Sex

This is an interesting issue that I've been struggling with for awhile now.  A lot of the romances that I've read as source material have the main characters having sex.  A lot of the ones that seem to do the best also have sex in them somewhere.  As I've said in previous posts, we seem to think romance and sex are inextricably linked.

There's nothing wrong with sex.  It's a good thing, it's a gift that God has given us in our lives and most particularly in building our marriages.  If I'm writing a romance and I want it to be from God's perspective do I leave those things out on principle?  Do I say that adding sex makes it immediately "erotica" instead of romance (which I think actually means there's more sex than there is the rest of the story) or do I say one or two scenes for good reason are okay?

We know that 'sex sells', we hear it and see it everywhere we look in advertising (although admittedly you have to sometimes wonder which gender it's actually selling to), often in film and in books as well.  There's a sense that in our society sex is immortalized, in fact as I write this I'm betting that I get a record number of hits this week, just because I changed my title.  But is sex really needed in a romance and as a christian should I be allowing myself to put it in there.

I'll be honest, I'm still struggling with this issue as I write the romance novel.  I usually look at movies or books and come away thinking "well that was completely gratuitous" or unneeded, or any other word saying that scene didn't have to be in the movie and really did nothing for it.  Often the writer/director/producer could have easily cut it and that works for books as well.  In fact in some cases it might have been better if the scene had been cut.

So I started to ask myself, is there any situation where a movie, or a book absolutely need to have that sex scene in there?  I bounced back and forth for awhile, feeling like I didn't want to say no, but I didn't know why.  Eventually I surprised myself with the conclusion that I came to.

Sex is a part of life, it's a part that we immortalize in poetry, song, prose, and film.  It's precious and special and we abuse it, devalue it, overuse it, cheapen it and in doing so do the same things to ourselves.  But it's still a part of us on a deep, intimate level.  It's something that will continue, whether we talk about it or not, and I believe that books are, at their core, a reflection of the human condition, whatever genre they are.  So romances that have sex in them reflect what we ourselves tend to do in romance, we say it's okay and we have sex.  Or we're married and we have sex, or whatever, we like to have sex.  I don't think it's something you can entirely remove from a story that is inherently about two people.  But I think whatever scene is chosen to stay in the book or to go into the book should be integral to the story.  That scene needs to have reason for being shown in detail.  If it doesn't, why wasn't it cut?  In fantasy novels (I love writing these) we're often told to take out the scenes that don't matter, the ones that don't move the story along.  So if I apply this same thought to romances a lot of the sex scenes that are in them could easily be taken out.  This isn't true for all of them though.

Like everything else in writing, the purpose of every scene should be clear to the author, even if it's not to the reader.  You need to know what's going to happen down the line.  I also think that since writing reflects real life, there's never going to be a day where we get away from the issues surrounding it because we as a people like sex too much.  Even if it's just talking about it (yeah, I'm included in that, it's fun to talk about things that either make people uncomfortable or is a little bit taboo).  But that doesn't mean each scene should be considered for its merit on the rest of the novel too!

The "friend" line

Often in the romantic genre there is this idea of the best 'friend'.  Usually the person is of the opposite gender of the main protagonist and will fill the role of 'perfect love' at some point.  Now you can usually tell pretty quickly if that's the type of romance something is going to be because there's usually a best friend of the same gender when the love interest is going to be someone else and this is not what is used.

I find the 'friend' line an interesting one.  There are times where you wish your best friend was interested in you, at least I know there was for me.  Then there were times where my best friend was interested in me except one kiss convinced me I did not see him that way.  We have this tendency to want to be with someone who is also our best friend.  I think it's why so often we start out as wanting to be 'friends' first.  (at least from the woman's perspective, don't know about you guys.)  We want someone who understands us the way a best friend does and loves us both in spite of and because of our faults.  It's a good thing.  But why then do we tend to overlook people in that 'friend' zone?

Honestly?  It seems to usually be because there was no chemistry to begin with, especially when the friendship was formed far before 'chemistry' existed within such young children.  Now this can be because we haven't thought of a person that way for whatever reason, usually because they've just always been there and it never occurred to use to change our views from that really young age.  Sometimes it's because one or the other just isn't attracted to the person (and yes it happens, it's not supposed to be an insult even though it's hard.  Not everyone clicks that way, even if they want to.)  There's nothing wrong with either person at that point, but it just doesn't work.

An interesting example of the 'friend' zone with one wanting more and the other not seeing it right away is P.S. I Love You.  Very sad movie, one of my favourites, despite a certain actor I'm not very fond of, but very well done movie.  Watch it and watch the development of the 'friend' relationship.  *spoilers to follow* It clearly demonstrates the differences between the female protagonist and the initial male who comforts her after she *spoiler* loses her husband.  Eventually the 'friend' demands attention from her and they kiss, but they are both relieved in that when they do kiss it does nothing for either of them.  That's a happy way to do it, as is the kiss where it means something for both of them.  The sad ones happen when something happens for one, but not the other, which isn't as common but does occasionally come up in books and film to create heartache to fill for one or the other.  It can be useful.

The 'friend' zone isn't all that scary a zone to be in if you can handle the uncertainty it can cause.  It can also be a fascinating relationship to tackle when you're writing something.  Just keep in mind that the 'friend' zone for the person who continues to like the other when it's uneven makes both uncomfortable more than likely.  At least it does if the main protagonist is aware of the other person's feelings, and especially if they were genuinely friends.  Friendship isn't something we like to give up easily when there's no really good reason.  Seeing someone else in pain doesn't make it easy on a person, that's for sure.  And there's so many fun ways to throw things off and up and it's always fun to not have them kiss, just to have someone reject the friend only to later realize that they really were attracted to them after all.  It leads to some interesting and fun dynamics.

Little Things Lovers Do

There are many things that might constitute as "romantic".  With a feeling that is highly dependent on the people involved that is no surprise.  Are there things that we idolize to some extent that are thought to be particularly romantic or is it all about the people involved, the atmosphere of a moment and the feelings between the two people?

Cuddling, hand holding, the first kiss.  These are all things that I've seen in movies or read in books that are labeled "romances" that would be considered to be 'romantic'.  I'm curious as to how 'romantic' sex actually is but for a lot of romance books (and movies though they don't always show it) it seems to be right up there as a culmination of the romance, if not a direct part of the romance itself.  Sex is an intimate, therefore romantic thing.  So then perhaps we can also describe romance as intimacy.

We can have an intimate conversation, go on an intimate walk together (albeit hand holding is often popular at that juncture), perform an activity together.  Is skydiving intimate though?  Or rock climbing?  This is where the idea of 'intimacy' or romance is narrowed down to a person to person choice.  For a person who loves rock climbing it might be the ideal way to spend time with a loved one.  For the person who despises rock climbing the activity would be far from it.  So perhaps it is in the atmosphere of the place as well as the combination of what constitutes as "intimate" that makes us tack something as romantic.

