Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Writing Life
Fri, Jul 30 2010
On not writing and on acting out what you write
My fiction writing has been on hold lately, so I've been writing about writing in order to keep my head in the game. This week has been particularly busy, so I thought I would just share with you just a couple of the writer-centric blogs I enjoy checking on now and then:
The Urban Muse
Storytellers Unplugged
And here's an entry from Writer Unboxed that speaks to me, since I've been doing that sort of thing for years. Fictional characters aren't acting (unless they happen to be actors), but getting up and acting out a scene will give you insight and let you tune in to see whether your characters are behaving true-to-nature. I do recommend using a bit of restraint if you happen to have close neighbors. They may wonder at the noises coming from your home or office.
Encourage a struggling fellow writer this week. I hope I just did.
posted at: 14:11 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
My fiction writing has been on hold lately, so I've been writing about writing in order to keep my head in the game. This week has been particularly busy, so I thought I would just share with you just a couple of the writer-centric blogs I enjoy checking on now and then:
The Urban Muse
Storytellers Unplugged
And here's an entry from Writer Unboxed that speaks to me, since I've been doing that sort of thing for years. Fictional characters aren't acting (unless they happen to be actors), but getting up and acting out a scene will give you insight and let you tune in to see whether your characters are behaving true-to-nature. I do recommend using a bit of restraint if you happen to have close neighbors. They may wonder at the noises coming from your home or office.
Encourage a struggling fellow writer this week. I hope I just did.
posted at: 14:11 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Wed, Jul 28 2010
Interpreting the universe
I was working on a poem the other day, a type of haiku, but more free in its form. It occurred to me that language is often used to convey science and math, but language ends up being much more of an art than a science. Science and math tend to be static in their rules, though science does have to deal with theories that come and go, making it less static than math. Language has enough rules to make it begin to work. From there, cultural, geographical and personal influences change it, giving power that neither science nor math can claim.
People often attempt to define the universe using math and science, which is a noble pursuit, but it may be a mistake to ignore the art of language when defining our world. I think that must be why there are not only scientists and mathematicians, but artists and poets. We're not more important than the scientists, but we reflect and communicate the parts of the universe that are not easily described by, or contained in, equations and formulas.
posted at: 22:41 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
I was working on a poem the other day, a type of haiku, but more free in its form. It occurred to me that language is often used to convey science and math, but language ends up being much more of an art than a science. Science and math tend to be static in their rules, though science does have to deal with theories that come and go, making it less static than math. Language has enough rules to make it begin to work. From there, cultural, geographical and personal influences change it, giving power that neither science nor math can claim.
People often attempt to define the universe using math and science, which is a noble pursuit, but it may be a mistake to ignore the art of language when defining our world. I think that must be why there are not only scientists and mathematicians, but artists and poets. We're not more important than the scientists, but we reflect and communicate the parts of the universe that are not easily described by, or contained in, equations and formulas.
posted at: 22:41 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Mon, Jul 26 2010
Relaxation and creativity
I worked too many hours today on typing info for a web page and my creative spirit is being affected by body fatigue. It's amazing how much influence physical discomfort can have on your ability to imagine and create. Fatigue is much different from relaxation. Being truly relaxed can actually enhance a creative writing experience. The brakes \ are off and the inner editor takes a back seat while the freer side of a writer is allowed to come through without barriers. One's sense of time is almost suspended and there is a feeling that anything could happen. In contrast, fatigue or physical discomfort can make one acutely aware of the passage of time and can make it seem agonizingly slow. That old saying about time flying when you're having fun has a lot of truth in it. If you're a writer, doing things to keep you body in good physical condition can go a long way toward letting your imagination take the time and energy it needs to go where it needs to go.
posted at: 22:26 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
I worked too many hours today on typing info for a web page and my creative spirit is being affected by body fatigue. It's amazing how much influence physical discomfort can have on your ability to imagine and create. Fatigue is much different from relaxation. Being truly relaxed can actually enhance a creative writing experience. The brakes \ are off and the inner editor takes a back seat while the freer side of a writer is allowed to come through without barriers. One's sense of time is almost suspended and there is a feeling that anything could happen. In contrast, fatigue or physical discomfort can make one acutely aware of the passage of time and can make it seem agonizingly slow. That old saying about time flying when you're having fun has a lot of truth in it. If you're a writer, doing things to keep you body in good physical condition can go a long way toward letting your imagination take the time and energy it needs to go where it needs to go.
posted at: 22:26 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Fri, Jul 23 2010
Read my notes: No new plots
If you wrote the same story all the time you might get tired of writing it. No publisher would care to publish it and no reader would be likely to pay to read it. The unscrupulous in society would be unlikely even to steal it.
Now that I've said that, let me say this. There are very few new plots in the universe. What generally happens is that old plots and conflicts change time periods, settings and themes. Betrayal, jealousy, murder and redemption take place again and again. The love triangle of David and Bathsheba (and her husband) was resurrected in the likes of King Arthur, Lady Guinivere and Sir Lancelot. Modern love triangles in stories include Lucas, Peyton and Brooke from One Tree Hill and Sookie, Bill and Eric from True Blood. The stories may take place in entirely different settings and have characters and other details that are nothing alike, but the basic premise of the plot is the same. If may even be spiced up with a love quadrangle at times, but unrequited loved is going to be in there somewhere, somehow.
Since it's unlikely that any of us is going to write a completely unique story, the details of what we write become key to making our story compelling. Your Tin Man might become a wedding chapel owner in 1960s Las Vegas. Your Captain Ahab may become a scientist traveling back in time to the late 1800s. Through details and through combining plots and and other elements, The possibilities are endless. There may be no new plots, but we really shouldn't let that stand in our way.
posted at: 16:44 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
If you wrote the same story all the time you might get tired of writing it. No publisher would care to publish it and no reader would be likely to pay to read it. The unscrupulous in society would be unlikely even to steal it.
