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This page features the notes that were made during the process of creating the text for this project. It is by no means exhaustive, nor does it cover the process of creating the hypertext structure. |
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23/09/02 In writing the actual text, it is hard to decide how much - if any - of the original text to include in my version. In writing the opening of Jekyll's piece, I am paraphrasing parts of the opening of his letter, which seems to be helping me into the style. However, as with any creative writing, this part may be revised based on later decisions. One thing I am doing, is incorporating small parts of the original text into my version to give it an echo of Jekyll's letter and further authenticate my presentation of his voice. 24/09/02 I find the writing is a lot slower than my usual rate as I have to think much more about my choice of words and what, exactly, I am trying to say. I have a feeling this project is going to improve my writing no end! 25/09/02 Having completed the first transition from Jekyll to Hyde and back again, I have come upon a couple of problems. The first is maybe not much of a problem: the whole section so far is merely a paraphrase of the opening of 'Henry Jekyll's Statement of the Case' and only adds extra perspective rather than extra events. This is maybe a symptom of the process of rewriting in that where events are already shown, I can only try to represent them in my own way. It may be, also, that as my confidence grows I will want to come back and alter, or add to, this section, or that the pieces written under other characters will require parts to be added here. I suppose I also need to acknowledge that we already have a fairly expansive account from Jekyll and that Stevenson faced the same problems that I do in this opening section - that of covering a lot of time in a short space. I do also wonder if I'm being too faithful to the original text. The second problem lies in the Edward Hyde passage. I had wanted to represent his voice, not merely in the first person and in the present tense - to maintain a sense of immediacy - but had wanted to use some literary effects to reflect his state of mind. However, I found when it came to it that if I wanted to maintain the pseudo-Victorian style of the writing, then this was very hard as most of the fragmenting effects I would normally use are products of modernism and post-modernism. I now find myself stuck on the question of whether or not I should use this anachronistic techniques. It is entirely possible that I do so, but in doing so I break with some of my previous intentions. I think I need a second opinion before I continue. 06/10/02 Having spoken with my supervisors, the decision was taken to rewrite the Hyde section in a contemporary voice using whatever techniques I felt I needed. This would allow us to see how that worked, and if it looks okay, will provide us with an even more distinctive difference from Jekyll. 07/10/02 Perhaps, having made such a large change in Hyde's voice, it would be possible to swap it back into the past tense - a more realistic writing mode, and one with more options than the present tense. However, this would reintroduce the problem of how to have your character narrating their own death in the past tense. It may be possible to switch into the present tense at the penultimate moment. But what about the immediacy argument? Hmm... maybe it ought to be left in present tense - don't be so lazy! 17/10/02 Having tried various effects, I have decided to leave Hyde's voice in the present tense and use a slightly stripped down version of the pseudo-Victorian voice developed for Jekyll. The use of modern literary effects to break up his narrative and make him more interesting were too jarring and made him seem over melodramatic. Instead I have decided to make his voice a little more aggressive and also to use shorter sentences. A feature of Jekyll's voice is the long, rambling sentence with sub-clause after sub-clause. In contrast, Hyde can be much more straightforward. This fits in with my desire to make his voice more energetic and immediate. 07/01/03 I have set down the scene in which Hyde takes the rooms in Soho which he uses as a base - inspired by Jekyll wanting to separate the two of them, which seems reasonable. This is before the trampling and Hyde's getting his own bank account. I came to write the scene of the drafting of the will, but realised that it doesn't make sense for this to happen until after the first unbidden change. What makes more sense is the events in this order: Take the room Trample the girl Get the bank account Wake up as Hyde having gone to bed as Jekyll Change the will to protect Jekyll should he be unable to change back Story of the Door. However, this doesn't fit with the timeline as Jekyll says in his account that the unbidden change came about 2 months before the murder of Carew. There are problems with Stevenson's timing, because his descriptions of everything are that they happen in winter, yet there is not enough time for the events to elapse. I think, therefore that I must link the writing of the will to the trampling of the girl and the getting of the bank account - further separation between J and H. Thus: Take the room Trample the girl Get the bank account Change the will to protect Jekyll should he be unable to change back Story of the Door. Wake up as Hyde having gone to bed as Jekyll Carew murder. 13/01/03 It has occurred to me that making each of the four narratives contain all of the different scenes in full will lead to a potentially boring read. Instead, while it will be necessary to report the full facts of some scenes from more than one perspective to allow for the 3-d idea, it will be more interesting to have a reference to an event in one storyline link to a description of the full scene in another. Eg: Hyde trampling the girl will be good told by Hyde and by Enfield to Utterson as in Story of the Door. However, Poole being taken on by the doctor, would be better coming from Poole only, and featuring just as a reference in Jekyll's story. This will also allow - if, for instance, the reference to Poole's interview comes later in the story - for flashbacks etc. 10/04/03 I have had to change the timing at the end of the story to fit better with the written account. The way I laid it out in the timeline was nice and symmetrical with Hyde dying on the same date he was born, but it stretches the ending out too much, when it needs to be compressed and fast. 17/04/03 Doctor Lanyon's voice has emerged much easier than either Jekyll's or Hyde's. My desire for melodram has found its release in him. Any man who dies from fright deserves to be a bit over the top. 12/05/03 Lanyon's section has turned out to be much shorter than I expected. The only extra scene I have decided to give him is the one he refers to where he and Jekyll fell out. I have placed this before the start to the main narrative period and so it forms a little, hidden cul-de-sac at the beginning of his strand. 20/06/03 I have finished the first draft of Utterson and he appears pretty much as he does in the original text. After all, the original text mostly tells his tale. He has turned out a little more boring than I hoped, but at least the chance to move to other voices will break him up a little. I will try and make him more interesting when I come to rewrite. 26/06/03 Poole is turning out to be far and away the most interesting of the characters. He has a lot to say for himself in his own way, similar to Ishiguro's Remains of the Day in that respect. 14/07/03 Having finished all the main characters I have decided to do a couple of minor characters to give some extra interest to the reading process. These will be circular and closed so they only link back to where they came from and once you go in, you have to read to the end and then exit back into the main story. 02/08/03 Okay, I have finished the first drafts of all the pieces. My plan now is to leave them untouched for a few months so I can come back and rewrite them with as clear a mind as possible. 26/12/03 I was right, at the beginning of this diary, when I said that the process of writing this project would improve the quality of my writing. I have never come back to a text I've written and enjoyed it so much, and found so little that is majorly wrong with it. That's not to say that there's not lots to do. Not only do I need to tidy and correct, but I need to make sure that the pieces will work when I combine them into the hypertext. I need to get all the interation points sorted. That will be a job in itself. 21/02/04 Finished. Now I need to crack on with writing the academic part of this project. When I return to the creative writing part it will be to add the HTML and make it into a hypertext novel. Then we'll see whether the hard work pays off. |