Dark lighting in a cozy bedroom, candles flickering around a room, moonlight brushing skin, a soft rain shower with a gazebo... all of these things can be utilized to set the mood and are often seen as "romantic" even if the person seeing them wouldn't really want any of it in real life (which is where the idea of fantasy comes in I expect).  But if these things are always considered romantic why aren't they always used?  or do we just make fun of them as cliches at this point?  Maybe it's not something like the setting, the people or the actions of those people.  Maybe it's not the intimacy either.

Romance is hard to capture.  In so many ways that is part of its charm.  It's unique to the individual, but shared by all.  We can easily place ourselves in the seat of the heroine (and yes, this is often a female thing, but I expect men can do something similar if the character was written well enough for them), and we throw ourselves to the wind, knowing that the hero will catch us and bring us safely to the end, whatever that end is.  (Most romances are not also tragedies  but there are a few notable ones, Anthony and Cleopatra for instance, or Romeo and Juliet.  Notice they're not as popular in new books these days.  At least not that I've found, please link me a few if they are!)

In the end romance is a part of humanity.  We romance ourselves with what we write which is a reflection of what I think we all really want.  We want closeness, bonds, a person to understand us and as a result we want to share life and romance with that person.  We want it to mean something to both of us, not just ourselves, not just the other.  We want to love beyond what we thought we were capable of and do something more than we could ever do alone.  Even better, we want someone to share that with.  A shame that some people fall so in love with the feeling of romance that they cannot see past it to the rich, fullness that love is.  A shame even more when that romance dies in the face of a marriage and a love that goes into a deeper relationship.  Romance should live in love and love in romance.  We're already partway there, so why can't we go further?  Perhaps that's why we love romance so much, it gives us hope that it is still out there, that, perhaps someday, we might even catch some for ourselves.

Ease of Words - Novel Update

One of the hardest things about writing a novel is to keep at it, even when it's driving you nuts.  I recently had the problem of my story spiraling out of control.  I was going at a good pace, was writing huge amounts everyday and was getting closer and closer to the finish.  Only to realize I had really overestimated how much I was putting into each scene and how long each scene would be (or how short since they were mostly too long).  Worse, I realized that for the romance genre the novel I was writing was going to end up waaaaay too huge for what it was.

Now the problem I ran into was that the things I wanted to do were not supported by the earlier story AND I had put too many characters in.  This is fixed easily enough by taking the characters out and by removing those scenes that are basically repetitive but I also realized I had not taken the time to build enough into the story.  Now with this "rewrite" which is basically me going through and adding scenes from the male protagonist's point of view to balance the female protagonist's point of view and taking out the other character's POVs that really didn't need to be in there I'm feeling much better about the novel as a whole, but man is it tiring.

Don't ever let anyone tell you writing a novel is easy.  Yes, you're sitting there and you're typing and physically it might not be very active or very 'hard' in that sense but you do use a lot of your energy and your mental faculties trying to remember every little detail you need.  You also have to really focus your mind so that you can get done the amount you want to get done.  Add to that the ache that you can get in your hands (hah, and you thought there was NO physicality to this) while you're typing because you don't have exactly the right setup for your keyboard to relieve hand strain as much as possible in typing.  If you're like me and you're a very particular temperature person (I need my hands to be a particular temperature, if they get too cold my typing speed drops significantly to the point where I can no longer continue typing because I can't feel where the keys are.)  then the location you choose is desperately important.  You need to know how it's going to fluctuate in temperature and if you can control it or not.  I'm writing today at a Starbucks and they love, LOVE keeping the air conditioning on despite the wickedly cold winter days that are happening outside.  Fortunately I've thought to dress warmly and to sit with my computer in my lap.  Strangely enough this is helping keep my hands warm enough to type comfortably.

The music and the people make it more difficult for me to concentrate as I'm outside of the quiet of my house but it's a trade off since I don't have the easy access to games that I usually have at home.  The sound is a lot easier to combat too since I found Songza and realized that I could pump classical into the back of my head to block out most of the intrusions and to help me focus.  The music is not always ideal for my writing since I sometimes find it distracting, but Songza certainly does have some wonderful playlists to help with that and I've found it a valuable tool in the writing process.  It takes me a bit to get everything set up the way I want it, but once it's there whooo man I can write a lot.

Find your groove, pay attention to what you're doing and to how well you can write in any given situation.  Notice what your distractions are and try to minimize them, then focus, sit down and write.  It's the only way you're ever going to get it done, even if that means rewriting a lot earlier than you expected.  Don't worry, you can do it.  Ironically I am also coming to understand that a wonderful way to increase your stamina (mental and otherwise) is to keep yourself at a high enough fitness level that the marathons of writing don't actually harm you too badly.  A healthy body really is a healthy mind and I do suggest at least trying to keep both in balance, it does seem to help with the writing part.

All in all the writing is slow, but is moving steadily and ideally I'll be able to figure out how to make them move more than one day a week at this pace.  Find your own rhythm, everyone's is different, and play to that.  By paying attention to things that help you focus you'll at least stand a chance of being able to reach the optimal focusing zone.

Good luck and God Bless!

Romancing the Reader

There are a great many books in the romance category. They are even on the bestseller lists. This isn't really surprising if you think about it. Romance, perhaps more than most genres is about the reader almost as much as it is about the characters.

In a fantasy (which is ironic I know as we use that word far too often) it's more about the situation, it's about the characters and what's going on with them.  In a romance yeah, the characters are important but you're appealing much more directly to the romantic sense of the person reading it.  Not every romance will be for every romance reader and in many ways you have to sell the idea of what romance is to the reader.  One of the reasons that Fifty Shades of Grey is likely so popular is because, despite the BDSM nature of the book, the author sells the concept to the readers.  She convinces you that it's actually quite romantic by utilizing the concepts of not only romance, but of the relationship surrounding romance.

One of the best ways to 'sell' a romance to someone is by making rounded and believable characters that you can fall in love with.  Usually the best ones are flawed and a part of the romance is not only loving those flaws but inspiring each other to improve beyond the flaws into a better person than you would have been without the person who inspired you.  More so in romance than in any other category this kind of theme is explored.  Which in many ways makes our obsession with women loving the "bad boy" and wanting to "change" their men, suddenly make sense.

Think about it, who better to inspire to be a better person than the 'bad boy with a past'?  Someone who might have had something bad happen to them and then made bad choices as a result.  He's not actually unlovable  but he might think he is (or in some cases she's the bad girl who needs reform) because of his past.  She provides the unending love that accepts him for who is his and what he's done and by doing so inspires him to be better.  It's positive change in a positive way inspired by love and in so many ways this reflects the real world.

