Son, Husband, Father. Rest in peace.
Category: Writing
Series Finale Feels
It’s hard to accept when a show you enjoyed watching announces it’s coming to an end. It’s sad when characters and a world you loved will no longer play out in front of you weekly. Like books, you have laughed and cried with these character’s world. Begged characters not to make a certain choice or cheered at their successes. You’re not expecting them to hear you and change their minds but you know what comes can mean so much from story-line characters development, or the chow crumbling from it’s authenticity. Even clique narratives can have viewers running. Even the ending can have us disappointed. How many series had a build up that ruined everything with the last episode?
As a writer I see many benefits to wrapping up a series on their own terms. No characters are left with cliffhangers unlike most canceled shows. Maybe it can even leave before it becomes stagnate, silly, or “jumps the shark”. I’m sure all of us can name a dozen shows we watched that ended to soon and frustrated you thinking about the closure that never happened. Even when we are later given closure in a movie feature we can feel cheated, angry, or satisfied. Although, there have been few shows that have left me satisfied, I have felt cheated with some series knowing I could never have more time with some characters. I remember a past show I thought destroyed the past series and left me angry. It was as if the writers never watched the show. They threw away rules build into the world over the years making the theme of the show obsolete. For me, it almost ruined the reruns.
I guess I’m trying to say it’s unfortunate to say goodbye but silver lining, there is always fan fiction or spin offs. Maybe.
Research Ruined My Story
Has anyone done research for a story and it killed the idea? I have had that recently happened. All I had was an opening scene that was swimming around in my head and I wrote it down but as I finished that scene I thought, “This could be bigger. This could be a novel.” So, I started to research some passed legends and myths to help build the world. It was really helpful when it came to building the character’s personally and look but it destroyed my plot.
I started to outline the first idea with my new found research and my story fell apart. I discovered my idea was weak and I had to scrap my original idea. I’ve since put the story down. I think I have to step away from the narrative so I can distance myself from my old plan. Problem, I can’t help but drift back to the past concept. It’s frustrating.
I’ve been trying way to move on and one solution is to write my first opening scene as a short story. I’m hoping if I give this brainchild a voice I can move on from the first idea and still weave a story from the research.
Have you had this happen? How do you move past broken ideas that seem to be causing trouble with your writing?
Lost Inspiration
Here is an oldie but goodie. It’s tough to loss inspiration but I was still able to find a writing piece after the unfinished moment. Enjoy.
I was writing. This night in this car a moment of inspiration struck and I was typing it down on my phone, thumbs moving around the small smooth screen mixing in neighbor letter bringing red lines until my phone died. My inner voice still talked. I took out a pen from my bag but I had no paper. In a moment I started gliding the words out on my hand.
The driver broke in and asked, “why I was writing on my hand?”
I continued to write. “I had all these thoughts in my head and I just felt I had to get them down.”
The driver smirked, “Why don’t you write on paper.”
If I wasn’t in the car I probably would have made a sarcastic comment but all that was said, “I don’t have any and in this moment I hate I have relied on my phone…
View original post 213 more words
Trials Over Social Anxiety
I don’t think I’ll ever forget the day I stood up a lab partner. Why would I do such a mean thing? Anxiety, nerves, and fear. I can still picture him sitting in the Hunter Library at a table against the window. He had his book out and he would glance out the window while he waited for me to show. I hid behind a library stack. I would pace away and walk back ready to show. The moment before I would reach his line of sight I would stop and take my stand back behind the bookcase. If others walk by I would stare at the shelves of books. I can’t tell you what books that section held because I never read the bindings. I just thought about how I would walk up to him, sit down, and study.
I thought about making some silly slip up. It was a study section which meant I would have to talk about a subject we took together. Talking meant he may find out he was partnered with a mute, limited vocabulary, or studding spaz. What happens if we started studying and he realized I was just a dumb broad who didn’t really belong in college. I panic at the though of what if he liked me. It’s amazing how the brain can just keep thinking of situations. The situations become more outlandish and anxiety becomes bigger. This kid just wanted to study with his lab partner and in that library I was making up fictitious scenarios psyching myself out.
I forgot the lame excuse I gave him the next time we met in class but we never rescheduled that section (probably my doing). I am not in touch with that lab partner anymore but sometimes I wish I was. I would explain and give him a proper apology. I’m not over my social anxieties but I never did this again. Just have to learn to grow up and get over the fact meeting people is not a big deal. Actually, it can be a lot of fun.
