Margin Notes

What I was reading:

Good Girl, Bad Blood is Holly Jackson’s much anticipated sequel to her bestseller A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. While the first book is investigating a cold case, this title works to solve a current missing person’s profile, in real time. The different text forms presented in this book make the reader feel like they are looking through a case file, not simply reading a novel. The pictures, text messages, audio clips and case notes draw the reader in, and creates a sense that  we are solving the case together.

Here are some clips of the varying text forms:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What moves I noticed the author making:

• Details like a voice being inaudible on a podcast bring a realistic element that makes the reader feel like it is a true crime story.
• The titles of file names are matter-of-fact and end in the type of file – picture, audio etc.
• The case notes are written to herself and include incomplete sentences to mimic quickly jotting down notes to oneself.
• The text messages showing a series of texts left unanswered give a visual of desperation that simply narrating the scene would not have provided.

Possibilities for writers:

• Using a floor plan, annotate events to tell a story. Give it a matter-of-fact title.
• Create case notes for yourself on an observation – maybe one you’re making right now in class. Mimic the structure here of some short and incomplete sentences to get your point across or jump into the detail.
• Write about how you would respond if you were sending messages without a response until you say you’d do anything and the person replies “anything?” Where does your mind go?
• We engage in so many text forms daily. Our narratives are composed of all of these. Create a story using multiple text forms – an image, a floorplan, text messages, notes to yourself, dialogue etc.
• As always, take your writing where it goes.