There's a dark side to this of course, there are those who don't want to change.  Often the heroine in these kinds of novels gets pulled down into what he does because he doesn't want to change.  He likes the darkness in who he is and doesn't really care if he's accepted or not and takes great pleasure in causing her to fall into disgrace with him, usually because he doesn't really think he can be redeemed.  This theme or themes like them are often used with fantasy/romance mixes because it allowed the protagonist to be the one to see the light again and realize how they want to be independent of the other character (again, these actually work for males or females).

What I think really makes it a romance instead of a fantasy or a literary fiction style is how you're convincing the reader what is really romantic about the story and that the romance in the story is worth focusing on.  Convince your reader of that and you can do pretty much whatever you want in terms of 'romance'.  Just because that purple alien is a weird size and has a tube for a mouth doesn't mean he (or she) isn't worth loving, but you're going to have to work dang hard to convince me that me as a human would want to have anything to do with it in a romantic (or sexual) sense.  And though romance often verges into the realms of what really should be erotica (add sexual descriptions and technically you've already wandered into that realm), if the feelings are there and presented well enough because you've set up the situation and wooed your reader into the romance the characters are feeling (read two purple aliens with tubes instead of mouths instead of making one a human for instance, the characters can understand each other and I can disbelieve that I'm not a purple alien for long enough to enjoy it), and into the world those characters are a part of and you've got a believable romance.

You've got to remember that a believable story isn't about things that actually happened. In romance stories more than most.  It's about presenting those things in a way that is believable to the reader.  If you've ever had someone go 'that could never really happen' to something you've written directly from life you'll know what i"m talking about.  (Happens more frequently than most people would expect, guess it's best not to write what you know in every sense...)  So plan your romances, make them believable and stretch the foundations of what we will believe by doing something different but by drawing the reader into it.  There's few better ways that I can think of to draw a reader in and really make them believe that the romance you're selling them is one they want to buy.

The Importance of Sisters

Although most of romance is about the boy and the girl, there is an incredibly important role in the form of the sister or friends of the main female protagonist.  Without this important person, no matter what happens with the protagonist, we are unable to see a different view or side to the whole situation. We are without the often wise voice of those who can see the situation clearly because they are outside of it.  Yet frequently there is a secondary storyline going on with the friends as well as with the male protagonist.

Sometimes they are after the same man. Sometimes they just aren't getting along or there is some older rivalry between the two of them. Its hard to say what the relationship is going to be, but without it the story is paler in comparison.

Where would either of them be without that friendship? The wrong guy is usually the one who gets picked when that sage advice from a external source is missed. It doesn't only have to revolve around a guy either. It could reflect family relations, other friends, heartbreaking events. Even how the protagonist sees her friend can tell you a lot about the protagonist herself. How they talk together, what they talk about, what she thinks in the privacy of her own head that you as the reader get to share by picking up the story.

Often this friend role is also the one that moves the story along. She is the one that talks to the guy on the protagonist's behalf, or she is the one to spur her on to talk to the guy or to do something about the situation herself. Without this important role the story would often end much earlier and much more tragically than they typically would.  Even Juliet had her nurse to help her seen her Romeo. Too bad she didn't have more sense to share or Romeo and Juliet might have had a much better chance of ending up as a triumphant love story instead of the devastating tragedy that it became.

Choose a character to serve your purposes well in this regard. You want a character that will see the story you want to its end, if you aren't careful these characters can be the ones to send you careening off into strange directions you didn't plan on.

The Happiest Day of Your Life

I've noticed an interesting trend.  It's not really a new one in a way.  I mean if you think about it it's been a myth for a long time that the wedding day is the 'happiest day of a woman's life'.  We put a lot into that day.  We've got the flowers, the look, the dress, the ring, the food, the cake (yes that's different than the food believe me), the wedding party, the parents, the in-laws  the family, the guest list, the seating arrangement, the entertainment, the style, the colour... the list goes on.  Seriously, it's insane how much time and effort goes into that one day.

I've been thinking about why romance dies when we get married and I think part of it has to do with the whole 'happiest day in my life' sensation around weddings.  They're definitely sensationalized far past what they used to be.  You bet they're a celebration and yup, they should be pretty darn happy, but here's the thing.  When it comes down to it, it's only one day.  So what if those flowers aren't just right?  Who cares if you gain a pound or two and your dress is a little tight or you go the other way and it's loose?  There are so many things that can (and probably will) go wrong with something as highly coordinated and detailed as we have made weddings to be.

They're also stressful.  Few people talk about it, you've got two families, possibly meeting each other for the first time ever who have to get along.  You've got internal clashes, feuds or general dislike in the individual families already and if you're lucky to have families that already know and like each other, so much the easier for you, but most people don't.  You're trying to make sure everyone gets along and everything goes exactly right and on top of it all you're hoping that the person who will be standing across from you saying their vows is the right person for you because otherwise you might be going through all of this just to end up apart from the person you think you love.

Assuming you've got the perfect vision and you're somehow able to make that vision come true right down to the tiniest detail and the miraculous happens and everything also turns out right, you might have a perfect day.  Here's the fun part, none of that makes it the happiest day of your life.

Surprised?  We hype up the connection of two people before marriage in the romance genre.  It's the fun, heart pounding part of a romance.  It's the part that culminates in either sex (which is a popular end result in secular romances) or marriage (which does seem to be more popular with Christian romances).  Here's the thing, quite frequently in both cases, that's where the story ends.  Even in fairy tales that's all anyone ever really talks about.  That's fine and dandy, I've mentioned before the idea that it's boring once you're together in a 'romance' sense.  Ironically though I find that it has nothing to do with making that day happy.  If we were to judge wedding days as an ending, nothing going on after it it would be a wonderful culmination of all things finally coming together.

Here's the best part.  My husband and I went to a wedding this weekend, we just caught the last little bit when the couple was dancing.  I was standing with my hubby at the back of the hall, his arms around me and mine around his and I looked up at him and thought, "The day I married you was the happiest day of my life."

Cliche right?  Yes and no.  People say it was the happiest day of their life, but they never explain the complexities of what it means when they feel it.  When I felt that it was the happiest day of my life it was a thought and a feeling that had hundreds of little moments embedded in them.  It was every moment we fought and then made up, making our marriage stronger.  It was every touch, caress and kiss that told me he loved me from the moment we were married forward.  It was rolling over in bed and finding him there and being so pleased and happy to do so that warm fuzzy feelings fill you.  It was going out and doing things together, staying home and hanging out, it was cooking together, making meals for each other or surprising each other with something to tell the other person that they'd been thought of and were loved.  That one tiny thought had all these things wrapped up in it and was so poorly expressed by that too oft heard phrase.

