Samuel Fischer

Dr. Allison Hammond

Exercise 2 PP
1 September 2022
Nick Miller: An Alcoholic for Love
Notes: Who is Nick Miller. An iconic character made famous by the hit sitcom “New Girl” who
is akin to a much more childish version of Ernest Hemmingway. He has no form of emotional
development and sees the world in black and white. He is unable to pick up on social cues and
will defend his side to the point of harming himself and the others around him. Nick tosses
around girls always afraid of attachment but somehow always ends up in love with the people
treating him the worst. A Chicago man growing up with a con man as a father figure and usually
relied on by his family to be the man of the house. He’s dirty, filthy, a genius, a drunk, a man
who is first to comment on others and last to ask himself the important questions. He is an
unchangeable caterpillar fighting metamorphosis.
Approach: Writing for Nick Miller involves a lot of fluctuation in tone and should convey
multiple emotions within one sentence. In order to do this, I need to engage the reader as much
as possible to pull them in. I think by asking questions to himself and having minor connections
between one topic and the next will paint a decent picture as to how Nick Miller thinks.
The Scenario: (I will attempt to create a scenario not found in the popular series as not to
plagiarize and give a more original thought on the character). Nick has traveled to Paris in
hopes of an escape from the most previous break-up he had with Jessica Day. His first day he
runs into a beautiful woman outside of the louvre who is in expert in all things art. They
schedule a date for the next day. It is the morning in his 4-story walk-up hotel. Single bed, red
and gold carpet, antique but worn armoire filled with nothing but Henley’s and grease-stained
undershirts… and the one pair of slacks Schmidt made him bring in case he needed to dress up
for a night.
“Aghhgh,” I utter as I sit up from my bed. What kind of hotel is this, no AC? I don’t trust these
Europeans, all this history but no innovation, what are we in the industrial era. I check my watch,
12:23, and when’s that date again? Where did I put her number? No, not in my pocket. Not in my
wallet…. Let me think, what would drunk me think was the best place to save a beautiful girl’s
number? What was her name again? Tr-Ch-… it definitely had a vowel somewhere in there.
Chartreuse? No, I think that’s a type of smell, I’ve heard Schmidt talk about it before. He really
has no idea how to pronounce anything. Schmidt would know what to do, BUT WHAT DOES
HE KNOW. This is my trip, and I don’t need him getting involved. Plus, what am I gonna do?
Call him? These fees for out of country calls are ridiculous. I need a drink… I GOT IT. The only
way for me to figure out where I put her number is to get drunk and retrace my steps. This town
better have whiskey. Oh god, it’s all scotch here. Maybe I can sell these Jack Daniels shooters I
snuck on the plane at a higher price, you know, because of capitalism. Man, I hate paying for
those drinks on planes. Why pay when I can bring my own little party in my backpack. Alright,
just got to the bar, Tr-Ch- something or other here I come!

Nick did not make the date. He was awoken later that evening (approximately 1:30 in the
morning) after falling asleep in the Fontaine Saint-Michel thinking he hid the beautiful woman’s
number under a penny.
I think in this interpretation of Nick Miller, I relied heavily on organizing subject matter in a way
to resemble the chaos that goes on within his head. I was trying to construct his thought process
the audience might understand based off of how he acts in the show. As well, I wanted to
construct a voice in the reader’s head. One with inflection as he gets angry, excited, and then
back to be cool and collected. I think I could have employed more of tactics from this chapter but
am afraid I have a very small background in writing in first-person. However, I enjoyed the
practice and thing I performed a distinctive self by having Nick leap from one subject to the next.
Part of his life is leaving things unresolved and that was my goal. Create a bunch of thoughts that
were never finished but still led to what he thinks was a resolution.