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Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Building Blocks
Promise Me by Kill Hannah (Wake Up the Sleepers, 2009)
When I was a little girl, I liked to build things. Now mathematics are not my forte so building things for a living probably wouldn’t suit me (unless you want to live in a house with odd dimensions or drive on a bridge that is lopsided) but I’m still fascinated with building things in my head. It’s seeing it form from the ground up. Watching it grow and prosper under your watchful eye until it takes the shape you’ve obsessed over since day one.
Writing is building. You build the foundation upon what you want your writing to be. You build your characters, the world they live in. Everything fictional in your mind is built by you. I find one of the most challenging building projects while writing is the relationships your characters have. Relationships are messy, complicated and never easy. Therefore, writing a relationship is a messy, complicated and never easy process.
When writing in your story, you can fix the relationship however you want it. Friends, family, lovers, their relationship ARCs are based how you want them to read. A relationship with someone tells your reader a lot more than just how the character interacts with that one person. It can tell them how that person perceives the world around them, the world they grew up in, and the way they live their life now. Relationships can take different turns depending on how the relationship was built. You can build a relationship through work. Common interests. Mutual respect. Love. Trust. Commitment. Duty. The list is longer than I truly want to blog. But what got me started writing was a relationship. The reason I keep writing is, well, lost to me now. Emotional ties to something intangible. Relationships with my characters who are fictional and run rampant in my head. My brain is a jumble of voices just waiting to break loose on a blank screen.
In the case of my characters, particularly my hero and heroine, they’ve deemed their relationship inhabitable. It makes for difficult writing. It also makes for frustration. Bouts of periodic pissiness on the part of the writer. And incredible mood swings. I knew writing wasn’t easy. In fact, writing might be the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to accomplish. But characters who loathe the sight of one another (my heroine practically hisses every time he comes within a 100 yard radius of her) is giving me more fits than I care to talk about. I didn’t realize they were married. I didn’t realize she was still madly in love with him, and madder than a rattled hornets nest for him leaving her alone. Then I wrote him sitting by her bedside in the dark and realized he loved her too. It took this realization for me to be able to connect to him. He knows he’s fcked up but he can’t fix it and she wouldn’t let him if he tried.
So what does he try to do?
If you said fix their relationship… *sigh* That would be easier. But that is not the case.
So tell me what is your favorite part of writing? Doesn’t necessarily need to be your strongest point, but the part of writing you enjoy so much it keeps you going. And have you ever been surprised by a relationship in your writing you had no idea about? (Readers: Surprised by a relationship in a novel you’ve read you didn’t see coming?)
When I was a little girl, I liked to build things. Now mathematics are not my forte so building things for a living probably wouldn’t suit me (unless you want to live in a house with odd dimensions or drive on a bridge that is lopsided) but I’m still fascinated with building things in my head. It’s seeing it form from the ground up. Watching it grow and prosper under your watchful eye until it takes the shape you’ve obsessed over since day one.
Writing is building. You build the foundation upon what you want your writing to be. You build your characters, the world they live in. Everything fictional in your mind is built by you. I find one of the most challenging building projects while writing is the relationships your characters have. Relationships are messy, complicated and never easy. Therefore, writing a relationship is a messy, complicated and never easy process.
When writing in your story, you can fix the relationship however you want it. Friends, family, lovers, their relationship ARCs are based how you want them to read. A relationship with someone tells your reader a lot more than just how the character interacts with that one person. It can tell them how that person perceives the world around them, the world they grew up in, and the way they live their life now. Relationships can take different turns depending on how the relationship was built. You can build a relationship through work. Common interests. Mutual respect. Love. Trust. Commitment. Duty. The list is longer than I truly want to blog. But what got me started writing was a relationship. The reason I keep writing is, well, lost to me now. Emotional ties to something intangible. Relationships with my characters who are fictional and run rampant in my head. My brain is a jumble of voices just waiting to break loose on a blank screen.
