Interpretive Dance for the Writer’s Soul
Or what I like to call pantsing it when you have no idea what’s going on.
Inspired by a Sunday morning impromptu dance off, I come to you live from my living room where Mattycakes is busting a move. I’m filling in for the Bo’sun today and you will have to bear with my crazy weekend antics. This is why they don’t let me blog Mondays.
We like to dance. Every Sunday morning, Mattycakes and I schedule a little dancing time. It’s our way of spending time with one another since we don’t see much of each other on the weekdays. I stay up extremely late on Saturday nights to write and then get up all goofified from lack of sleep. This is when the dancing gets wild.
We’ve spent a lot of time thinking up specialty moves that are unique to us. We turn on the radio in the kitchen and bust a move. We have something we call the lawn mower and the row boat with a little of the offset arm action to compliment each other. Then we go our own ways. Usually this is the moonwalk from me and the booty shake from Mattycakes before we move back to do a little of the freak boy made popular mostly by Too Short in the ‘90’s. You know, where the girl does the freak against the boy and the boy’s got his hand in the air like he’s a pimp or maybe that’s more popular now since the Lil Jon era. Anyways, then we go straight into interpretive dance. I call this my pantsing. This gets my brain warmed up. I love to dance. I’m not exactly the most graceful person in the room.
Mattycakes is good at the pansting. He’s actually quite creative. Today’s dance off was inspired by “So You Think You Can Dance”. I make Mattycakes suffer through this two hour affair every Wednesday night. What he calls his interpretive dance number is mostly moves he’s seen in movies. Which to watch a man who’s every bit of 6’4” and looks like a tank, try to move like a dancer is hilarious. But we have a different kind of humor here. Mostly us just jumping around like ballerinas and twiggy cheerleaders. Not a pretty sight.
I bet you’re wondering what this has to do with writing. I know Hellion is sitting on her treasure chest, chewing on the end of her dagger and trying to rationalize throwing it at me.
Just so you know, daggers hurt, babe. That’s why we’ve got a life size poster of Capt’n Jack. That’s supposed to be for target practice not me.
I went to the school of pantsing. Well, I did until I got tired of going and made up excuses not to go. For me, knowing the story before it unfolds on the page is boring. I like to go in several different directions when I write and if I’m set to one thing, it’s certain I’ll go another. The road less traveled is the one I enjoy the most.
Mattycakes and the dancing have really taught me a lot about writing. And no that’s not the lack of sleep talking.
I get an idea in my mind and I go somewhere with it. Just when I think I know what’s going to happen next, I throw a screwball in there and change it up. Dancing is just like that. You have to anticipate your partner’s moves and think up your next one. It flows together even when you had no idea what was coming next. And if it doesn’t you move forward and interpret what to do next.
Just like dancing with a partner, you have to know your characters in order to pants. I’ve always thought pantsing is more of a character driven way of writing. You let the characters tell you what direction to head in next. Let them tell the story the way it was meant to be told. Sometimes, they aren’t sure either but that’s when you throw the screwball in, the kidnapping attempt. The phone threat. The stalker. The ex-girlfriend. The baby. Whatever.
Do what’s best for your story and you’re the only one who knows that. Learn to rely on instinct. It’s like an adrenaline rush each time you open a new page.
So today let’s discuss methods of writing. What crazy thing do you do to get into the mood to write? And if you’re a reader, do you have a method to your wicked reading ways?
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46 comments:
Oh my... What a fun blog. Dancing around like fools with the hubby sounds like fun. Mine wouldn't even dare... music and Scott = oil and water. He just doesn't get music so tries not to embarrass me since I was a studied and played music so in depth.
Actually I think exercise is supposed to get the creative juices flowing--a shame I'm too lazy to do it on a regular basis. When I'm really stuck [and got the red in me] I usually dance, by myself in my room. I don't subject poor Scott to it though--one he hates the music I listen to--two, he thinks belly dancing is just plain weird. lol!
If it's just me and the kids I teach my daughter some Latin moves and my son is more of a yoga kinda kid. lol.
And I LOVE So you think you can dance.
I love to dance, though here again I see that Tiff's hubby and mine would get along well. George's dance moves are reminiscent of 70 year old men at wedding receptions. LOL!
Getting the creative juices going? I don't know. I don't do anything to get them going. I sit down and start typing and wait for it to come to me. Sometimes it's ok, sometimes it's garbage. Then when I sit down the next time, I read over what I wrote before and do some shining up. :) Not as exciting as a dance-a-thon in the kitchen, but it's working ok, i guess.
