Hardscape

Tamara Shilling Minks, Purdue University

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to find and create those stories only I could write. To this end I have engaged in the writing process with as much integrity as I could on a regular basis, developing authentic characters and crafting narratives I felt worthy of a public audience. The first three narratives in this collection are short stories. When the Mountains Sleep was originally written seven years ago for a seminar taught by Sharon Solwitz. Though only the last scene remains of the original, all the main characters were in place even in the earliest draft; the last line is almost identical to the original. The story explores one boy's ability to perceive evil in the adult world on an intuitive rather than conscious level. New in Town explores the constantly changing landscape of marriage in the context of incredible loss. The last story, Crying Weather, shows a young woman facing trauma and finding help with the most unlikely people in the most unlikely places. All three stories explore memory, its mysteries, intricacies, and revelations. The final narrative is a novel in progress, Hardscape. This work also explores memory and its impact on the future as the main character, Tess Harvey, seeks to understand why she made a terrible decision years ago, one that devastated her personally and caused serious harm to others. The novel connects three narratives, one focusing on the "off-season" at a beachfront restaurant where Tess worked for a few months when she was 21, another following her present life twenty-five years later in the rural Indian town of Sutter, and the last exploring a period in her marriage when the mistakes of her past had perhaps the most terrible impact. It is my hope that all three sections, or braids, will soon come together to create a completed novel.

Degree

M.F.A.

Advisors

Henley, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Fine arts

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