'Writing doesn't have to follow a specific formula as long as what you're doing is innovative, thought provoking and engaging'
I wanted this project and the story element of it to be an opportunity to read some different stories in preparation and during the project itself. Thinking this could possibly lead to a constant source of inspiration whilst retaining the frame of mind necessary to be constantly developing my own story. There were several genres and authors I was interested in and wanted to read so this was my chance. Before the project and then during I had started reading different books by Haruki Murakami. When I first began reading his work it didn't occur to me that some of the themes and descriptions throughout his books may have some cross over with the story I am writing. One of the recurring characters in his work is the isolated, male character who appears awkward. This is often shown through experiences and thoughts of the character, which was relevant because my main protagonist happened to be male also. There is then the use of magical realism in his work, I knew before I started my own story that this was the genre I was basing my work around so I think the different levels of fantasy and realism across his work was a good gateway into that genre, with 'Norwegian Wood' being more or less a realistic story from beginning to end and 'The Wind Up Bird Chronicles' [the first book I read by him] being much more magical realism and border line fantasy.
China Miéville's work is much more in the genre of fantasy than I was planning to write, but I decided to read one of his short story collections titled: 'Looking For Jake & Other Stories' because I remembered from the last time I read it than it contained a range of different stories that I could perhaps use to recognise consciously how he tells his short stories. Furthermore, some are much more mild in terms of how fantastical they are and the majority set in a realistic world - the same as what I was intending to do with my own story.
Finally, in the middle of the project I was introduced to the author; Italo Calvino. Italo Calvino was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels, and after finding out about him I was intrigued about his unique approach to writing. The same week I went and purchased two of his books, 'Invisible Cities' and 'If on a winter's night a traveler'. The unusual style of writing and approach he took inspired me further and made me think more about the way in which writing doesn't have to follow a specific formula as long as what you're doing is innovative, thought provoking and engaging - so I took this approach with my own writing and tried to ignore any popular tropes that I could of found myself using for the simple reason that they're continually used. I began with 'If on a winter's night a traveller: which follows a very unusual but gripping format :
'The postmodernist narrative, in the form of a frame story, is about the reader trying to read a book called If on a winter's night a traveler. Each chapter is divided into two sections. The first section of each chapter is in second person, and describes the process the reader goes through to attempt to read the next chapter of the book he is reading. The second half is the first part of a new book that the reader ("you") finds. The second half is always about something different from the previous ones and the ending is never explained.'
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