My original writing is a piece of creating writing following the style model of Raymond Chandler. The goal for this piece of writing was to effectively imitate the style (including sentence structure, theme, character and plot development etc.) of Raymond Chandler to make an effective piece of writing that can entertain the audience, which is the purpose of fiction.
To do this, I analysed and annotated two exerts of his, coming from the first 4-5 pages of The Big Sleep and Farewell, My Lovely. From these pages I got a feel for the techniques used in his writing, information that I used in order to imitate his writing. This was also useful to plan my writing to fit the target audience for my story - 30-50 year old white British males in the ABC1 demographics. These demographics make up my target audience because they are the ones most likely to be interested in noir/crime fiction. In addition, the protagonist can be assumed via the connotations of his location and profession to be of these categories, which lets the audience relate to the character and so be more likely to like them and the book as a whole. This is also applicable as this was the target audience of Raymond Chandler, and as a result applies to my story as well.
From my analysis I found repeated techniques and structure used by Chandler in his work that I applied to my story. For example, in The Big Sleep, 'I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars'. In this the author uses short sentences on after the other to create a line of thought that is believable and expresses the character. It makes it seem as if the character is focusing on one thought at a time, as if he's analysing himself, making his idea more valid. I did this in 'But he was in his element here. It was merely habit', which shows the reader that not only is the character effective in analysing, but he's confident and sure of his answers.
However, the goal of the text, rather than the task, is to create a realistic setting and scenario with characters that are interesting enough to warrant reader interest, but normal to be relatable and believable. To do this I ensured that I went into detail in describing the characters and their various faults. This made them feel real, as the faults were detailed enough to be realistic - it made them normal and not all powerful as seen in other genres (such as fantasy), and the audience may know people with such characteristics, again making it feel more believable. For example, the protagonist stating 'I've never been good around loud noises' gives him a fault, making him more person than superhero even though his skill at analysing and obvious prestige connote intelligence and skill. This was to entertain the audience by making them feel more connected to the characters, and feel like they were in the story.
After analysing extracts of Chandler's books, I concluded that the mode of address of his writing was made to appear like a statement - chronologically listing facts to make them, and as a result his opinions, more believable. Peer to peer mode of address in my writing was used with the intention of making the character seem intelligent but vulnerable - he's intelligent enough to get the job done, but not confident enough to lecture or condescend, which I also tried to convey in other parts of writing.
I believe I achieved my goals of writing an entertaining piece that imitated Raymond Chandler, however, looking back, I'd attempt to build the character of the antagonist more via subtle connotations, for example attire and speaking patterns, and build the scene more to increase suspense.
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