Hey beautiful people,
I’ve been MIA for a few weeks because I’m pushing out a dress last minute. So while I’m on hiatus from working on my Link cosplay, I figured I’d share some of my organizing and planning secrets (clearly, I’m procrastinating).
Anyone who knows me is aware how much I LOVE organizing – I enjoy making order out of chaos, what can I say? With that in mind, here’s how I plan my cosplays:
It’s confession time: Whenever I don’t know what to do with a new idea or am scared to start working, I procrastinate by reading a book about the craft of writing. I like to call it “Productive procrastination.” I’m leaning something that can help me grow as a writer while simultaneously avoiding my current project. As you’ve probably guessed by now, I’m reading a new book. This time, it’s “The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop: A Guide to the Craft of Fiction.”
Go read this, creators!
I think I need to attend conventions. Writing ones where authors and agents gather to tell you how your story can be “fixed.” Though I say it with a bit of sarcasm, I really do feel I need to get connected to the literary community if I ever have hopes of publishing something. Networking is the way to get noticed, or so they say. That fact feels rather daunting for me, as I am inherently introverted. The idea of walking up to some strong agent and pitching my stories is more than a little frightening.
What my workspace looks like at Caribou
I’ve been playing around with the idea of a new story. It’s a kind of fantasy inspired by a dream I had, and so far I haven’t been sure where to start. I’m trying something new where I create character and plot summaries and expand on them. I have a few plot ideas that revolve around the same cast and I haven’t decided which sounds the best to me. I think I’ll keep pushing ahead with the characters and see where they lead me.
The advent of the e-book has completely changed the business of reading – e-readers are the wood block in a game of Janga that cause the tower to fall. Now that people can download a book without ever touching paper, publishing companies doesn’t know how to price books. How do you charge for something immaterial? Now writers can self publish and people can own entire libraries that you’ll never see. The curious thing, I think, is that there seems to be this moral question looming over the product. And though many are oblivious or indifferent to the battle, there are certainly sides.
To those out there that have a passion in life,
Keep at it! I watched a video today that featured someone who clearly has talent. For some reason, this fun little video moved me. Here I am, sitting on my bed, playing video games and bumming around the internet when I stumble upon a person who has mastered something. I know I’m young and I can’t expect to have reached the 10,000 hours it takes to perfect a skill, but I don’t feel like I’m putting many more hours into it.
Excuses
I do have some. I write all day at my 9 to 5 job and by the end of it I feel like my ability to form coherent sentences has been used up. Ergo, I avoid writing anything for my own benefit, fearing it will suck and just be a waste of time anyway.
I don’t feel creatively motivated right now, but I also don’t look for inspiration. I let myself slip into consumer land where I just take in a bunch of nonsense instead of filling my time with the pursuit of something meaningful (damn you, Netflix!)
However, I need to get myself out of this place one way or another. My resolution for 2014 is to complete a writing project. As of right now, I haven’t even started. In fact, I have no ideas! I’ve got a long way to go…
Staying positive
It’s hard for me to stay positive when looking at where I’m at now. How am I supposed to suddenly generate a worth while idea anyhow? I guess the best I can do is just write and hope it comes to me. Or I can write something mediocre and learn some skills for the next time around.
I can also look for inspiration. I need some good films, exciting art or creative novels to set me on the right track.
Do your thing
If you’ve got a passion in life, you need to pursue it! It’s people like you who motivate the rest of us. Like that kid dancing in the video, I want to see your work.
“Originality is the fine art of remembering what your hear but forgetting where you heard it.” – Lawrence J. Peters
I’ve decided to plan more creative time into my schedule to work on a new writing project. The only problem is that I have no idea what to write. Even though I’ve gotten back in the reading groove, I’m lacking inspiration. I’m wondering what other writers do to brainstorm new ideas. Once I have an idea, I can usually develop it.
