film is a personal story which is part of the reason I was drawn to it. Another reason I was drawn to it is because it is a story that I think tells a somewhat relatable story (in one way or another) with our day and age being absorbed in technology.

The film follows the story behind text messages over a decade from 2003 – 2015 between Victoria and her ex-partner. With that being said, the world in this story is built primarily from text messages with some dialog here and there to provide more context to the story behind the messages.

The conflict in this short film lies within the relationship or lack thereof at some points with Victoria and her ex-partner. Their relationship starts off well with the first text revealed from Victoria saying, “I had a great time last night” however, it quickly ends with a phone call from the ex-partner saying “it’s not you it’s me”. After the phone call, it is made known that Victoria is pregnant and is not with the father of the baby. So, we now have a conflict where Victoria finds out she is pregnant shortly after the father of her baby breaks things off with her. Following this, we now have another conflict with the continuous back-and-forth of the father’s involvement with the mother and the child. Therefore this short film does not follow the Aristotelian plot structure that we learned last week because the story does not develop around a single, clear conflict.