Why the wedding day?  Well that was the day that our lives were officially and permanently joined together for the rest of our lives.  It was the day a commitment was made, that the things felt were made real and that we promised to work at our relationship forever.  To be together until death did us part in all things.  Meeting him was the first step, it was great and wonderful and I'll tell you about it in a different post maybe, but it was still uncertain, fraught with difficulty because nothing was sure.  The day we got married things became sure and I don't care if you want to throw divorce stats at me (go ahead, I've heard most of them) because I know two things without doubt.

1. Regardless of what happens in our lives that might take us apart, the day that we got married, for better or worse our lives were joined.  Even if (and I do pray that it doesn't) something were to happen that pulled us apart, our lives would still in many ways be joined.  In part because of the experiences we shared and would continue to share and in part because once joined with a person like that you can never really be rid of them, even if it's only in your mind.  Divorce is just the words on paper.  It doesn't take the other person out of that place in you that will always be theirs.

2. Marriages are not the end to romance.  They're not the end to the adventure at all, they're only opening another chapter in our lives together.  No matter what adventures we go on, no matter where life takes us, I know that so many things that I have shared and will share will be with him.  I want them to be with him and I will work with every ounce of my being to make sure that this marriage works out, exactly as I trust him to do as my partner and best friend.  I know we'll face hard times and we already have, but so long as we make sure that we always continue to get to know each other in all facets and accept each other as fully as is capable for two separate beings to do?  Well, that's pretty dang close to a happily ever after if you ask me.

It might not be much fun for readers in a book to read about people who always work things out, but I think we've done ourselves a disservice by only reading and only writing romances that talk about the 'first stage' of romance.  What might we be missing by devaluing a deeper stage of love and romance that would carry us through not only the first stages of relationship leading to marriage, but through that day and beyond?

The happiest day of your life doesn't have to be just a day, but you can attribute a lifetime of happiness as a result of one action.  I have with my husband and I strive to grow and to love him more every day and to never forget that he is worth every moment of my time and effort to love and romance as much as he does for me.  It's worth the effort and I will happily spend the rest of my life making certain that my wedding day was indeed the happiest decision I've ever made in my life.

Write What You Know, When You Don't Know.

"Write what you know."  You've heard it, I've heard it.  Really, anyone who writes has probably heard it.  There's something to be said about writing what you know, it definitely makes things easier.

I've been working on the romance, I've gotten some headway into it.  Not much mind, but some and it took my mom passing me a book entitled "Changes that Heal" to make me realize why I was having such a hard time.  It's a wonderful book for everyone to read regardless, but one of my characters is supposed to be a church counselor so he can help one of the main characters partway through.  I'm a writer and an actor primarily though I do a lot of other things as well, I am not a psychological based person.  I took general studies, I have a degree in it with a minor in English.  I know about a LOT of things as a result, but somehow I still managed to come across a character whose profession I don't know enough about to write comfortably.

It turns vague and indirect, I don't have those vital details that really make a scene or that make characters that live on in your heart long after the story's over.

It's amazing how important those details can become.  Here's the best part about being a writer though, if you don't know enough you can research to learn more!  Yay!  If you're finding that a character, situation or plot is feeling uncertain or you just can't quite make it work, take a look not only at the details of the scene you're writing but the feeling while you're writing it.  You might just need to research a little more information or in the case of fantasy, create a little more thorough detail to get that firm grip of the scenes or characters that need more dimension.

So don't be lazy, the internet's a wonderful place and has a lot of answers and if you can't find them there, take advantage of libraries while they still exist!  If you think of it you can even email or get in touch with an expert.  Often, especially if you're respectful, they're happy to talk with you about your book.  Give them a thanks on the thanks page though, that's just good practice and they did help, so praise where praise is due.

We're not limited to what we know but to write what we don't know we need to learn it well enough to fake it.  We're writers, we're capable of wearing a great many hats.  Don't feel limited just because you don't yet KNOW something.  Life too short to let that stop you these days!

Terms of Endearment

I have read a book recently that has made me completely reconsider my thoughts on the "romance" genre.  Well okay, not completely, but enough to feel like it.  (Sorry for the late post... My internet kicked out partway through writing this post on Tuesday so guess what didn't get posted Wednesday...)

Romance is essentially about relationships.  It's traditionally about a guy and a girl because that's traditional romance and curiously enough while I'm sure there are other types out there it's not been until more recently that those things are explored (take 50 shades for instance, though technically it's still about a guy and a girl...).

Life is also about relationships.  The ones we have, the ones we want, the ones we don't understand and the ones we think we understand too much about.  So that explains to me more clearly then why Romance has been and will likely continue to be such a popular genre.

The only problem I have about the whole "romance" genre is that in every book I've read so far (and please excuse the generalization as I have by no means read the WHOLE genre), it's always about the beginning.  That first flush of a crush or that gut wrenching pull of lust that makes you want to get to know another person.  (Don't pretend, at least some of them are way more about satisfying lust than meeting a love.)

Why is it that we believe once we have anything more permanent, like say marriage, romance is dead?  Is it just that the initial flush is the fun part with lots of conflict so the rest is a lot harder to write?  Or is 'romance' the way we see it literally ONLY the first part of the relationship?

If that's so wow.  Romance is a really narrow genre for something that is so incredibly popular.  But maybe that makes sense.  With certain publishing houses taking such a strict view on what makes a romance it was going to go one of two ways, either it would remain very strict or it would bust out of its restrictions, but it seems to be happy with its walls.

There's a little change in terms of bleed over into different genres (fantasy or sci-fi for instance make great carriers for expanding the story outside of just the girl and boy), but it's easy to tell a "romance" story vs a "fantasy" story in what seems like 90% of the books that I have come across that contain both.  If the story focuses heavily on the relationship between boy and girl?  Yeah, it's a romance set in a fantasy setting.  If it focuses on the events going on around the boy and girl?  It's a fantasy with possible romantic elements, but really, it's just a fantasy because that's what we call it.

Romance is that peculiar blend between what we want for our romances and the genuine reflection of what goes on in some people's lives.  Not everyone's sadly, but some and it maybe serves to give hope for those that don't quite have it or inspiration to people that want it.

All in all I would never have expected it when I was younger, but Romance teaches us just as much as any type of story, it just depends on what you want to learn about.  In this case?  Relationships.  I wonder when the genre will officially spiral out of their traditional boundaries?  I wonder too if even when it does, if it should to the extent that we are capable of.  I wonder how far relationships will change as a reflection to what's in the genre instead of the genre changing to be a reflection of what's in the world.

