It’s not procrastinating if this blog posts garners me points for class, yes? I just stumbled on Literary Starbucks, a collection of short posts, emulating the writing style of specific authors or literary characters, describing their hypothetical Starbucks’ coffee orders and experiences.
Holden Caulfield, for example:
Holden goes up to the counter to get a dark roast, but he’s forgotten all his money at home, so his little sister has to pay for it. He stares moodily out the window as he waits for it to brew, wondering where the ducks in the pond across the street go in the winter. Also, he’s pretty sure the barista is a phony.
I want to say that there’s a mini assignment tucked away somewhere that offers an exercise to write the same story using different voices, and this blog seems to do that super well. Just thought it might be a possible source of inspiration for those writing fiction and want to see examples of differentiating voices on a micro-level. Or for those needing to lie to themselves that they’re not procrastinating (read: me).
Thank you for providing more intelligent procrastination for the rest of us. But in all seriousness, this is a great post, Margot. Definitely shows how different voices can change something as seemingly simple as a Starbucks order. I’m not writing fiction for this project, but this is such a good resource for those who are.
Thanks for sharing these! Productivity is so far down now hahaha. A simple act of ordering coffee changes with the voice of so many different authors! I wonder if we did this in class, how all of our voices would come out 🙂 Maybe a fun project one of these days?
One of my favorites?
“Jean Valjean goes up to the counter and orders a tall black coffee without cream or sugar. On his way out, he surreptitiously slips a scone into his jacket pocket. The barista spends the rest of his life trying to find him.”
GREAT IDEA for a mini project, Margot! I’m on it…