tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post1983129774204260124..comments2023-05-24T08:06:43.882-04:00Comments on Romance Writer's Revenge: Past InfluencesTerri Osburnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17176989488447450585noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-29662645535228627042013-07-25T12:20:24.274-04:002013-07-25T12:20:24.274-04:00I'm not going to answer your question yet. I c...I'm not going to answer your question yet. I can't. I'm engrossed in the feelings and special memories your post brought to me. Loss. It's a universal emotion that can tie us all together. <br /><br />Thank you for this. Sabrina Shieldsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-51031672550366816812013-07-25T10:20:05.538-04:002013-07-25T10:20:05.538-04:00That wasn't a downer that was ... Stunning.
L...That wasn't a downer that was ... Stunning.<br /> Like an impressionist painting painted in words. <br /><br />The visuals of your words left me thoughtful, and yes , quiet. Because honestly? There is nothing I could say after reading that piece. Nothing I could or should add ... Except "Wow." That was beautifully written. JulieJustJuliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05944447023263004591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-8294924419908454852013-07-25T09:21:11.808-04:002013-07-25T09:21:11.808-04:00Di, I loved getting to see you again. Your roommat...Di, I loved getting to see you again. Your roommates kept stopping me to say how much you were enjoying the book. Totally made my week. :)Terri Osburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17176989488447450585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-80165689012962187832013-07-25T09:13:10.444-04:002013-07-25T09:13:10.444-04:00Thanks, Di!Thanks, Di!Sinhttp://www.romancewritersrevenge.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-1684226915082016152013-07-25T07:07:04.554-04:002013-07-25T07:07:04.554-04:00Wow, Sin.
An amazing blog, not just the subject,...Wow, Sin. <br /><br />An amazing blog, not just the subject, but the clarity with which I can picture that summer day you've described. It is simply breathtaking. <br /><br />My regency hero and heroine have both lost loved ones which gives them both a point of connection, but is also leads to something bigger. <br /><br />Sorry, I'm late. I'm still recovering from National. I was thrilled to find Terri at the literacy signing and I got to meet PJ in person.<br /><br />Di Di Rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05952698961588256891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-28406312630506956932013-07-24T15:37:36.125-04:002013-07-24T15:37:36.125-04:00That makes perfect sense, Janga. I cull from the e...That makes perfect sense, Janga. I cull from the experiences I know from others and often...from nightmares. Remembering the emotions I woke with is part of my process.Maureenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01517092592545660754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-80692275406809442362013-07-24T15:08:51.516-04:002013-07-24T15:08:51.516-04:00You're the closest thing we have to a Moses ar...You're the closest thing we have to a Moses around here, Janga. No worries. That's very true. If I'd have tried to write a story about betrayal back when I was in the waves of it, I doubt I could have done it. At least not in a way anyone else would want to read.Terri Osburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17176989488447450585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-29977933154172380612013-07-24T15:06:45.593-04:002013-07-24T15:06:45.593-04:00If I write about grief when I am consumed by grief...<i> If I write about grief when I am consumed by grief, it is likely to be incoherent or so over-the-top that it seems absurd, but remembering my grief much later I can make a character's grief raw and potent. </i><br /><br />I completely agree. Sinhttp://www.romancewritersrevenge.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-30919044546564150712013-07-24T15:05:11.437-04:002013-07-24T15:05:11.437-04:00I should have said that that's just my two cen...I should have said that that's just my two cents worth. I hate it when I say something that comes across with that I'm-Moses-descending-the mountain attitude.Jangahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15128188159653860806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-28714158166837881152013-07-24T15:02:23.733-04:002013-07-24T15:02:23.733-04:00Powerful stuff, Sin!
I think most writers draw o...Powerful stuff, Sin! <br /><br />I think most writers draw on their own traumas and terrors in their writing, but I think we need distance to do so effectively. Wordsworth's "emotion recollected in tranquility" idea has application not only for poetry but for storytelling as well. If I write about grief when I am consumed by grief, it is likely to be incoherent or so over-the-top that it seems absurd, but remembering my grief much later I can make a character's grief raw and potent.Jangahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15128188159653860806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-8769175027445654332013-07-24T14:48:12.576-04:002013-07-24T14:48:12.576-04:00I apologize, Hellie!