It'll be interesting to watch at least.

Apologies and Plans

First off, sorry this post is late.  My home internet connection has decided it no longer likes my computer, though it seems fine with everyone else's and this is the first chance I've had to get online in order to post this, so apologies for anyone who was looking for this post yesterday when it didn't show up.

Second.  For the next several blog posts I've decided to do another theme.  Since I'm currently working on a romance story I thought it would be fun to post some musing about the genre and about different things that I am observing while I am working on it.  Particularly in relation to fantasy as that is the genre that up to this point I have usually spent more time writing and reading.  I intend to do several book reviews and possibly a comparison between different types/styles/sub-genres of the romance genre.  I want to take a look into not only what we seem to think romance is but also as an extension to look into the kinds of characters that we usually want to see in our romances.  This may also slide into some looks into what we want to perceive as beautiful in relation to our romances.  For instance in film there is a very strong emphasis on the way that women look and are perceived as beautiful, but I have noticed that in terms of romance novels the main male character is often emphasized to particular looks in the same way women are in film.  Go figure eh?  It's one of the things I'll write about in the coming weeks and look more into.

Sorry the post is so short this week, Next week's will be done early and time posted for an early release so even if I can't get to my computer it should post automatically.  It's just too bad I didn't do it for this week!

God Bless.

Picking up the Threads

So it's been quite a while since my last blog post.  Partly because I have had no idea what to write and partly because I was considering where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do.  Not only with my life in general but with my writing in particular.  It's been a very long year of soul searching, praying and thinking.

I have a problem.  I want to write but I feel more and more lately that I am really terrible at it.  (No, that is not intended to garner sympathy from anyone, that is simply a statement of fact).  Now before you go and tell me you're sure I'm wonderful (not that I mind being told that) let me explain why I say it.  I'm creative, very, very creative.  I can and have created multiple worlds in incredible detail, from the wide expanse of the continents that fill it to the tiniest bug crawling along whatever leaf I've decided to add into that area.  I have folders, notes, books filled with ideas, with creations with histories with whatever else my mind has come up with.  I have written by myself 3 novels that do not satisfy me and I have written with a very close friend of mine something close to 20 more.  Has any of this ever seen the light of day?  No.  I'm not even a bad editor, I know what a story needs and I have a very good memory to prove why something doesn't make sense.  I also see how things fit together.  I am in many ways drawn toward writing and the puzzles of figuring out the story behind it.

But where I feel I fail and where I have found myself struggling, perhaps as all writers struggle from what I've been reading, is in sitting down to write that first blasted draft.

I had a new idea.  I wanted to get away from Fantasy for awhile because I was so deeply into the world I had created and the hundreds of ideas around it that I couldn't stop creating long enough to sit still and write.  (Screw writer's block, since keeping track of them I realize my biggest problem is staying to one freaking idea instead of not having any.)  So I decided to try a genre that I had absolutely no experience in because I had an idea.

So what did I realize?  A lot of things actually.  For starters, I LOVE having a plan and as much as I love having that plan I adore changing it as I go along.  I used to think i hated having an outline, let alone a detailed one that went through scene by scene (and yeah, that's SCENE, not CHAPTER, they vary in length.)  In a lot of ways I've found that it keeps my creativity from spiraling out of control and running off without me (this happens a lot, at least to me, and no one ever talks about it in any book about writing I've read, they always talk about blocks, not run-away fright trains of ideas >.<).  I've even had to go so far of adding folders with quick notes for any new ideas that do NOT fit into the novel I'm working on.  The plan has helped keep me on track to an extent (read, I'm 180 pages into the novel) but I've realized yet again that I've managed to spiral out of control even trying to keep it tightly paced and focused on only TWO characters.

Did I mention it was a Romance that I'm working on?  It's hard, I've been doing research, reading books I never thought I would enjoy (but surprisingly I am).  It has brought new layers, new ideas (and unfortunately and fortunately, new worlds) to my life and my writing but it has also brought me up and down.  Right now, today, as I am writing this is a peculiarly twisted day where I am both up and down.  I have somehow managed to write characters strongly enough that they developed and ran away with the story and I didn't notice until I was more than halfway through (blasted things that they are).  Now I'm stuck.  Do I go back and edit or do I keep writing but adjust things as I go.

I have been trying desperately to convince myself to just keep writing and to fix things later but I realize I really can't do that.  If it's a small thing sure, but honestly I'm starting to realize that with certain things (writing being one of them) I'm a closet perfectionist and I HATE it with a passion when things do not make sense in a story, my own included. And when I make a major change part way through... well... let's just say I'm not very good at trying to continue knowing how much editing I'm going to have to do later to make it make sense.  I'm a first draft kind of girl and I LIKE it that way.  (Don't worry, I still expect to have to edit but if I don't have to make major changes to the story I like it better that way.)

So I decided to blog about it and put some thoughts down.  The number of views I have had since I went on hiatus is absolutely shocking to me so thank you for bearing with me.  I intend to continue blogging and slowly get back into it.  We'll start with once a week as I don't want it to overtake my writing like it did last time and due to the presence of film and acting in my life I already have enough competing for my attention.  So welcome back and I hope to be a help to other authors looking to not only write their books but maybe help you figure out how to unblock that creative flow, or to build a damn to direct the flow of ideas, whatever may be.  Or really, just to be one more voice in the hundreds that think they're important enough for someone else to want to read.  lol!

God Bless.

Long Pauses

I've been thinking alot lately and been feeling up and down like I"ve been on a roller coaster.  Life's like that sometimes isn't it?  Even when the roller coaster isn't because of epic travels or important, world altering situations that you're in it can be hard.  That roller coaster is part of why I haven't been posting blog posts as frequently as I originally intended.  The other part of that is Christmas... It's a peculiar time of year Christmas.  Usually I want to think of it as this wonderful magical time of year where family gets together and enjoys time with each other, where nothing can go wrong and blessings pour out on every person it touches.

Most of the time that's not what happens.  Family gets together sure, but there's the same old feuds there were last year unless you've already fixed them.  They might get hidden behind pretty blouses or new ties but they're still there and they sit and fester if they're not dealt with.  Sometimes they even come out around everyone else and hopefully they'll at least get fixed when they do but who knows what's really going to happen when Cousin Jill smacks Cousin Joe right?

It occurs to me now as I write this that as much as it may not be entirely a bad thing that Christmas is so full of conflicts for everyone except for the children (and even then).  At least not for a writer.  Especially not one who has spent a great deal of time learning to pay attention (as per my previous post series about acting and writing).  Think about it, that subtle interplay among your family could easily be extrapolated to display the intricate intrigues of a court in a world that doesn't even know your family exists.  Be careful of course to learn the forms but don't take precise situations.  Last thing you'd want is to let your family read it and have them recognize the conflict!  Still, it's a learning experience.  It's just a very busy one.

