Whitney Jones

#16 - Leaving

From: HowSound
Series: HowSound
Length: 21:04

Whitney Jones tells a powerful story about leaving the Mormon Church. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: #16 - Leaving
From: HowSound

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Radio stories usually aren't very complicated. Generally speaking, you can probably place stories into two categories. The first is the argument story -- these people say this, these other people disagree. The second is the narrative story -- the piece is organized chronologically as a sequence of events. (To be sure, I'm painting with a broad brush.)

Whitney Jones produced a somewhat different story last fall while he was at the Transom Story Workshop where I teach. His story "Leaving" falls in the "narrative story" category but instead of one single sequence of events, "Leaving" follows two -- a parallel narrative. That's unusual.

The reason you don't hear parallel narratives on the radio too often is because they're complex. They require more attention from a listener who, typically, is doing something else while they listen. So, in recognition of that, producers and editors tend to want to simplify. That's smart, I think. But, if the writer pays close attention to keeping the two separate narratives clear and simple and brings them together in the end in a satisfying manner, then I think a parallel narrative can work on the radio and I'd like to hear more of them.

Definitely, Whitney's parallel narrative works and works well.

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Piece Description

Radio stories usually aren't very complicated. Generally speaking, you can probably place stories into two categories. The first is the argument story -- these people say this, these other people disagree. The second is the narrative story -- the piece is organized chronologically as a sequence of events. (To be sure, I'm painting with a broad brush.)

Whitney Jones produced a somewhat different story last fall while he was at the Transom Story Workshop where I teach. His story "Leaving" falls in the "narrative story" category but instead of one single sequence of events, "Leaving" follows two -- a parallel narrative. That's unusual.

The reason you don't hear parallel narratives on the radio too often is because they're complex. They require more attention from a listener who, typically, is doing something else while they listen. So, in recognition of that, producers and editors tend to want to simplify. That's smart, I think. But, if the writer pays close attention to keeping the two separate narratives clear and simple and brings them together in the end in a satisfying manner, then I think a parallel narrative can work on the radio and I'd like to hear more of them.

Definitely, Whitney's parallel narrative works and works well.

Musical Works

Title	Artist	Album	Label	Year	Length
I'm 9 Today	Mum	Yesterday Was Drastic, Today Was Okay.	TMT	2000	00:00
Broken Monitors	B. Fleischman	The Humbucking Coil.	Morr Music	2006	00:00
Smell Memory	Mum	Yesterday Was Drastic, Today Was Okay.	TMT	2000	00:00
Composure	B. Fleischman	The Humbucking Coil.	Morr Music	2006	00:00
Love More	Sharon Van Etten	Ba Da Bing.	Epic	2010	00:00
Bookstore	Jon Brion	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Soundtrack.	Hollywood Records	2004	00:00