The Story of Six Word “Novel”
I wrote a six word story last week. Some may think I cheated on my writing production but many famous authors have used this form of writing to tell a story. There is even a story behind the six word story. It goes, Ernest Hemingway was challenged or bet he could write a short story in six words. Hemingway wrote, “For sale: Baby shoes, Never worn.” He won the challenge/bet with this powerful, simple six word story. In 1991, Arthur C. Clark wrote in a letter, “he still can’t think of it without crying.” After many years there is some question whether this actually happened and if Hemingway even wrote this story but the legend lives on and inspires people everyday to write their best six word story.
I’ve decided to take on the challenge. It’s not as easy as you think. I don’t know if I’ll ever write anything as moving as “Baby shoes” but I will continue to challenge myself and you will witness it from time to time on this blog because I intend to post when I have one I think is good. Do you fine the Six Word Novel as good writing tool? Does it help or hinder?
Six Word Story #1
Woman warrior remembered as a man.
A Travel Book Can’t Tell You Everything So I Tried
Remembering a great vacation and a beautiful stop we knew little about.
Schloss Harburg Southern Germany
Be Quiet Brain
I thought I trained my brain to write in the afternoon then last night my mind wouldn’t turn off. I was comfortable in bed with the light off and my brain started to weave words. I was tired and when I’m tired I always think everything sounds noble prize brilliant. I didn’t have a notebook and pen by my bed (what happen to my night notebook?). I didn’t have my phone either. (It is best left charging in the other room incase of 3am emergency alerts.)
Why didn’t I get up and listen to the muse that decided the best time to visit was bed time? I can’t help but think of Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk and that quote by Tom Waits where a muse or melody visited him while he was driving and he said, “Excuse me, can you not see that I’m driving? Do I look like I can write down a song right now? If you really want to exist, come back at a more opportune moment when I can take care of you. Otherwise, go bother somebody else today.”
I guess my muse is still in adolescence and although it might see me showing up to the table it doesn’t always feel like writing when I do. It would rather stay in bed and sleep in some days. Then as the light switches off it remembers all it had to say and decides it can’t wait until morning. Now, when the words come, I can sleep because I have less anxiety knowing I’m not missing a story I can write tomorrow. Sometimes, in the morning, I am disappointed I can’t remember what was running through my head but I move on. I start the day with my writing schedule. Occasionally, I find the muse shows up to the table and those days we work in harmony. Those are the days I’m fighting for so I have my nights for sleep.
Spring…Er…Summer Cleaning
I have kept many notebooks and journals with “poems,” ideas for novels and short stories scribbled between their pages. It shouldn’t be surprising when I started using my laptop to write I would hoard it on my hard drive and I have. Recently, I decided it was time to go through and organize my computer. I was cleaning and organizing my laptop and I found many story and article ideas that have lead nowhere. I deleted some. For this small feet I am so proud of myself. It is hard for me to throw away anything I have written. I still find and keep tiny pieces of paper with sentences I have created falling out of other notebooks of scribes I swear I’ll need one day.
A few I finished and put on this blog. The last two post, “Go Out And Adopt a Pet” and “To Whom Ink May Concern” were two articles in my documents never being read. “Adopt a Pet” was an article I wrote as a writing sample for a job application (which I didn’t get). “Ink” was a blog article I was writing for years. I thought it should finally be finished and see the light of day. I put most away into files but now what to do with them? I keep asking myself, “Will I use these ideas and create a short story, novel, or screenplay out of them? There aren’t as many on my laptop or computer as there are in my closet.
Diaries, journals, and notebooks collecting dust with sentences I’ll never use. Do I just burn or shred everything without a glance or read and edit it all waiting for the day I may use it? I guess the best thing would be to throw them out but I must go through them first. Memories and feelings I have forgotten. I read through one of my diaries once. It was hilarious. I recalled that I was just as ridiculous (I’m not talking about rude or obnoxious) at 18 or 22 as every other 18 or 22 year old. I think I would like my novel to be like Roman á clef and use those times/feelings in a book but will I? I know these are the questions every writer asks themselves but the feeling can be overwhelming. Some of the young pieces, like the short story I wrote when I was 12, I will keep. This stage in my life reminds me of a quote from Edgar Degas which said, “Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.” They are cute, funny, and a memento of when I thought all I wrote was a priceless piece ready for publication.
Cleaning is causing me to make decisions and with these little things I’ve created it feels like a big deal. However, I know no matter how much you like a piece or section sometimes it doesn’t fit and you need to edit it out. You can put it on the side and hope to use it somewhere else one day but it is very unlikely it’s ever used again.
How do you keep your writing? Do you have an expiration date before you can delete it, do you trash right away, or do you keep every thought that makes it on paper (or screen)? How do you organize these scraps of ideas?
Random Thoughts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.