In the case of my characters, particularly my hero and heroine, they’ve deemed their relationship inhabitable. It makes for difficult writing. It also makes for frustration. Bouts of periodic pissiness on the part of the writer. And incredible mood swings. I knew writing wasn’t easy. In fact, writing might be the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to accomplish. But characters who loathe the sight of one another (my heroine practically hisses every time he comes within a 100 yard radius of her) is giving me more fits than I care to talk about. I didn’t realize they were married. I didn’t realize she was still madly in love with him, and madder than a rattled hornets nest for him leaving her alone. Then I wrote him sitting by her bedside in the dark and realized he loved her too. It took this realization for me to be able to connect to him. He knows he’s fcked up but he can’t fix it and she wouldn’t let him if he tried.
So what does he try to do?
If you said fix their relationship… *sigh* That would be easier. But that is not the case.
So tell me what is your favorite part of writing? Doesn’t necessarily need to be your strongest point, but the part of writing you enjoy so much it keeps you going. And have you ever been surprised by a relationship in your writing you had no idea about? (Readers: Surprised by a relationship in a novel you’ve read you didn’t see coming?)
Labels:
2010,
Quartermaster's Queries (Sin),
Sin,
Writing for Rum
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61 comments:
Fascinating Sin!
I like the way that you sometimes try to bridge the chasm between the arts (writing) and science (mathematics). When successful, considerable insights are possible, at least for me. I think that here we are really dealing with complexity issues.
Science usually breaks a problem down into its constituent parts and tries to explain things in terms of these simpler components (reductionism). It often works well but sometimes the sum is more than the parts. The interactions between the components lead to new unexpected phenomena. A nice example from physics would be super-conductivity. Scientists sometimes lump these 'complexity' issues under the general title of 'Many Body Problems'.
Life and consciousness are definitely many-body complexity issues and therefore horribly difficult to analyze. Somehow I suspect that skill with mathematics might not help you very much with your relationship issues and you are much better guided by intuition ... but you knew that anyway!
I think that, like you, really it is the complexity of relationships that interests me most, and writing is a good way of experimenting with this. Like most writers I find that when playing with a few crude ideas and putting them into words, the simple ideas develop complex patterns without further apparent input. An amusing story can develop almost from nothing while I input and edit the text file. Its as though the simple constituents are interacting through the medium of my mind to generate new and unexpected structures. .... Just as you describe.
I reckon I could be teaching grandma to suck eggs here.
Sin, you are a wise old bird! :D
I'd say that my favorite part is definitely thinking up the plot. Initially, that is. When it starts to stray... it's exciting, but also frustrating!
Q, this is one time I might just understand where you're coming from. To me, almost anything can be related to writing. Writing in its many forms is the essence of imagination. Imagination/fantasy is all produced in the brain. Can imagination be considered a form of scientific study?
I actually really enjoyed your reply. (I always do) but this one is mucho food for thought. Have you considered writing like a science based thriller or suspense novel (contemp)? I would love to see inside your fictional creative brain and just pick it apart.
Lale, *waving* welcome aboard!
So you're a plotter in the beginning and stray into the unknown lands of the pantser? I like it.
I tend to know the ending I want to get to but everything else just has to come to me while writing.
Writing dialogue--that's my favorite part. And sometimes in the beginning of a manuscript, when everything is still new and shiny, I like thinking of the inciting incident and the Black Moment that I know I need to write to. In that moment, I'm sure it's a GREAT idea and I can't wait to write from here to there.
Then it all goes to hell in a handbasket.
Great post, Sin. I'm trying to figure out my favorite part of writing. I think for me, it's the characters, and what they say and do -- I never know ahead of time, so it's always, "Holy crap! Did you see that?!" when they come up with something funny and unexpected.
Right now I'm revising, and it feels like I'm examining the characters with a magnifying glass. LOL I don't know that they like anymore than I do!
I totally agree that my favorite part is the coming up with new ideas. There's nothing like having a thread of an idea or character come into your mind and then working that out into something more.
It's why I have about 10 book ideas roughly fleshed out and am still writing on my very first book!
