To Mix Some Metaphors

It can take me a long time to get something written down, even when I'm excited about the idea and already have thoughts on how I'll handle the topic.

I've found that when I wait like this, though, almost as if I'm letting the idea steep in my brain, so that the flavors can unfurl and mix so that they don't feel forced or incongruous, the scene manages to play itself out, leading naturally to the next event I want to introduce.  The other details trickle in slowly, infusing their little quirks into the spaces that are left, until the idea seems heavy and full, ready to be spilled out onto paper.

Once the idea begins to percolate (ha!), that's when I sit down at the computer and type the scene out madly.  Naturally, I may add or rewrite parts later, but after the steeping process, the idea has generally found its own solid footing, whatever meaning it brings to the story, and the other necessary details have fallen into place.  At that point, I often feel as though the scene could never have happened any other way.

R.D.

On the Precipice

There is often a serious lack of resolution, of closure, in dramatic works.  Can you imagine if someone asked you an important question, and you simply stared back at them and then turned around and walked away?  (Happens on TV and in the movies all the time!)  Or if you were only aware of the beginnings or endings of some of your conversations?  (Books leave out parts of conversations all the time...it'd be boring otherwise!)  What if something quite important was about to happen, but (as always!) a phone call or unexpected visitor derailed the action?  (I have to admit this has happened to me far more often in real life than I would have predicted.)

Could we live with so much uncertainty in real life?

I think not.  When we ask questions, we want answers.  We don't want to be left hanging for the information to be revealed at the best dramatic moment, whether it be several days later or several decades later.  We'd run after the person leaving.  We'd insist until we got an answer.

When we miss part of a conversation, we want to know what was said while we were gone.  When we are interrupted, we try (often unsuccessfully) to recapture the moment that was lost.

Yet, there is something to be said for the excitement of uncertainty.  Perhaps, then, to avoid boring ourselves and others, we should consider removing ourselves from conversations and situations before they've fully played out to their logical end.  Always leave them wanting more, right?

I'm going on my dream vacation.  Bye! :)

Ren D.

Let It Grab You...Then Use It

There are certainly moments when I just don't feel like writing, or when I don't feel like writing a particular chapter or scene.

I let my mood grab me and work on the scene I'm the most excited about at the time or the scene where the atmosphere or tension most fits what I am experiencing in real life.  There's always editing later.  I'd rather have the words, the thoughts, the feelings flowing because I'm in that place or in that mindset at the moment than have my fingers stuttering, trying to squeeze incongruent words out on the computer keyboard.

This doesn't mean what I do doesn't require imagination.  It always does -- and I enjoy making things up rather than drawing from my personal experiences.  It's not interesting to write strictly about myself or the people I know.  However, using my current environment or feelings helps make the writing meaningful to me.  Just in case no one else enjoys my work, at least I know I do.

Ren D.

Musings Before Bedtime

If they don't pay me in royalties, my friends, I think I might be willing to accept payment in the form of homemade butter or cheese.  A well-fed writer is less likely to spend pages describing food, I think.

Perhaps aside from the "no grocery shopping while hungry" rule, there needs to be a "no writing while hungry" rule!  Abraham Maslow did place the need for food at the bottom of his hierarchy for needs (where the most basic physiological needs were grouped).  How can you strive for higher purposes if you're sleepless, thirsty, hungry, and so on?

I write (and work) better when I'm a little hungry, though.  Maybe it was conditioning from all those years in graduate school.  I suppose you'll have to live with my fixation on describing food in my work.  :)

Ren "Hungry" D.

Do I Really Have to Do Research?

Why wouldn't you?  Research enriches your story.  The details provide color.  I don't want my characters to sound exactly like me.  I don't want their whole world to be composed of the limited extent of my own existence.

I like to learn.  I like to fill my head with interesting tidbits and research factoids.

I don't write to educate, really.  The Fracture of a Dream, for instance, is not a textbook or a science book, even though the characters' motivations and behavior are often based on existing empirical research.  No, I don't feel like I became a lecturer at any point.  However, I do want information in the book to be based on facts when possible.

There were some parts of the book that I didn't want to research in depth, particularly the medical and legal aspects.  I knew there were too many ways to get it wrong, and as I said before, I wasn't writing a textbook.

Aside from that, those details were not the focus of the book, and I didn't want to detract from the characters and their relationships in an attempt to be completely factually accurate.  Thus, I left things unsaid -- they may happen behind the scenes and are only referenced in conversations with other characters -- or vague.  Dek Sundowner is not a doctor, psychologist, or lawyer, for example, so his understanding of matters from those professions is very basic anyway.

Not researching those areas deeply is not a problem, in my opinion.  Other details, however -- technology of historical time periods, the sensation or taste of a particular dish, the names of types of flowers or animals -- those can be important.  I think they take the story to a new level of reality.

This is why you'll probably never see one of my characters drinking coffee.  I refuse to do any research on that beverage.  ;)

That's my two cents.  What about you, fellow writers?  How do you approach research for your works of fiction?

Rendy "Research" Diller