Hope you all had an awesome Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

Writing - Lesson 6 of 6: Rhythm

Of necessity I have some more very long quotes for you all but I think it is necessary to properly explain Rhythm, read through them carefully and consider what B. says seriously because I think it's something that you either already have an understanding of, or you don't.  It doesn't mean you won't ever if you don't yet, but it's something you'll have to read and see if you come to the same conclusion I do.

"...It [Rhythm] is one of the hardest subjects to explain because it is so simple and universal.  A child is born with the manifestation of Rhythm present.  It breathes.  A fair start which nature provides for all.  After that, development follows.  First in walking, second in speech, third in emotions.  One step, one word, one emotion changes into another and then another, each with the same allegiance, a final aim in view.  This is the first level of Rhythm- consciousness.  the second level arrives when outside forces impose their Rhythm on you.  When you walk or move or gesture with or for others.  When you walk in line; run to meet a friend; shake hands with an enemy.  when your words answer other words; sweeping you with them or holding you still.  When your emotions are the direct answer and result of somebody else's feelings.

"...[The third level is] When you command and create your own Rhythm and that of others.  It is perfection.  It is a result.  Do not hurry to achieve it.  The student must start with the second level.  He must not do much at the start.  All that is required of him is to notice these manifestations in real life and store them away in his brain.  Special attention should be given to the results of different Rhythms.  The best thing to start with is music, where Rhythm is most pronounced.  Go to a concert; a street organ, if you prefer, will do just as well.  But listen to it with all your being, entirely relaxed and ready to be swept by the definite measures of the music.  Give yourself up to the emotions it brings to you.  Let them change with the changes in the music.  Above all, be attentive and flexible.  Follow music with the other arts, these with every-day occurrences. 

"...look into space and listen with your inner ear.  Music, and the other arts which follow naturally, will be only an open road to the whole of the universe.  Don't' miss anything in it.  Listen to the waves of the sea.  Absorb their sweeping change of time, with your body, brain and soul.  Talk to them as Demosthenes did, and don' weaken after the first attempt.  Let the meaning and Rhythm of your words be a continuation of their eternal sound.  Inhale their spirit and feel at one with them, even for an instant.  It will make you, in the future, able to portray the eternal parts of universal literature.  Go through the same experience with woods, fields, rivers, sky above- then turn to the city and swing your spirit to its sound as you did to its creative rattle.  Don't forget the quiet, dreamy, small towns- and above all, don't' forget your fellow men.  Be sensitive to every change in the manifestation of their existence.  Answer that change always with a new and higher level of your own Rhythm. This is the secret of existence, perseverance and activity.  This is what the world really is- from the stone up to the human soul.  The theater and the actor enter this picture only as a part.  But the actor cannot portray the whole if he does not become a part."  (119 - 122)

Every story has a Rhythm much like what is described here.  We mimic life and we mimic it in a way that actors learn to pull in from the rest of the world.  So too should writers be pulling in this Rhythm of life that B. talks about in this chapter.  You've learned to Concentrate, both on your experiences, and your writing with lesson one.  Lesson two helped you to remember the emotions of life and help them bleed truthfully into your characters.  Lesson three expands on what Dramatic action is and how it doesn't have to be in an explosion to be just as vital  Lesson four was Characterization and understanding how the character is different than you and how to make the characters different from you.  Lesson five was the use of observation, true and in detail of the world around you.  Lesson six is finally the culmination of everything you've learned to do to feel the Rhythm of the world around you, the tug and flow of the words in a conversation or the actions in a scene or even the flow of the scenes around you and your characters.  If you're aware of it in real life how can you fail to write it into whatever world you're building, whatever scene is laid out before you or whatever conversation your characters have.  Learning to be aware of these things, of this Rhythm and working to extend it can only help your writing in my estimation.

Finally I have a last quote for you that really struck a chord with me and I hope it does with you as well.

"The Creature:  I don't think I did anything unconsciously.  I am a very matter-of-fact person.
I:  I know you are.  The actor must be- How otherwise could he dream?  The only person who can dream is the person who can stand with both feet firmly on the earth." (34)

So let us strive to understand the world around us that we might be firmly placed and so that our minds can fully fly free while our feet stay firmly on the ground.

Writing - Lesson 5 of 6: Observation

The following is in regards to a game played by German children that B. knew of who would be required by their teacher to "repeat snatches of their activities, things they have done today yesterday and a few days ago. It serves to purpose of developing the pupil's memory, analyzing his actions and sharpening his sense of observation." (92)

"It [the game] helps a student of the theater to notice everything unusual and out of the ordinary in every-day life.  It builds his memory, his storage memory, with all visible manifestations of the human spirit.  It makes him sensitive to sincerity and to make-believe.  It develops his sensory and muscular memory, and facilitates his adjustment to any business he may be required to do in a part.  It opens his eyes to the full extent in appreciation of different personalities and values in people and works of art.  And lastly, Madame, it enriches his inner life by full and extensive consumption of everything in outward life." (97-98)

Finally, "The Creature" as he calls the actress who comes to him tells of the exercise that she created based much on what the German children did with their teacher.  "I decided that for three months, from twelve to one every day, where ever I happened to be and whatever I might be doing, I would observe everything and everybody around me.  And from one to two, during my lunch time, I would recall the observations of the previous day.  If I happened to be alone I would re-enact, like the German children, my own past actions... I became as rich in experiences as Croesus n gold.  At first I tried to jot them down, now I don't' even need to do that.  Everything registers automatically somewhere in my brain, and through the practice of recalling and re-enacting I'm ten times as alert as I was.  And life is so much more wonderful.  You don't know how rich and wonderful it is." (101)

Here's the curious thing about observation.  We all think we do it.  To an extent we all do I think, but to do the kind of observation with a purpose and a concentration like that which is discussed in the above passages and in this chapter of the book is to go above and beyond merely taking in what's around us.  It goes to the level of taking everything in, even the things we would normally filter out of our conscious mind.  Think about it.  When you're driving seems a good example to me.  You look around, certainly, you watch where you're going you look for pedestrians you try and watch for all the lights, you make split second decisions... it's probably one of the few points where we're actively observing as much as we can.  It's when we lost concentration, allow our minds to filter out too much information that accidents happen.  That's when we almost hit the pedestrian or when we run the red light or rear end someone whose break lights we shoudl have seen.