I LOVE to dance! And I'm totally addicted to SYTYCD. I'd take that over the nitwits they put on American Idol anyday. I dance around the house from time to time. Kiddo is at the age where she still kind of finds it funny but soon I'll just be embarrassing her. That's when the real fun begins. LOL!
I don't have a method. Unless you consider avoidance a method. But I promised myself I'm going to write all summer while Kiddo is gone. This is my last week of school until the next quarter starts (3 weeks off maybe) so writing kicks into high gear as of right now. I'm going to need the rest of you to hold me to that. LOL!
I'm a dancer from way back. On my fifteenth birthday the top of my cake said 'The dancing machine is now fifteen'. LOL The DH and I used to dance a lot, not so much anymore. I love to bust some moves with my nine year old, I think he was a Solid Gold Dancer in another life:)
I have to feel inspired to write. I have to get in the correct mindset. I call it 'charactering up.' I grab a Diet Coke and head for the computer. I close my eyes and visualize my characters, and walk them through the scene I have in mind. I try to feel whatever emotion is present in the scene and then I picture facial expressions and body language. Then I write.
Forgot to say - THANKS FOR HELPING ME OUT! I was brain dead last night so there's no telling what mush would have been up here today had I tried to write something. LOL! And I would hate for us to have missed your Sunday goofified self.
Lisa - you visualize? That's impressive. It's really too bad I can't type while I drive. That's the one place my story comes to life in my mind. It's like a movie I can see clear as can be and I get so engrossed in it I don't realize how far I've driven. I need to buy a recorder or something.
I have to visualize, and a lot of times when scenes come to me, it's like a movie playing in my head:)
Usually when I'm running on the treadmill I get a lot of ideas. Yoga does that for me too. That's probably why I don't have great balance. I'm too busy thinking in another realm than focusing on my breathing.
And Tiff, I can totally see you shutting yourself in a room to dance.
I've never considered my reading ways wicked but that's as good a way to put it as any.lol. To get in the mood to read I don't need much provocation, but when it comes to writing it takes a LOT to get me going. In the early morning it takes copious amounts of coffee. Later on in the day it takes a strong glimmer of inspiration and usually a stern talking to from myself.lol.
Marn- you do what works. We've all got special methods. I do all kinds of weird things to get the creative juices flowing. Sometimes I go running. Sometimes I sit very quietly. Sometimes I read. Sometimes I do the dishes. And sometimes I dance. Do yoga. I do all kinds of things. The point is you do what works and look how far along you've come!
I love the avoidance method. I study that at times. But now you're about to have some time to yourself and after you get rested up, we expect you to get some writing done. So hop to it, Ter.
Great blog! My hubby refuses to dance as well. Now and then I'll force him to take me out, and he'll stand on the very edge of the dance floor and kind of sort of sway a bit. LOL. Not that I can dance either, but usually I've drank just enough to forget that vital little piece of information.
I've found that for me, cooking gets my creative juices flowing. But that usually ends poorly. Every time, it turns into a mess. I've got the laptop balanced precariously on the countertop, three pans of things on the stove, and something in the oven. So I'm trying to stir with one hand and type with the other - whatever perfect line has popped into my head that I'm sure I'll forget if I don't type it right now. Then I get distracted and reach for something without thinking and burn myself. Seriously. I have scars all over my hands and up both arms and (oddly enough) a bad one on my stomach. All from cooking while writing.
Dinner never comes out edible after all that. So then we call for pizza and I have 30 minutes to write furiously.
I don't think I can dance... I *know* I can't. lol Great post. I will say about exercise that I always feel better after I've done it, but I also have a hard time making myself do it if I'm not currently in the habit of doing it. The old viscious circle of knowing it will make me feel better but feeling too bad to put actual effort into feeling better. Weird and self-sabotaging.
As for writing, well, I plot it out in my head and get started, but those little buggers just do what they want to do regardless. So much for plotting. At least for me.
Sarah
Lisa, from now on I'm calling you the dancing machine. I might even sing it ala Dancing Queen.
You are my dancing machine
wild and mean
always clean
You are lean
a gorgeous fighting machine.
Okay, so I had to make up the words. But bear with me. LOL
The funny thing is that last night a voice in my head said, "You should sit down and write." But I watched Oceans 13 instead. LOL! Avoidance AND lack of discipline.
