Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Thu, Oct 01 2015
The care and comforts of writing
Plenty of sleep: Check.
Dressed comfortably: Check.
Glass of fresh water at hand: Check.
Am I too comfortable now? Maybe I need to feel a little of the stress of my fictional characters. I don't have to fast for a week, forego showers and then go stretch out in a gutter and wait to feel the fear of being run over by a speeding motorist, but a little hunger and thirst and basic fatigue might put the brain in a frame of mind to better convey the highs and lows of a character's journey.
There's been a lot of joking about Ernest Hemingway and his alcohol, but as far as I can tell he didn't drink while he was writing. He probably knew that alcohol, besides being bad for his diabetes, made him too comfortable and sleepy when he worked. And maybe that's the key. A low level of comfort let's us be tugged away by our own malaise. A high level of comfort lets us drift into something nowhere near an alert state of mind.
Like alcohol, our state of mind can serve as both muse and monster in this sea of words. Success may lie in neither a lazy float with the current nor an all-out flail against it, but moving with steady strokes, fixing our gaze on the sweet shore in front of us.
posted at: 08:19 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
Plenty of sleep: Check.
Dressed comfortably: Check.
Glass of fresh water at hand: Check.
Am I too comfortable now? Maybe I need to feel a little of the stress of my fictional characters. I don't have to fast for a week, forego showers and then go stretch out in a gutter and wait to feel the fear of being run over by a speeding motorist, but a little hunger and thirst and basic fatigue might put the brain in a frame of mind to better convey the highs and lows of a character's journey.
There's been a lot of joking about Ernest Hemingway and his alcohol, but as far as I can tell he didn't drink while he was writing. He probably knew that alcohol, besides being bad for his diabetes, made him too comfortable and sleepy when he worked. And maybe that's the key. A low level of comfort let's us be tugged away by our own malaise. A high level of comfort lets us drift into something nowhere near an alert state of mind.
Like alcohol, our state of mind can serve as both muse and monster in this sea of words. Success may lie in neither a lazy float with the current nor an all-out flail against it, but moving with steady strokes, fixing our gaze on the sweet shore in front of us.
posted at: 08:19 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