This kind of observation can only be helpful for writers as much as for actors.  We write the human experience, but how can we write it when we're closed off to half of it?  When we can't even be bothered to truly pay attention and observe the people around us.  If we've by this point mastered the art of Concentration then shouldn't we also have mastered the art of observation?  Unfortunately the two do tend to be learned rather exclusively.  Instead of learning to concentrate and observe we learn to do one or the other.  Proper observation though deserves a great deal of concentration.  Now don't try this in the car please, you've got enough to pay attention to without adding everything else, but try this exercise, see how much you can remember and start to train yourself to think of every possible experience around you and in your own life as possible fodder for your novels.  Your worlds can become richer, your characters more unique if you have a greater vat of information to draw on.  Why wouldn't you want that?

Wednesday will be the final installment of the chapters.  Lesson 6:  Rhythm.

Writing - Lesson 4 of 6: Characterization

Today's lesson's quote is a little long, but I do consider it worth the reading.  Please read it and consider it before continuing on.

"It is like this, my child.  The actor creates the whole length of a human soul's life on the stage every time he creates a part.  This human soul must be visible in all its aspects, physical, mental and emotional.  Besides, it must be unique.  It must be the soul.  The same soul the author thought of, the one the director explained to you, the one you brought to the surface from the depths of your being.  No other but that one.  And the character who owns this created soul on the stage is unique and different from all the rest.  It is Hamlet and nobody else.  It is Ophelia and nobody else.  They are human, that is true, but here the similarity ends.  We are all human, we have the same number of arms and legs and our noses are placed respectively in the same positions.  Yet, as there are no two oak leaves alike, there are no two human beings alike.  And when an actor creates a human soul in the form of a character, he must follow the same wise rule of Nature and make that soul unique and individual. ...Analyze now in detail the posture of your head, go to the galleries or look into books.  Look at Van Dyck, look at Reynolds.  Your arms and hands were natural and sincere, but I could have told you right away that those hands play tennis, drive a car, and when necessary, can broil a marvelous steak.  Study the hands of  Botticelli, of Leonardo, of Raphael...  ...By studying and making it your own.  By entering into its spirit.  Study the different hands.  Understand their weakness, their flower-life tenderness, their narrowness, their flexibility.  You can control your muscles.  Just curl your palm longwise.  Do you see hwo much narrower it is?  Two days practice and you won't even think about it, but whenever you want it, it will stay like that as long as you wish.  And when, with that kind of hand, you grasp your heart, it will be a different gesture than the one you made.  It will be Ophelia's hand clutching Ophelia's heart, not Miss So-and-So's hand grasping Miss So-and-So's Heart." (77-79)

So.  Long quote right?  I felt for understanding this chapter the longer quote was necessary.  He talks about "Characterization".  The woman he speaks to doesn't understand what he means.  She says the lines of the character and she wears make-up and costumes and that makes her the character she is supposed to be, isn't that right?  Here in this passage which is the heart of the chapter to me, he explains what he means by Characterization.  It is more than simply yourself that you are portraying in this, it becomes a character that can be played by any human who understands Opheilia and who can become her with the nuances of a gesture, a posture, a glance, etc.

Now I can feel you asking, how does this compare to writing a character?  I can feel the same questions come up as the actress had for B.  Surely if you write a character that character is already characterized.  So here is my question back for you, do your characters live and breathe on their own?  Do they inspire a different feeling in you, in your posture, even in the motion and ability of your hands?  If you've ever done any improve or Role Playing to figure out your characters you might notice something interesting that my husband and I have noticed.  With particular characters, once you're in their head, if you let yourself walk around as them or do an action as them you might find a peculiar thing happen.  I'm right handed, my husband is left, but we have characters who will instinctively grab things with their dominant hand if we're far enough into the characters with enough Concentration (see lesson 1!).  It's always a peculiar feeling to grab a pen with my left when I know I'm right handed but I find out the character is not.  Here then is the characterization that would be acted on the stage.  There is a deeper understanding not only of who the character is in regards to yourself, but who they are in regards to themselves.

It's something to keep in mind when you're creating a character.  The stronger you want the character to be the more individual it needs to be.  Would that character be able to speak in a crowded scene with no names mentioned and stand out as distinct?  Why, what makes it that way?  Is it the way he speaks or the way she stands?  Is it the way he carries on without end or the way she stands silently with minimal speech?  Why not write every character with the intention of making them so unique every time someone might go to act them they cannot help but notice these characteristics that define this person.  Help your reader to understand how individual they are by making them live beside and beyond yourself.  Study people outside of yourself in order to understand what other things your characters hold the potential to be.  You're only one small part of what they can become if you only let them!

Monday will be Lesson 5:  Observation.

Writing - Lesson 3 of 6: Dramatic Action

Lesson Three - Dramatic Action

"Dramatic action which the writer expresses in words, having that action as the purpose and goal of his words, and which the actor performs, or acts, as the word actor itself implies." (55) Acting, The First Six Lessons, Richard Boleslavsky

"I: Yes. But my action was prompted by you.  The Creature:  By me?  I:  Yes.  By your character rather.  To convince you in anything one must approach you through emotion.  Cold reasoning is inaccessible to your type of mind- the mind of an artist who deals mostly with his or other people's imaginations.  If, instead of you, I had a bearded Professor of History as a companion, I wouldn't have acted sorrowful at all.  I would have tempted him enthusiastically with a picture of the past - a weak spot of all historians - and he would have yielded to my statement.  The Creature:  I see.  So one must choose his actions in accordance with the character of the part that opposes him.  I:  Always.  Not only the character of the part, but also the individuality of the actor who plays the part."  (63) Acting, The First Six Lessons, Richard Boleslavsky

Firstly, these are direct quote from the book, he refers to the young actress as "the creature" which is not unusual for the time this was written.  It's an older book but the lessons in it are no less useful for all that.

Now Dramatic Action in theater, whether on a stage performed or in the script written is not so different from what other types of Authors must achieve.  Each was written at some point, each had to have action considered at some point.  The biggest difference is that the Actor performs what the script-writer wrote visually for the audience to see.  They may never see the script that inspires the performance but they will likely not feel less for that lack.

Writers of novels however have a bigger job.  They must describe not only the words of each character that will inspire action as the script-writer must, but they must then also describe the actions that the characters perform and the reactions that those actions inspire in others.  Dramatic action is often thought of as conflicts but I think we should take this cue to look at dramatic action a little closer.  Yes, a conflict is often filled with Dramatic actions.  People argue, they throw things perhaps, or there's a great deal of tension in it. But conflict and dramatic actions do not have to be massive, huge things that are so overt the reader feels like they're being hit over the head.