That sounded like I was feel...I apologize, Hellie!<br /><br />That sounded like I was feeling sorry for myself and I'm really not. I just wanted to say I understand. <br /><br />Sinhttp://www.romancewritersrevenge.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-44957632816139189262013-07-24T14:39:19.206-04:002013-07-24T14:39:19.206-04:00I think it was a great blog. I just think we'r...I think it was a great blog. I just think we're all distracted right now. <br /><br />That and I still haven't stopped crying about your grandpa, but who cares about my hormones?Hellie Sinclairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03933713255844695337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-36067076256061906802013-07-24T14:39:18.797-04:002013-07-24T14:39:18.797-04:00There's nothing wrong with this blog. This is ...There's nothing wrong with this blog. This is just one of those days. I should have brought a fire extinguisher to work with me!Terri Osburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17176989488447450585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-6709442823838056442013-07-24T14:37:01.693-04:002013-07-24T14:37:01.693-04:00Thanks for commenting today, crew. You didn't ...Thanks for commenting today, crew. You didn't have to. (I wouldn't have been upset or anything.) I know it was a bummer blog and probably too heavy for a write blog but stuff happens. *shrug*Sinhttp://www.romancewritersrevenge.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-42017344496034443922013-07-24T14:35:31.985-04:002013-07-24T14:35:31.985-04:00I like how you say THE DISASTER and I know as a ...I like how you say <i> THE DISASTER </i> and I know as a reader exactly what you mean. The moment that turns your life upside down. The moment I look forward to most in a book. Sinhttp://www.romancewritersrevenge.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-47857235588992274752013-07-24T13:19:13.783-04:002013-07-24T13:19:13.783-04:00Creating trauma for my characters to overcome...so...Creating trauma for my characters to overcome...sometimes it's planned, sometimes it's not. I seem to trend toward the girls who had it pretty easy, not great disasters...until THE DISASTER hits. Then it's all about the different ways to deal with it.<br /><br />Miranda strives to forget it and go on, but she has a martyr complex that raises it's head again and again. Survivor guilt runs deep in her.<br /><br />Jezebel, in The Chameleon Goggles, was given to a pedophile as a child and raised under his tutelage...until he abandoned her because she got too old. She lives her life believing she is broken and pissed about it.<br /><br />Ivy? A terrified woman, traumatized by a brute, wanting revenge and trying to prove to the world that she needs no one. Oh, she's so wrong!<br /><br />Does any of this stem from my past? Nope. (I even had an editor contact me about Jezebel and ask if I wanted to talk about anything. Score!) But it doesn't mean I'm not unacquainted with their pain, their thinking, the crux on which they spin.<br /><br />It's all me. Not the experience, but the reaction. I like to think that is how it stays authentic. Writing is therapy. I'll never deny that! For me, it is.Maureenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01517092592545660754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-50103597281157710662013-07-24T11:56:16.828-04:002013-07-24T11:56:16.828-04:00I'm all about using it as therapy. If I figure...I'm all about using it as therapy. If I figured out how to consciously do that, I may send myself a bill.<br /><br />And you're right, we also write about stuff that's new to us. In MTB, the heroine has an intense fear of boats and water brought on by a traumatic incident in her childhood. Other than the face I grew up spending time on my grandparents' houseboat, I have no experience with the rest.<br /><br />But I was very happy to read a reviewer say she has the same fear and the way I'd written it is exactly what it's like. Huzzah!Terri Osburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17176989488447450585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-28020671532852927492013-07-24T11:51:37.951-04:002013-07-24T11:51:37.951-04:00I think what makes cathartic to us writers is that...I think what makes cathartic to us writers is that we unconsciously put these things into our writing. Writing for me is a way of therapy. I may not be writing about the exact issue I'm dealing with or have dealt with in the past but my character is working their way through it. <br /><br />That's not to say that we don't write about issues we know nothing about either. That's the beauty of being a writer- working through issues regardless of the situation at hand. Sinhttp://www.romancewritersrevenge.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-37567909201751790162013-07-24T11:43:58.180-04:002013-07-24T11:43:58.180-04:00Sorry I'm late. I've had this page open fo...Sorry I'm late. I've had this page open for about two hours, but work has been nuts.<br /><br />Such a stirring and beautiful story about a terrible loss. I was fortunate that throughout my childhood, there were very few family deaths. Well, after my grandfather passed when I was 5. But I was in my 20s by the time I lost anyone else close to me.<br /><br />I'm not sure how much I consciously put into my characters, but I can see that a lot gets through subconsciously. I have solid memories of never fitting in and being betrayed or let down. It doesn't take reading much about my heroines to see that they come with this same baggage.<br /><br />Terri Osburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17176989488447450585noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-57644874134480006512013-07-24T11:27:36.254-04:002013-07-24T11:27:36.254-04:00I know. I'm a complete and utter downer.I know. I'm a complete and utter downer. <br /><br />Sinhttp://www.romancewritersrevenge.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-416913236621309814.post-59604931985275434952013-07-24T09:44:20.618-04:002013-07-24T09:44:20.618-04:00When I stop crying at my desk, I'll answer you...When I stop crying at my desk, I'll answer your question. Maybe. <br /><br />I agree, loss is a big one. I can identify with loss right away, but the kind of backstory I seem to gravitate towards in my writing or books I read is The Ugly Duckling a la High School Was Hell model. You spent all your formative years being poor, worthless, and unlovable while popular kids breezed through their lives, untouched, while wearing name brand clothes and picking out colleges with no thought to price. Whereas you were trying to justify why you were worth going anywhere. When your peers dismiss you as nothing special is one thing. It's another when your parents kinda do it. It takes you a long time to realize your parents don't dismiss you because they think YOU'RE not capable, but because life isn't fair and fairy tales are fiction. <br /><br />Our lives need far more stable adults to guide us than I think the majority of us get. I think we give our characters much better mentors than we usually ever get for ourselves. Or they get several...and we'll get one, for five minutes, way back when we were 15. Hellie Sinclairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03933713255844695337noreply@blogger.com