I don't need any prep to read. Speaking of that, I finished Blue Eyed Devil last night. *sigh*
OMG, I'm laughing so hard I can't breathe. Mainly because I can totally picture this...up until you said the lawnmower and the rowboat moves. I know you tied this into writing, but I was so busy laughing, I didn't even notice.
I think the ultimate pantsing method was the one I read that said, "If you don't know what to do next, have someone come into the room and shoot somebody."
And yes, I took that at the literal word.
I used to love to dance, but not so much anymore. Too many boys I hung out with or dated who'd make fun of my sucky moves...so I don't do them anymore. In public. With boys. In the privacy of my car or my room, well, there are no video tapes there, baby. (And my favorite song still to dance to: Pour Some Sugar On Me. Good times. Newest favorite song: anything by Maroon 5.)
For the record, I've seen Hellion dance and she can move. Grant it, the Rum Runners probably helped, but those guys she was dancing on...err...I mean with didn't have any complaints. LOL!
LOL. Kelly we all need a little wicked in our lives! I love coffee as well but I don't drink it often. I don't sleep well and even if I drink it at 8am, it keeps me up later than I want to be. Not to mention it makes me talk and type at speeds never recorded before.
LOL. Hal. Sounds like me. I'm a horrible cook. I think of a million things I could be doing besides cooking and that usually gets me pulling out the laptop or the notebook to write. Or I turn on my iPod and never hear the timer go off.
Sin, You can call me what ever you want:)
H- I LOVE Maroon 5! Adam Levine is the shit.
Sarah, it's that way for me too. I have a plan in my head. Does it ever go that way? Nope. Hardly ever do I get on page what I wanted to say.
I had to make up a routine for myself. I hate to exercise. But if I go straight home from work, it takes me about 45 minutes to get there through the traffic. If I go to the gym for 45 minutes and then go home, I get there about the same time. So I try to tell myself it's about maximizing my time and using less gas. I know it's not true, but my brain isn't very rational and it's easy to lie to it. LOL
Hellion- I know you're imagining Mattycakes doing the lawnmower. He cracks me up. I can't do it as well as him because he does the faces with it, but the next time you come over, ask him to do it. The row boat is the one we do together. And then the Velvet Power move which is from a drunken club moment earlier on in our relationship. It's truly awesome.
And girlfriend, we all know you can bust some moves. Don't downplay your dancing talents.
I can't think of what the Lawnmower is (though I have an idea) but do you guys do the Sprinkler? That one always cracks me up. LOL!
Sin - I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that way. If I have to go somewhere I'm always thinking of what I can do on the way or what is in the same area. It's the multi-tasker in me. LOL!
I'll second the Adam Levine comment. I don't even like scrawny boys like that, but he is sex on a stick.
Oh we do it all. Have you ever started up a push mower and pushing it along? Imagine Matty throwing in some weird moves and skipping along behind a mower. LOL
We have dance moves for nearly everything. Brushing your teeth. Washing the dishes. Cooking is just a bunch of dancing against the stove. The stove gets molested a lot.
I'm not a Maroon 5 fan. They make me throw up a bit in my mouth. I know. I'm the only one. I'd take Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace though.
Love the pics of our beloved Capt and Hugh Jackman posted yesterday, wenches! :-)
Awesome blog, Sin! Glad to hear your Matty-cakes likes to dance. I met my DH in a disco. I went every Wednesday (Ladies night!), Friday, Sat and Sun night. He danced with me until we married. That's when the dancing stopped. Ugh! I like to dance in the car while driving down the road. #4 thinks it's great! #'s 2 & 3 think I'm embarassing. #1 doesn't really care. As you can imagine I'm having so much fun with #4.
We watch SYTYCD too. Cool show! I only wish I were younger and in better shape. :-) I'm sure I pull out some of my old dance moves to perform a mighty fine jig if a dasturdly fiend were using me for target practice. LOL.
I get ideas in the shower of all places. I really need to invest in one of those small tape recorders so I can pop my head out and recite before I forget. I keep telling myself to get one and I keep forgetting to do it.
*cracking up at picture of Matty skipping* I'm sorry, seriously, you should see him. 6'4 bodybuilder! He makes me feel delicate and tiny, and I'm not a bit delicate or tiny.
As for Maroon 5, you're outnumbered on the ship, Sin, I'm sorry. Though it's only fair. I can't stand most of your music, though you're sweet and don't play the really obnoxious stuff when we're in the car together. Mainly because I'll hang out your window and cry like I'm being tortured...but whatever...
