fractured words

Posted by Daniela Elza on Jan 24 2011

My head is still buried in my dissertation, buzzing with it really, but I had to put this news flash up. Or shall I say flash fiction news.

Writing and creating is very exciting on its own. Even more exciting is to find out that I have inspired someone to try something new I am playing with.

Hence my delight this morning when I heard from Dorothee . She sent me her flash story h.owl using the fullstop inside words technique. Last year this technique swept me off my feet.

I thought I came up with the technique while working on my micro story The Math Ex.am to enhance some of the undercurrent emotions. Also, I remember prior to that saying, off the cuff, to a friend of mine (who is a bit of a punctuation expert) just wait till I start putting full stops inside words, I will do it just for you.

So I did (not just because of that) but because it opened a whole new horizon for me in terms of fracturing words, breathing inside words, and layering images and meaning like paint on a canvas. (Also check out what holds (us and Andy Warhol, and of non.verifiable truths and other existent.tial celebrations).

Interestingly enough, I discovered (while looking through some old work) that I had started using this technique in 2006 with some poems I got published in the Capilano Review. I had forgotten all about it.

So perhaps it is time to give it a name, which will definitely have to be shorter than: stepping inside words on a snowy evening. I already have some ideas, but I am always open to suggestions. For now full.stops: breathing inside words appeals the most.

Thank you to all of you who have given me feedback about this pesky fullstop and how you respond to it, both intellectually, and viscerally. This is informative, encouraging and inspiring.


5 Responses to “fractured words”

  1. Karyn Says:
    January 24th, 2011 at 3:10 pm

    So interesting to see the development, evolution, and appropriation of a process–in this case, one invented by you. I like the idea of coining that process yourself, before someone does it for you. When I read, “breathing inside words”, I instinctively read it as “breath.ing inside words”. With each full stop, there’s a breath for me, just one inhale, before I move on…

  2. Daniela Elza Says:
    January 25th, 2011 at 10:07 am

    Thanks Karyn,

    Creativity I think is both evolutionary and revolutionary. Inspiration is contagious, as it should be. (And my brain is mush, today).:-)

  3. Karyn Says:
    January 26th, 2011 at 12:17 am

    So true! In this case, I like how the re.volution / development / inspiration takes place across inter.national boundaries and an ocean.All the best with the ongoing development of your dissertation ~

  4. Dorothee Says:
    January 26th, 2011 at 8:44 am

    yes, this method is so fascinating! i still remember how i first read The Math Ex.am, and was stunned by this second layer of meaning.
    so interesting, to read your reflections on this. and good that there is a name for this method now: “full.stops: breathing inside words”. which made me think of the German word for word: Wort. which could be full.stopped: W.ort (with “Ort” being “place”: a different place inside a word).

  5. Daniela Elza Says:
    January 27th, 2011 at 6:37 pm

    Thanks Karyn,

    I too find our cross boarder connections fascinating. Dorothee said regarding the language place festival: “when home is a page”. I thought that was pretty cool, not just in the sense of virtual, but also the page we write on. It reminded me when Betsy Warland held up a blank sheet of paper and said: this is my homeland.

    Dorothee, I was so glad Math Ex.am went into your hands, and then in the BluePrintReview. I definitely had no idea how it will be received. And how interesting about W.ort. A word is a place. which ties with when home is a page. :-) And then the power of words to define, re.fine these places.