By: Jehangir Saleh
Written: July 10, 2005

1)Trying to understand the connection between writing/story telling and death – the story becomes an interplay between metaphors, motifs and situations in which the Terry character dies first.

2)Death is one of the most difficult things to write about. That’s because we don’t know anything about it.

OUTLINE

1)conversation with doctor – establish symptoms, and expected life span
a.bring in the breathing motif – doctors asks how the characters breathing is
b.doctor asks “I heard you’re writing a story, what’s it about?”

2)Motif – there is no time for death in hospitals
a.Explain what happens when someone dies – how the nurses are forced to act, how the doctors are forced to act

3)as I walk back to my room, I see Terry. Describe him, his breathing, that he is a friend, how long he has been in the hospital. Terry asks about the story I am writing. He asks what it is about. The character expresses some frustrations about his writing. The character says that he wanted to explore the connections between writing and death – but doesn’t think there are any. (later on in the story, he might describe a story Terry tells him about storytelling and death). Terry says that at least the character is thinking and being reflective about his experience instead of just trying to ignore it.
4)Discussion of “lobotomy” and two types of dying people.
5)When the character gets back to his room, he tries to work on his story. He mentions the man across from his room, and mentions his daughters that come to visit him. They watch the hockey game together. He is fustrated and raises some doubts about the story he is writing. He is honest with the reader about his selfish intentions – he believes that writing is the only intrinsically valuable thing left to do. He also describes (somewhere) the sound and experience of hearing all the patients at night breath together – as if one breath, soft and shallow, but trying to hang on.
5)In the morning, he is woken up by a phillopino nurse stabbing him in the arm to draw blood. He briefly explains what the bloods tests are for. And then describes the sound and experience of everyone receiving therapy, coughing, and breathing faster, at the same time.
6)Terry comes by the character’s room and tells him a story. The character notices some changes in Terry – his breathing patterns seems to reflect a more sombre mood.
7)Some go-between paragraph that is either about writing or deathing, and their possible connection. Something clever and well written. Perhaps a reflection on whatever Terry has said.
8)The scene with the man dying at night and one the phone with wife.
9)Doctor comes in the next morning with good news (?). Brief conversation with the doctors. He asks how the characters writing is going.
10)Terry is taken to intensive care.
11)Some go-between paragraph that is either about writing or deathing, and their possible connection. Something clever and well written. Perhaps a reflection on whatever Terry has said.
12) Terry dies.
13)

* in this story, you must find some commonality between all those patients in the ward. Something, something they do – whatever they are searching for – that links them and links storytelling and death. Perhaps in a way each patient is just a story teller. Or a character. And they are trying to mould their story, trying to have the most control, until the very end. But then the story begins to write itself. And that’s where it gets interesting.

Those who are sick and dying finally realize the truth that everyone else chooses to ignore: that there is no free will. There are no more choices for the dying, for they have lost their future. – from here, you can entire into a discussion of what it feels like to die, and the bit about free will.