I didn’t know my destination when I started the audio project for Cancer Council Vic/BreastScreen Vic to encourage Italian women to do regular screenings for early detection of breast cancer. I approached the assignment thinking that it’s a difficult topic, that people don’t want to talk about diseases because they are superstitious. Well, I am superstitious.
This was the biggest discovery made in the process of creating the story. In a previous post, I explained how I couldn’t proceed with the script for my audio play because I first had to go through the experience of doing a breast screening myself as I thought it was only fair to base my story on first-person experience, and because I wanted to incorporate real sounds: the train going to the clinic, the receptionist welcoming me and getting me to fill in some forms, me alone in the waiting room, the sound of the machine, the voice of the technician etc.
And I did get all those sounds. But there was also another reason for my inability to finish the script: I didn’t want to write an ending because I didn’t want to tempt fate and I couldn’t pretend that everything was going to be ok because no one knows the future.
As already explained, this audio narration was different from all the others from the start, as it was commissioned for a purpose. Usually, I start writing my story knowing exactly how it will sound. Not this time. This time I knew the direction that my story had to take but I didn’t know how to get there.
It has been a great journey of discovery in which I have challenged my creative process and I have put to the test my ability to take a personal story to another level.
The audio narration is ready and I am delighted with the result, at least from an artistic point of view. I can’t wait to deliver it to Cancer Council Vic and BreastScreen Vic, and to see the feedback once they’ll publish it on their platforms (stay tuned).
It’ll take a while to see whether my piece has reached its intended goal, that is whether narrative can be an effective tool to encourage reluctant women to do the screening. What I can say now is that not knowing where to go is a beautiful way to reach your destination.
(listen now or go back to part 3)