What if two people were arguing in silence?  How would you describe that?  The conflict would be there, but the focus would be as much on what they were doing, what their expressions were, the tension of their bodies as it would be anything else.  So where do we go with this?  Look at a scene you wrote that you're not happy with it.  Is it missing dramatic action?  Is it missing actions on the character's parts?  Or are they all talking heads standing still in the room?  Who would lose by adding in a little detail about the actions and reactions of the characters setting the scene?

Lesson Four on Friday:  Characterization

Writing - Lesson 2 of 6: Memory of Emotion

Lesson Two:  Memory of Emotion.

As I said on Friday, today is the continuation of the First Six Lessons of acting translated into use for writing.  Today's lesson is on the "Memory of Emotion".  If you're interested in the book I'm using as my basis it is Acting, The First Six Lessons by Richard Boleslavsky.

"We have a special memory for feelings, which works unconsciously by itself and for itself.  It's right there. It is in every artist. It is that which makes experience an essential part of our life and craft.  All we have to do is know how to use it."  (pg 36)

This chapter discusses how B. believes that every person has the ability, unconsciously, to attach emotions to objects.  When this is done those emotions become so attached to the object that we cannot help but experience the emotion whenever we see the object.  I believe this to be true, particularly if you consider aversion therapy and positive reinforcement in regards to both animals and humans.  He suggests to the actress who has come to him in this chapter that as she has been concentrating on everything in her life as well as in her art that hidden within her is likely the emotion she needs to access, and she has only to remember the occasion or the object of that emotion in order to bring it up.  He spends the chapter explaining to her how at first she may need to re-tell the story in great detail to bring up the emotions she experienced at that time.  But that through practice she would be able to condense that feeling and bring it into action whenever she liked.

Writers are people who go through a myriad of emotions for just as many reasons.  We have to know what a character's feeling and to be believable we have to know WHY they're feeling it.  We have to know the character so well that we can bring up an emotion... well what if that's not the only case?  What if we as writers need to know ourselves and our own emotions well enough to bring forth an authentic emotion in a differing situation?  Here's where I suggest that the turnover is.  Just as B. told the actress to go over the emotions until she could bring them up at a single thought, perhaps we as writers should be doing the same.  When we understand the nuances of each emotion that we are capable of, that we have experienced and when we can call them up then we can understand our character's emotions with a depth and truth that we may have been lacking before.

I'm often told in acting to "keep yourself out of it".  You don't want to "impose" yourself on the character.  This is a danger for the author as well, but where I am not supposed to do that in acting, no one tells you not to do it with writing.  Seriously consider your characters, know them inside and out and know the feelings of emotions and what can bring them out.  When you know yourself you can know what is you, what is your character and how to breathe life into your character that is not entirely your own.

Lesson Three will be Wednesday:  Dramatic Action

Writing - Lesson 1 of 6: Concentration

Hi Everyone,

First let me apologize for my drop in posts the last week, was having a tough time (as Friday's post no doubt evidenced) but I think I'm through the worst of it now and I have some interesting thoughts for you!

My next 6 posts, this one included, so the next 5 posts, will be based off of a book I just finished reading entitled Acting, The First Six Lessons by Richard Boleslavsky.  It's a book for actors that suggest the different things an actor must do to become great.  I plan on giving a brief overview of the idea and then I will explain how I think writers can benefit from looking at their work and their life in similar ways.  I don't think it extends only to actors.

So.  The First Lesson:  Concentration

"Acting is the life of the human soul receiving its birth through art.  In a creative theatre the object for an actor's concetration is the human soul.  In the first period of his work- the searching - the object for concentration is his own soul and those of the men and women who surround him.  In the second period - the constructive one - only his own soul.  Which means that, to act, you must know how to concentrate on something materially imperceptible,- on something which you can perceive only by penetrating deeply into your own entity, recognizing what would be evidenced in life only in a moment of the greatest emotion and most violent struggle.  In other words you need a spiritual concentration on emotions which do not exist, but are invented or imagined." (pg 22)

The above is a direct quote from the book.  Boleslavsky is speaking to a young woman who wants to be an actress and has come to him asking for him to teach her to be what she so desperately wants to be.  His first "lesson" is that she must be able to concentrate.  Seems redundant for me to say it right?  Maybe, but it's something that I feel very few of us really know how to do in this day and age.  We have so many things to do, so many things taking our attention that we become unable to concentrate on what we SHOULD be doing.  In this case, our writing.

Writing to me is much the same as B. describes acting to be.  There are two periods, the searching and the constructive.  When we build the story, plan out its details, research the information or setting, build the world or characters, it's at this point that we're external.  We look outside of ourselves for inspiration, we look to other people, to other information, we seek for a whole idea and we slowly build it.

When we sit down to write, that is when we move from the searching to the construction.  Like B. suggests for the actor at that moment the writer must swallow everything they have learned, everything they have searched for and they must look to the story that waits in their own soul and no where else.  Now as writers we don't seek to say someone else's words like an actor does, but our own words in a way that only we can do.  Keeping this in mind when we are searching and when we sit down to write we owe it to ourselves to create a space where we can fully concentrate on our work, our words and yes, our own soul as that is where the story lives.

In some ways a writer's job is harder than the actor's, as an actor you generally portray one character for one story.  Most first person stories could perhaps be seen as akin to acting out the story for the reader's benefit.  But those of us who write in first person, who have to go through not one character but all of them.  Those who write the plays the actor will act, should keep in mind that what people want to connect with is the soul of the story.  And they want it to be something they as a human can also connect to.

So take away those things that will break your concentration.  Work out exercises for yourself to keep that concentration no matter what.  It's when you can write without breaking for any reason, where you can submerse yourself fully into the sights and smells and emotions of your settings or your characters or your scenes that you will naturally fill in what needs to be seen, heard or felt.  I think it's in that intensity of concentration where you will get your best imaginings, your best rememberings and your best writings.

Monday will be Lesson Two:  Memory of Emotion.

Lost

When the world seems at it's darkest, all you can do is feel lost.

I don't know what to post today.

Poetical Waxings - "Things to do"

Be yourself.

Know yourself.

Find yourself.

Lose yourself.

Love yourself.

Laugh for no reason.

Smile for no reason.

Love for no reason.

Forgive with every iota of your being.

Love.

Love your enemies.

Love your neighbor.

Love your friends.

Love your family.

Love God.

Pray.

Pray for your enemies.

Pray for your neighbors.

Pray for your friends.

Pray for your family.

Pray for your Life.

Pray with abandon.

Pray with Joy.

Praise Him for all the Blessings given, whatever size.

Live every day the way God designed for it to be lived.

Live knowing you are Forgiven.

Live knowing you are cared for.

Live knowing you are Loved.

Live knowing you will never be alone.

Live with Joy.

Live with Sorrow.

Know there are times for both.

Live every moment with everything you've got, hold nothing back.

Don't just exist.

Be.