The voice of the setting

Recently I worked on exploring the voice of my character – trying to ensure its integrity. Had I gotten further in the exercise I would also have tested its uniqueness.

Now I am challenged to discover the voice of the setting – the “1000 word value” sound that can establish location or time, create mood or metaphor, or “make something happen” (like a Shakespearean battle - or a Watts riot from “twilight LA by Anna Deavere Smith”).

The bottom line is of course to reduce the need for exposition – heh this is drama.

Ok so we need to identify the sounds that are part of the mom settings. For this story there were really two distinct settings – her long time home in the condo at 60 Emerson Drive, and then the two care facilities she spent her last 2.5 years in.

It will be important to note the sounds that exist at 80 and not at the subsequent places – like the music – mom loved her music - pretty eclectic collection – pretty diverse taste – generally open to suggestion – always music on sometimes we debated the volume ... eventually she could not work the machine (my sister Linda got a variety of machines – heh there is a metaphor for disease progression) and so at the end it was only Radio Canada in French

60 Emerson
• the CDs – what would a good signature be?
• wind chimes, fireworks, leaky tapes (kitchen only I think),
• exploding coffee grinder when mom pour s the hot water in
• Xmas carols with pg and cab playing da piano
• the toasts – our health – the dinner table conversation

the subsequent places
• radio canada on the radio – she can no longer tell it is French
• the piano playing by whats his name the war vet
• the Xmas choir – the African girls – the Philippine piano players extraordinaire
• outside – the animals – the breeze – something in the trees in the back yard at the second place
• anything from the river in the first place
• voices of the care givers – did they call her Marie or Mrs Gillies?

The exercise encourages me to get more precise with sounds that
• part of the first impression
• familiar
• unfamiliar
• ambient (ongoing)
• sudden
• loud
• soft
• pleasant
• unpleasant
• demanding of a response by a character

I may get to this ...