There are countless blogs and wiki pages on “10 tips for brainstorming” but I need a real spark. So I’m calling out to other writers to see what has worked for you. If you have tips or sure-fire strategies that have worked for you, leave a comment.
What I really need is a dream. A lot of my story ideas are based on crazy wonderful dreams I’ve had. Guess I need to get going on that. Maybe this post compiled of random thoughts will help…maybe. Doubtful. Hmmm….there are also photos. Looking at art can sometimes inspire me. Music is always good.
Anyhow, I’ll keep working on brainstorming. I’ll have to start writing without direction and see where it goes.
Before I decided to pursue writing as a career, I studied acting. As I study another angle of art, I often find that mediums and outlets are all part of the same whole. I have learned more about writing from the theater than from writing classes just as I have found love and appreciation for performance when working on my writing.
The other day I was in my fiction class and we discussed To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf. I found myself analyzing the content and form the way I would a script. I asked about given circumstances, such as the time period and the implications on society that it held. How did those implications (gender roles, religious expectations, and so forth) effect the way the characters either behaved or thought about the world around them? I also related the modernist work to the realist movement in theater. Realism often deals with the inner struggles and darkness of ordinary men and women told through a rather mundane narrative. Woolf’s characters in To the Lighthouse deal with issues of mortality (of both body and work), relationships, their roles in society, insecurity, and so on. However, not much happens through the course of the novel.
This sort of cross relation occurs frequently in my studies. I am still considered a theater major with a writing minor, so I encounter both on a regular basis. Every time connections are made, I am in wonder of how closely related all art is. Artists are artists in the soul, not just in dead. We all just choose a medium to express whatever it is we feel needs expressing.
At the end of each semester, acting majors have to go to an evaluation of sorts. We sit at a conference table with all the acting faculty and talk about the work we’ve done in the past twelve weeks. I’ve gone through five of those evaluations. I remember specific comments. When I took voice class, I showed my professor drawings and writings I had done that were inspired by experiences in class. At the meeting, she told me I had the “soul of an artist.” Others around the table nodded. I was flattered.
A year later, another of my professors told me he wasn’t sure I wanted to be an actor. He said I could be, just that he didn’t know that that was where my passion was. I wrote the comment off for another semester when he told me the same thing.
Summer came around. I should have been preparing for auditions, but I didn’t do it. Instead, is spent my free time watching writing lectures online.
I laughed. My professor was right.
I sometimes miss acting, but when I realize that all art is from the same source, I am reassured. Just as my theater peers produce art on the stage, I produce art on the page.
I inadvertently tried something new. The last book I wrote began with a concept for a plot that I expanded into a world that held characters. This time around, it seems I began with characters and a world. Since this is a new situation for me, I am in quite a predicament. I have no idea what my capital P Plot will be. I have a couple subplots in mind but not the giant one that is necessary to move the story. I am hoping that by creating dynamic, real characters and building conflict into the world, I will find the plot.
Another brainstorming method I’ve heard for plot building requires research. The idea is to figure out what it is I like about my favorite books, movies, games, etc, then work that essence into a new story. For example, I love The Lord of the Rings. Really love it. So much so that I have a tattoo of the White Tree of Gondor. So what is it about The Lord of the Rings that inspires such fandom in me? Well, there are a lot of possibilities.
Frodo’s story is that of the underdog, average Joe who is given an impossible task and yet never gives up. That’s inspiring. There’s also the theme of loyalty in Sam. He is also average–maybe even bellow average since he’s a Hobbit–but he has uncommon loyalty. He follows his friend on a death mission and helps him even when rejected. This is also inspiring.
I can take one of those concepts and build a plot that carries a similar message. It may not sound original, but most stories are a retelling of another story anyhow. C.S. Lewis said that, “Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.”
I suppose what this comes down to is that my mission isn’t to find some amazing idea that will change the literary world. My mission is to entertain readers and myself. As long as I find a story I want to tell (and work hard on adding depth) I’m sure my work will be satisfying.
The Pen and Needle 