The Proposal
My third and final experiment will be a series of vignettes depicting a day in the life of a millennial. I will draw on my own experiences as well as common depictions of college and millennial culture to show how millennials often feel intense pressure to not fall victim to negative millennial stereotypes. My series will show that, because of this pressure, the average millennial or college student often puts themselves under unnecessary stress and compromises their mental and physical health to get ahead. I hope that my series of vignettes will show the reality of a millennial, humanize their struggles, and concludingly showcase them in a positive, uplifting light, when my millennial character ends up “taking back” their generational identity and life.
I plan to write 8-10 vignettes, each focusing on a scene in the day in the life of a millennial. I hope to string my vignettes together under the overarching themes of struggle and cyclicality, showing the harsh reality of what our generation puts themselves through day in and day out to succeed. Some of the scenes described in my vignettes will be at home, some at school, and some at work, but all will include heavy imagery and emotional detail to really set a monotonous atmospheric tone. I want to be as accurate and authentic in my portrayal of the generation as possible, yet I can only use my personal experiences and observations to bring that portrayal to life. My vignettes will be organized in the chronological order of a day, or in other words, will follow the timeline from the time my millennial character wakes up until the time they go to bed and repeat that cycle all over again the next day.
I feel intrigued to perform this project because I think it’s necessary, first, for other millennials to be able to relate in the shared struggles they face on the daily and second, for older generations to be exposed to and hopefully accept the idea that millennials are so much more than their negative media stereotypes. In that way, both members of my own generation and those of older generations compose the ideal audience. I think it is important not to romanticize the struggle of a millennial, but to really work to put it into context, digging into the ‘why’ behind a millennials’ average daily practices. Why do millennials feel such intense pressure to succeed? Why are the millennial work and lifestyles so drastically different than those of previous generations? And why does pop culture so often overlook millennial hardship and instead just fall back on harmful, negative millennial stereotypes in their portrayals?
Genre Analysis & Research
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A vignette is a short story that captures a single moment surrounding a character, idea, or setting (“Vignette”). Vignettes are usually very descriptive, and can be described as a carefully constructed verbal sketch of a scene (“Vignette”). Most frequently, they are little sections of a much bigger work, like a novel, or in my case, can combine to form a story-like series or collection of vignettes telling of a greater theme (“Vignette”). Most importantly, “vignettes convey an atmosphere, not a story” (When & How to Write a Vignette”).
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Vignettes are often found in creative writing, however the subject material they illustrate can be either fiction or nonfiction. Vignettes are often packed with sensory imagery, metaphors, and symbolism — as they are used as a device to explore a character or thoroughly describe the setting of a scene, conveying a certain mood or color (Nordquist).The nature of vignettes is evocative and allows the reader to insert themselves into a well-lit scene (Nordquist).
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Vignettes can vary in length, ranging anywhere from a few lines to 800 words per vignette (Bhatt). Essentially, there is a great deal of emotion and detail packed into a small snippet of words. Also, vignettes can be written in first, second, or third person, but do not switch points of view throughout (Bhatt).The suggested way to start crafting a series of vignettes is to create an association diagram for each vignette scene (Bhatt). In each association diagram, the writer lists words, emotions, and symbols that they will then link together and cluster around the greater theme of the vignette (Bhatt).
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One of my favorite models of a series of vignettes is “The House of Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros. After reading this story in high school, the way Cisneros is able to paint a picture of Esperanza (the main character) growing up as a Latina in Chicago without using any actual pictures has always stuck with me. This series features heavy use of descriptive imagery, plays on the five sense, and evokes emotional responses from the audience with every vignette told. I also appreciate the way Cisneros groups her vignettes into chapters based on a similar overall theme, which is similar to the way I hope to be able to subtly string all of vignettes together under a greater theme.
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Another model I discovered upon research is titled “My Father: A Series of Vignettes” posted by an anonymous writer. This series of vignettes struck me, because the subtle incorporation of dialogue and focused description of just a few characters throughout is similar to what I hope to convey. I also appreciate the way that the writer visually formatted and structured their series of vignettes, separating each one with a series of asterisk which separated each scene just enough to add distinction but not exaggerated separation. This series of vignettes also organized their vignettes chronologically, through their experiences growing up around their father. I, too, want to organize my vignettes chronologically, taking readers through a typical day of a millennial character.
