Narrative structure, creative tools and the Goon Squad
What became interesting about it was trying to understand the structure of the fictional moment and then represent that structure. Of course, if you are just using PowerPoint slide templates, the kinds of structures that you can convey are limited. They are divided into categories—relationship structures, process structures, hierarchies—
That's Jennifer Egan, author of A Visit from the Goon Squad, which, as you know, Elizabeth wants me to read, talking to The Morning News about how she outlined her book in PowerPoint. Seriously. The entire thing. With complex slides and all. It's absolutely fascinating to hear in the interview and to see in action, on her site and embedded below.
Looking back, I do wonder why I was determined to write in PowerPoint. It’s hard for me to even fully recapture the urgency of that goal. But I think, really, in the end, the answer was thematic. The book was so much about pauses, and it’s so constructed around pauses—as you say, there are gaps and leaps. This is all different ways of saying there are things that are missing in the book—and in a way PowerPoint is a program that’s built around giving us little snapshots without the connective tissue. It’s all pauses.