Scapegoat, you'll get there!
I tend to think in order to get to good writing, everything has to go to hell in a hand basket, Hells.
You rock at writing dialogue. I read your dialogue and it's like I'm sitting in the middle of the conversation. Or a fight. lol
DRD, the spontaneity of characters while you're trying to capture them on the blank page is a lot of fun. I was really taken aback by the realization that my H/H were married but estranged for the duration of their marriage. That's what makes writing interesting. Finding the things that are deep in your rooted imagination and bringing them to life.
Sin, I know what you're saying -- when I'm doing revisions I'm all surprised at the breadcrumbs the characters left behind. LOL THEY aren't. But I am.
Scapegoat, I have lots of ideas that I tuck away in Word docs for when I can get to them. It's always good to be prepared. :)
"Hellion in a Handbasket". Mmm. Sounds like a great title there. :)
Hellion in a Handbasket: Memoirs of a Pirate
Of course, they'd be all lies. I wouldn't actually WANT to share tidbits of my actual life. For one it's too boring; and the bits that aren't boring, are too embarrassing to put into print.
LOL, I love that disclaimer.
DRD, you have the yellow bricked road in your revisions? lol
Hells, I would totally buy that memoir. It's not boring. Not one bit.
Hellion -- just put something in there about "all of this is true or actually happened -- just not to me". LOL
I would totally go with that disclaimer. Hilarious.
Yellow brick road? Not so much. More like my characters holding up a big sign saying "DUH!" LOL
Hellion, now that you've got your disclaimer, get to work on those memoirs! :)
Me fav part a' the writin'... Comin' up with the most unusual and outrageous things and knowin' people are goin' ta either scratch their heads, lookin' puzzled, or be laughin' like loons and fist pumpin' in the air.
Things like pirates with i-pods, alien libraries and krakens smakin' zepellins out a' the sky....
The more totally strange it is, the more I dig makin' it work.
I think I'm makin' it work...
NO, I am makin' it work!
The memoirs sound totally awesome and we should all write them. Mine be Tales from the Bar...or The Rum Made Me Do It. And it features a lot of Barbossa... ;)
The Rum Made Me Do It Perfect!
Chanceroo, you come up with the most unusual and outrageous stories. But that's your forte. You thrive doing that and you're good at it. So you should run with it.
Taking a quick break from these reports to report in. I can't believe your characters were married and you never knew it. I love that stuff! When they reveal things and I'm like "Well why didn't you tell me that before?!"
I guess I like writing the angst, though dialogue comes in a very close second. Anytime I can create the "awe man, no way" moment for the reader, I'm happy.
I'm pretty sure Hellie's memoirs are already written. Something about a Grecian urn.
Mine would be called She Did It Her Way - The Stubborn Ass.
I think there must have been a part of me deep down that knew it all along just by the way they acted around one another in mini-burst of banter between them. She's got a wild past anyway, but he tricked her and she was naive enough back then to fall for it. But now he's back in her life and muddling it all up again. And she's conflicted and a little scared and wants nothing but to hate him for the rest of his days breathing.
You do write some great Angst, Ter. And you might wanna duck when you mention the Urn. Hellie might go on a tear and throw the Urn at you.
I ain't skeard.
*looks around and runs below decks*
Wish I could think of a title for MY memoirs. Of course, I'm still trying to DO stuff so I'll have something to write in my memoirs. LOL
I'm gonna take a break from revising -- my brain is shrinking by the minute. LOL Catch you guys later.
I love writin' the Chance memoirs. Hell, I've already got a ton a' it written... And yes, everyone comes off as very heroic, sexy and deadly.
Maybe someday, just maybe...I'll share 'em.
Ter - I love it! She Did It Her Way - The Stubborn Ass would be an instant hit.
Sins would have to be something alone the lines of Sinning with the Sinster - A Guide to Ninja Fun
Sin - I always know I'm on the right track when Jane-o says, "You're nuts." or "You can't do that!" or "You need to simplify it."
Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
I’m pretty sure Hellie’s memoirs are already written. Something about a Grecian urn.
Aren't you the WIT today, Bo'sun? Or am I thinking of another word that ends with "it"?
Don't be silly, Q is the Brit, not me.
Was it Brit I was thinking of? Or was it HIT or LIT--as in "I lit into her, scaring her so bad her hair fell out"?
Ooh, ooh! Mr. Kotter! I know this one!
*waves hand*
Oooo! It's a puzzle!
Twit?
Nitwit?
;)
LIT–as in “I lit into her, scaring her so bad her hair fell out”?
LMAO
*falling out of the crow's nest laughing*
Donna, you know what you could take a break from revisions to do... *plotting evil plan*
I do love nitwit.
I was thinking more along the lines of, "Come Sin with Me." for my officially sinful memoirs of a ninja pirate.
LOL, Sin -- YOU? Plotting an evil plan? I would think you've got file cabinets full of them! :)
I do not keep files on my evil plans or deeds. That would be evidence. And evidence and witness are bad.
Dear DRD,
It has occurred to me in just the last few seconds I had not wrote to you today. How are you, my pet? I sent the Undead Monkey over to your hammock with a gift, but he returned just a few minutes ago with a distended stomach and a smile. Don't worry. I solved the problem by taking a baseball bat to the bald side of his head.
I do hope you enjoy your regurgitated gift. I picked it out myself.
Sincerely,
Evil Twin
Dear Evil Twin,
It's delightful to hear from you, as always. I was "otherwise engaged" in my hammock, so I was unaware of the Undead Monkey's presence. (That may be the real cause of his smile.)
Thank you for the gift. I am well aware of "regifting", but "regurgitating". . .well, I apologize for the brevity of this missive, but I must see to the cleanup of my gift now.
Sincerely,
DRD
Dear DRD,
The gift is meant to be nasty. Consider it a gift from the Undead Monkey.
And as for the Undead Monkey, I saw him dry humping Chance's hammock. I wouldn't go in there if I were you.
Sincerely,
Evil Twin
PS. Any more thoughts on the evil plan I hatched for the blog next week?
Dear Evil Twin,
Thank you for clarifying that the gift is meant to be nasty. I don't know why I thought otherwise.
As I have little experience with evil plans, I am taking a remedial course, so that I might be of assistance to you during next week's blog. :)
I must dash now, for I can hear the Undead Monkey screeching. . .or perhaps it is Chance.
Most sincerely yours,
DRD
*wiping hands and grinning gleefully, heading away from the rail
The kraken do enjoy a bit of monkey now and then... Cap'n? Where be that new crate a' shamwows?
I stuffed them in the bodice of my corset.
My gum just attached itself to my monitor.
LMFAO
I stuffed them in the bodice of my corset.
There's room?
There’s room?
*giving the eye*
I wasn't aware you were looking, DRD. Like the merchandise?
*leaning over to show the bright orange shamwows* They give quite the lift.
Dear Evil Twin,
I was not looking at your "merchandise". However, they WERE inserted into the conversation, and it would have been rude to ignore their. . . presence.
And you are too modest. I am sure you CREATED the Evil Plan 101 course rather than attended it. I will be on the lookout for landmines.
Sincerely,
DRD
P.S. I wondered why your GUN attached itself to your monitor. I can see it's time to get my eyes checked again.
Maybe you two should get a room...
LOL, Chance -- I am back into my Revision Cave. Sigh. I have to make sure the changes I made didn't create the need for OTHER changes. LOL
A PADDED room.
The padded room is currently out of order. Seems there was a massacre there.
Def GET A room!
Jeez.
I do not keep files on my evil plans or deeds. That would be evidence. And evidence and witness are bad.
See, SIN, this is where you and I differ. I always leave The Evidence in Plain Sight. In code, of course. And I have more files than Hellion's work place.
The reason I keep writing is, well, lost to me now.
The reason I keep writing is, well, so I have evidence of for my files. A record of a moment that happened, that no one noticed happening.