Speaking of torture music, Tiff, you'll be pleased to learn that Sheila Kelley (she is an exercise guru/actress) references Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in her S-Factor book as a song to groove to. Of course, this tends to make me respect her less...but I thought you'd appreciate it nonetheless. It wasn't the song about the [BLEEP]holes though. Not that that would make a difference.
If Gontier is the lead singer then he's too scrawny. And I'm pretty sure he'd be shorter than you. LOL! However, if he wants to sing to me, that's fine.
The stove gets molested? LOL! You must have one very happy stove. And I can't cook either. I don't burn myself as much as the food. I have a time, I hear it go off, but don't bother getting up. Then I realize it minutes later and my ramon noodles are mush. Makes me so mad.
I think I need a lobotomy.
*shivers at the memories*
I'm all about him singing to me. He is WAY too short for me, but I don't wanna make out with him. I want to keep him on retainer to sing. I can think of a dozen different men I'd keep on retainer to make out with. LOL
Kathy! That DH of yours needs to be smacked with the iron skillet! He doesn't dance with you anymore? Not even in the kitchen when no one else is around? Smack him! Smack him hard!
I get ideas early in the morning in the shower. They are usually the ones I stick to the most. Some are echoes of my dreams the night before. Some are from me going through what's up next for me to write.
I don't per se have any reading methods. I have to be in a certain mood to read a certain book. Sometimes books just don't give me a choice and force me to read them by being so good. But usually if I'm reading, I'm frustrated with my writing.
Ter- I know Adam is scrawny, I would break him in half for sure, but damn he would die with a smile on his face.
WOOHOO to Nick Cave lovers...
I will say JANGA knows who Nick Cave is and I've never seen her actually write I hate his stuff---so there... watch her do it now... lol!
And it's just that one song that's a little uh... explicit and wrong with the lyrics. LOL
I have to say, anything you can have sex too (strong thrumming, seductive beat--like NC)is a good workout song. Did I just say that on a public forum? LMFAO It's the NC reference, he's such a naughty man.
That's only because Janga is cooler and much nicer than I am. She is southern.
And it wasn't just the ONE song. *eye roll, laughs* But I thought you'd want to know: Sheila Kelley has the same godawful taste in music as you.
Adam Levine is a "naughty" man; Nick Cave is the Marquis de Sade.
LMFAO... you know how I like those alpha men. I'll say he's so tiny and skinny, but one hellova ball ov energy on stage! Even at his age.
I just had to look up Nick Cave as I'd never heard of him and I watched the video for Dig, Lazarus, Dig and I liked it.
An interesting rhythm and DS started dancing.
Marn - I don't recommend playing much NC around DS. Though he'll have no idea what the nasty bits mean, there's stuff in there that makes me cringe.
And it's very hard to make me cringe...
LOL! Dually noted. :)
I wouldn't say I like Nick Cave exactly, and "Drink, Smoke, & F#@%" will never be on my playlist. But I do find him and his unusual mix of themes and musical influences interesting.
Sin, I do like your dance metaphor. I think it works especially well since "dance" covers a multitude of moves--from a minuet to the dirty boogie. :) My writing is moving more like the former recently.
The dirty boogie. I like it.
I've never listened to NC though I've heard Tiff rave about him. I should. I'm just lazy. I prefer my emo-screamers. And not screamers in the naughty way. I heard where y'all's head went when I said that.
Although, I do love that Marn lets the DS dance to NC. Nice. He's gonna be a partier when he gets older babe.
Okay, I'm starting to feel my age here. Who is Nick Cave? LOL.
I am not qualified to answer that question since I'm not sure of who he is. I know he sings a dirty song because Hellion told me about it. I imagine if you Wiki Nick Cave the Wiki will know all about him.
And I'm proud to say that I listen to them to because I'm a pirate and love doing something naughty. LOL.
Dirty songs? Try listening to Sean Kingston, Akon, Nelly, M&M, and some of the new rap artists #4 loves to listen to. Yikes! Cones? Lollipops? Yeah, it gets worse.
Nick Cave is far from new... never washed up... the man goes back to the seventies--mid-I think.
These are not just dirty songs, take the title of this album, for instance: The murder ballads... not just about murder but the act of it, the stories of it, it's weird and twisted... and he uses naughty words strung together in a very inventive fashion. not nice at all, explicit in the details, so on and so forth.
Kathy, I gotta say that I'm known to get down to some dirty south music. I like Lil Jon. I mean anyone who raps a song called "I don't give a f*ck"... that's my theme song.
Tiff, I would say that's a weird theme but that's sorta like the stories I write. LOL
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