Now that I've said that, let me say this. There are very few new plots in the universe. What generally happens is that old plots and conflicts change time periods, settings and themes. Betrayal, jealousy, murder and redemption take place again and again. The love triangle of David and Bathsheba (and her husband) was resurrected in the likes of King Arthur, Lady Guinivere and Sir Lancelot. Modern love triangles in stories include Lucas, Peyton and Brooke from One Tree Hill and Sookie, Bill and Eric from True Blood. The stories may take place in entirely different settings and have characters and other details that are nothing alike, but the basic premise of the plot is the same. If may even be spiced up with a love quadrangle at times, but unrequited loved is going to be in there somewhere, somehow.
Since it's unlikely that any of us is going to write a completely unique story, the details of what we write become key to making our story compelling. Your Tin Man might become a wedding chapel owner in 1960s Las Vegas. Your Captain Ahab may become a scientist traveling back in time to the late 1800s. Through details and through combining plots and and other elements, The possibilities are endless. There may be no new plots, but we really shouldn't let that stand in our way.
posted at: 16:44 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Wed, Jul 21 2010
Dispassionate, sidelined writers inventing exciting lives? Hardly.
Today I had an interesting conversation with someone I'll call Hayley. I mentioned a fellow writer's past personal struggles to her and she told me a little about her own background. I realized that many of the events being recalled had happened to very passionate people. Many think of fiction writers as impartial people, as bystanders who sit in a room and report stories while having no life of their own. I may be exaggerating a bit here, though I think we've all heard the stereotypes of writers who sit around in their pajamas and eat bonbons. From what I know of fiction writers, nothing could be further from the truth. Most ficiton writers come from backgrounds full of active living. They're often passionate people who will tackle a cause with passion and defend their loved ones with ferocity. They expect big things and they go after life with the same kind of fervor they present to readers through fictional characters. If you just read all that and you've been writing fiction, I hope it reminds you of who you are and makes you pick up some abandoned manuscript and give it the life passion it deserves.
posted at: 22:13 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Today I had an interesting conversation with someone I'll call Hayley. I mentioned a fellow writer's past personal struggles to her and she told me a little about her own background. I realized that many of the events being recalled had happened to very passionate people. Many think of fiction writers as impartial people, as bystanders who sit in a room and report stories while having no life of their own. I may be exaggerating a bit here, though I think we've all heard the stereotypes of writers who sit around in their pajamas and eat bonbons. From what I know of fiction writers, nothing could be further from the truth. Most ficiton writers come from backgrounds full of active living. They're often passionate people who will tackle a cause with passion and defend their loved ones with ferocity. They expect big things and they go after life with the same kind of fervor they present to readers through fictional characters. If you just read all that and you've been writing fiction, I hope it reminds you of who you are and makes you pick up some abandoned manuscript and give it the life passion it deserves.
posted at: 22:13 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Tue, Jul 20 2010
Writing, not to make a living, but as a way of life
Writing has always been something I've done as second nature, even before I knew how to form atual words. I used to watch my mother write and would ask for paper of my own, making circles and squiggles and loops in an imitation of her actual script. When people ask me how they can know if they're really a writer, one of things I ask them is if they write things when they don't really have to write and if they get pleasure from doing so. If you've never penned a poem or novel, but you find yourself making little lists and writing words together just to see what kind of phrase they'd make, you might be a writer who's just never been official about it. You can be a writer and still do almost any other job. It's not an either/or kind of situation. Knowing that, if you find youself writing down all the things that happened on your last vaction trip, consider the possibility that your subconscious mind may be telling you to get busy with something you thought only real writers did.
posted at: 20:33 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Writing has always been something I've done as second nature, even before I knew how to form atual words. I used to watch my mother write and would ask for paper of my own, making circles and squiggles and loops in an imitation of her actual script. When people ask me how they can know if they're really a writer, one of things I ask them is if they write things when they don't really have to write and if they get pleasure from doing so. If you've never penned a poem or novel, but you find yourself making little lists and writing words together just to see what kind of phrase they'd make, you might be a writer who's just never been official about it. You can be a writer and still do almost any other job. It's not an either/or kind of situation. Knowing that, if you find youself writing down all the things that happened on your last vaction trip, consider the possibility that your subconscious mind may be telling you to get busy with something you thought only real writers did.
posted at: 20:33 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Mon, Jul 19 2010
Vulnerable writing
Whenever I don't get to write a blog post until late in the evening, I hesitate to write one at all. Every writer has their optimum part of the day. Evening isn't mine. But I've learned that writing at other than optimum times can be an advantage when writing certain kinds of fictional scenes. If your protagonist is going through conflict that is making him (or her) vulnerable, writing while feeling vulnerable yourself, because of fatigue or other issues, might actually allow you to communicate that sense of vulnerability in a more moving way. You can always go back and revise later. For the moment, tapping into your own fatigue or uncertainty is what's important.
posted at: 22:48 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Whenever I don't get to write a blog post until late in the evening, I hesitate to write one at all. Every writer has their optimum part of the day. Evening isn't mine. But I've learned that writing at other than optimum times can be an advantage when writing certain kinds of fictional scenes. If your protagonist is going through conflict that is making him (or her) vulnerable, writing while feeling vulnerable yourself, because of fatigue or other issues, might actually allow you to communicate that sense of vulnerability in a more moving way. You can always go back and revise later. For the moment, tapping into your own fatigue or uncertainty is what's important.
posted at: 22:48 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