In fact, writing might be the hardest thing I’ve ever tried to accomplish.
Deffinately true. If IT was easy then I would have gotten bored with it a long time ago.
So tell me what is your favorite part of writing?
Typing that period at the end of the final sentence.
I do love nitwit.
Gosh SIN ... I didn't Even know that you Liked me.
Jules, you're not a nitwit, you are a WIT. Prone to quick comebacks and smart ass replies.
I have a room, Jules, but no one wants to go in there with me.
In code and in plain sight, well, while I can appreciate a clever way of keeping a memento around to remind you of your misdeeds and adventures, even codes can be broken if the cracker wishes to crack.
I do love when you reply. Always so much between the lines.
I have a room, Jules, but no one wants to go in there with me.
Cuz they're afraid they'll come out in sections! LOL
Quartering someone is so last year.
Speaking of smart asses & so much between the lines. even codes can be broken if the cracker wishes to crack.
Butt Dahhhling … what makes you think that I don‘t want my codes cracked?
Seriously. Its like playing poker with a cheater. They know what cards you are holding, you know that they know, but you also know that they can’t act on that knowledge with out showing you ( and the rest of the world) that they are a cheater.
Even if you lose the hand (because they cheated) you win The Game because their winning proves that they were a cheat.
Wait -- Julie -- can you draw a diagram of that? I got lost somewhere. LOL
Draw a diagram of which comment, Donna?
The "Butt ... cracked?"
Or the
"Seriously... cheat"?
;)
the butt cracked.. obviously.
the butt cracked.. obviously.
Oooohhhh yah, silly question. I mean really. Should dah known. Donna ....
Donna this is your cue to say "Hey. Don't get cheeky!"
Okay.
Now I'm back to being serious. at least assss serious as someone like me (who is by nature not serious about her seriousness) can be.
You build the foundation upon what you want your writing to be
True. Though in my case it might be more accurate to say that I build the foundation upon what I want my writing to prove. Most of what I write is for an Audience of One. Just one person, someone who I am expressing a point of view or an opinion to.
I tend to know the ending I want to get to but everything else just has to come to me while writing.
I never know the ending when I start a story/letter/email. What I do Know is that I want my audience to feel that I have a valid reason for my opinion when they are done reading the whatever I wrote.
Which leads me to Q’s statement: I like the way that you sometimes try to bridge the chasm between the arts (writing) and science (mathematics).
Indeed Q, the methodology that I use in writing is very much like doing a math equation. Both require that I impute information. Both require me to plot out the ’proofs’ carefully so that I can prove how I got my final answer. Or in the case of writing, how I came to have a certain opinion. And why that option is valid.
An example?
I recently told someone “You have a right to be Angry. Now you have to learn to let it go.”
My opinion isn’t the Story.
The Story is in how I came to have that opinion. The Point of Telling the Story is why I feel the person I said that to should embrace my view of the situation.
I know. Plotting out a story the same way I plot out a math problem sounds clinical. A cold, clinical, calculating way to go about creating something that was designed to make my audience “feel” something…. Something human and organic and yes … emotional.
Again So tell me what is your favorite part of writing?
Typing in the last period of the last sentence.
Because writing is not my normal means of communication. It is to revealing. Which makes me uncomfortable. And I am aware that often times what I write (she said with a Sphinx-like smile on her lips) makes others uncomfortable too. Which makes me even More Uncomfortable. The interesting thing is, despite my discomfort, despite the fact that most of my stories are written to be read by one person … my stories are often posted where anyone can see them. One of the reasons why …
My autobiography would be called …
The Paradox
I approach writing a IMO piece the same way I would approach a math problem. I am Dispassionate. Objective. Realistic. I use examples that show why I feel that I have earned the right to voice my opinion. Dispassionate. Objective. Realistic.
Hard things to be when the examples you are using are from your own life experiences. It’s a Paradox. But then really? Everything about me is a Paradox.
IMO
I can back that opinion up btw!
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