I found that I have used Baldwin’s text the most as a model to help build my first draft. A notable example that I had borrowed and replicated from Baldwin is the use of anachronous narrative, where the narrative is presented in non-chronological order. In my case, I opened my story with an event that’s about to lead up to the climax/epiphany. This piece of Baldwin’s intrigued me as the technique can act as an effective and immediate hook and immerses the reader right into the plot. Another technique that I adopted from Baldwin was the “Feelings you have about them” aspect of characterization. This approach involves developing and portraying a character using the protagonist’s thoughts and feelings about that character. This was also one of Baldwin’s craft moves that struck out to me as it was a new and interesting methodology that I could apply in developing complex characters, such as my parents, in an efficient amount of words. Baldwin’s text aided me in my thoughts regarding my writing by providing a new perspective on beginning a story in media res and numerous different approaches in writing characterization.
