All the time.
How did you spend your summer and fall? I lived on a roller coaster ride of contractors, ‘how-to’ research about siding a house, the best kind of counter tops,
and cleaning up 92-year-old dust.
All that time, I never stopped writing. Maybe that sounds
implausible, seeing as how I had a paint scrapper in one hand and a bucket of
soapy water in the other. But I planned my manuscripts, kept a notebook in my
back pocket ready for any flashes of genius that occurred for my current Work In
Progress.
The premise is the Afterlife and all the religious
connotations and handed-down stories. I listened and collected snippets of
legends and myths for the storyline.
Examples:
- A TV documentary that dealt with the Viking deities and their views of death. scribble, scribble
- A relative said that when her dad’s heart stopped, a Presence formed over his body like so much mist. scribble, scribble
- A casual conversation that started with, ‘I wonder what happens after death?’ that started a whole round table of talk. scribble, scribble
And so on.
My point? Listen to different speech traits, note hand gestures,
how people walk and interact to apply them to your wip. And be ready to absorb folk stories, quirks,
and the bits of information that come your way.
You never know what will
explode a mere tale into a firecracker of a book.
9 comments:
Great job with keeping on top of the writing amid all the other goings-on.
I'e made a habit of keeping a pen handy so that anything - napkin, receipt, backside of a play program - becomes a writing surface. When I get home, I immediately transfer it to digital so I don't lose it on whatever paper form it's on lol!
I carry a notebook in my purse. But most of my scenes ruminated in my head for days before I wrote them down. Especially the "big" moments in the book. I figured if I could remember them the next day, that was what "happened."
I take notes all over and then compile my notes into one special spiral journal where I can dip into them when I need something.
I'm like that too. ^_^
Visualizing those climatic scenes take over my life sometimes. Day AND night.
I have a notebook with tabs to compartmentalize. Things like character traits, backstory, hair color.
So true! Always keep writing! I tend to keep notes/write on my phone's notepad app. I've written whole scenes while waiting in line at the store.
I'm totally with you. I rarely write notes (too lazy), but I watch everything and everyone -- particularly documentaries and reality shows. I try to do research, too, but it generally reminds me too much of school. Yuck! lol I haven't written anything in months, but ideas are stewing inside my brain and I hope a full plot and characters will bubble up soon! :-)
I write in my mind, repeating over and over what I need to memorize until I can get to pen and paper. I also carry little notebooks around with me - just in case.
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