Sketch
In my sketch, I have included some photos of my association diagrams for each vignette, showing what prominent words, feelings, experiences, and senses I hope to encapsulate in each. These diagrams are what I have drawn back on when writing each vignette, focusing on what content I want to include, what emotions I want to convey, and how the vignettes will all link together under a theme overall.
My vignettes will be placed in chronological order of a day, beginning with waking up and ending with returning home. After that timeline is complete, the remainder of my vignettes will focus on the millennial character taking back their generational identity and breaking free from the stereotypes that restrict and stress them. I imagine this series to be very full circle — in a way that each individual vignette describes a scene within a day, yet all of the vignettes read together tells a larger story.
Sample
Vignette 1:
"For one of the first times today, you feel at peace. Your eyes gripped shut, drifting in and out of whimsical dream states. But then you hear it. The blaring beeping of your iPhone alarm clock. You beg and plead for it to stop, willing to give up anything for just a few more moments of blissful rest. Snooze. Snooze. Snooze. You press the button forcefully, until you simply can’t anymore. Morphing into a more alert state of consciousness, you feel it. The impending dread. The nervous pit in your stomach growing at just the thought of your laundry-list of a day. Did you even get any sleep last night? It doesn’t feel like it. Is waking up right now even worth it? Is any of this even worth it? It’s debatable. You begin to question everything, rethinking your life plan and imaging how nice cozying right back up under the covers would feel. But you can’t be “the lazy generation,” like they always say. So you move forward. You push through the pile of blankets and rise out of bed. You get dressed."
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Vignette 2:
"You pry open the large wooden door to the lecture hall. First coffee of the day in hand, you take an aisle seat in the back row of the room. You hope that no one comes to sit next to you, wanting to avoid early-morning conversation at all costs. Hood up, you slouch down in your chair, ready to get this over with already. Greek Mythology 101. Why are you even taking this class anyway? You’re a Chemistry major. Then your hear it. The pounding rhythm of other students typing away on their laptops. You can’t get the drumming noise to leave your head. What could they possibly be typing? Class hasn’t even started yet. You feel your eyelids getting heavy again. You’re forced to internally bargain with yourself. You can’t be the “entitled generation,” like they say. At least you have the opportunity to be in class at all. Just get through this 90 minutes and try to learn. Just 90 minutes and you’re free"
Reflection
This experiment in all made for a very enjoyable journey. I had the opportunity to experiment with a literary genre I have never tried, moreover barely heard of before. It was fun diving back into the physical writing side of things, as my other two projects were more multimedia-based.
I think my favorite parts of this experiment were the genre analysis, research, and sketch phases. I learned so much about the conventions of the vignette genre, and got to read examples of vignettes ranging from more modern descriptions of nature to more historical pieces by Hemingway. After this, I can definitely see myself using the vignette format to not only write other projects and pieces for school work, but to document scenes of my everyday life. Vignettes really give you the flexibility as a writer to just vent and write carefreely, which is a very freeing experience.
This may have been the experiment where I encountered the least amount of obstacles and challenges along the way. Drawing on common negative stereotypes of millennials, I was able to convey the story of “a typical college student” in a very raw, realistic way. While I like the sample that I was able to create, I worry that I may become too repetitive in my vignettes if I choose to fully-realize this experiment as my final project. In my mind and blueprint, the subject matter of each vignette is almost too closely related for me to feel motivated to individualistically craft each one. I think I would possibly get too bored or that the vignettes would feel too monotonous to a reader. If I had more time, or maybe even in the future, I would love to revisit this concept of vignettes from the perspective of a college student or millennial over a year in their life. But overall, this experiment helped solidify my inkling that I want to fully realize my experiment #1, and craft a website where millennials can go to feel motivated, rather than wallow in their sadness or struggles like these vignettes did.
References:
Bhatt, J. (2017, April 09). Writing Practices: On Writing Vignettes. Retrieved from https://indiatopia.com/2017/03/31/writing-practices-on-writing-vignettes/
Cisneros, S. A. (2000). The House on Mango Street. San Antonio, TX: Novel.
Nordquist, R. (2018, March 05). Definition and Examples of Vignettes in Prose. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/vignette-definition-1692488
My Father: A Series of Vignettes. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/all/article/7752/My-Father-A-Series-of-Vignettes/
Vignette - Examples and Definition of Vignette. (2017, October 09). Retrieved from https://literarydevices.net/vignette/
When & How to Write a Vignette. (2017, January 03). Retrieved from https://literaryterms.net/when-and-how-to-write-a-vignette/
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