Indeed, all things move, all things run, all things are rapidly changing. A profile is never motionless before our eyes, but it constantly appears and disappears. On account of the persistency of an image upon the retina, moving objects constantly multiply themselves; their form changes like rapid vibrations, in their mad career. Thus a running horse has not four legs, but twenty, and their movements are triangular.
-Technical Manifesto of Futurist Painting -1910
We are, all of us, trying to do this. We are trying to capture motion. We are attempting to describe a moment of life and people and their conversations on a one dimensional plane in a single moment of time. That is the moment it takes for our reader to trace our letters.
That is step one, the second occurs when they compare our stories to their lives and their conversations. Does it feel real?
Does it seem like something they might hear (better still- overhear? ). Do these characters look like people? These are, of course, fictional representations of a life we know and a life we knew and a life we imagine- all of them- placed in a single handmade comic book - watch the pages scroll past as you pull them back with your thumb....
Lastly
Does the story mean anything to the audience? Does it makes them angry or sad- Do they laugh- curse- cry ? Does it cause a genuine and unique emotion? Is there a new feeling now attached to lifeless text on a screen? Because a writer wants you to read his work and although they might ask: What did you think? They really mean -how did it make you feel? That is the truth. The presentation can change- the method may be different, but how the audience reacts -I think that is key. Drama is not written for an empty house.
So, do we succeed?
Well, for my own work I would say there are mixed results. The connection is made sometimes, with some people. Perhaps I aim too low, but an intermittent reward is enough to keep me coming back to the canvas. Tomorrow I will try again to capture all of the motions inside a person: their single profile.
It is a task that can never be completed.