WARNING! Bystanders may end up on my page

just thinking on paper

Glancing out my window I spy the red and black warning sign that sits on my sill. "WARNING! Novelist at work, Bystanders may be written into a story." I cannot fight the urge to smile as I think of all my family and friends that have been assimilated onto the page. Some killed without mercy, many left abandoned on snowdrifts.  So many of my life's events translated in the third person. 

Indeed, I think writers hide bits and pieces of themselves on every page. It may not be evident to the reader, but there is great satisfaction in revealing one's soul in word. I'm not saying writing is grabbing the moment and pasting it on paper. The art and craft of creating is finding the right mix. Taking facts, passions, and imagination mixing it together until it sings. 

Personally, I am not a note taker. I may write down a chain of words I want to capture, but for the most part, all I need is the opening line. My mood sets the tone, and my imagination feeds the story to me line upon line. Most times I will go back and flesh out the details. I read it out loud wanting it to have a natural air. If it is a longer piece, I try and make each chapter like a short story. Making it a stand-alone moment within a larger work. This works really well for children's stories, and it is my preferred way of compiling my tales. Anyway, all I was saying is bystanders beware you may end up on the high-seas or stranded on the moon.

Reviews

[roarke]

Some times when one of my characters isn't quite working out, needs something, etc. I turn to someone I know and BAM... there it is. Happened just recently. I concur with this snapshot of your writing process Cherrie. For me, longer writes are problematic, and I have to let them sit for weeks, month, years, touching them from time to time until they are "readable". lol I also sew bits and pieces together, not originally conceived as related, but then perceptions change, and it's like finding a lost puzzle piece under the table. Sometimes parts of a concept, story, or character doesn't reveal itself sequentially, and other writes have to be written and moved out of the way for the next bit. Put the two bits together and ya got a hunk... and so on. I'm not saying this is proper process, probably far from it.. it's just mine. Thanks for sharing your voice in this piece.

[Cherrie]

I think it's good for us to just air out our process and hopefully everyone tosses their 2 cents in and we might come up with a dollar. :)

[roarke]

oh-oh... a dollar... then whadda we do? lol I appreciate you sharing your process Cherrie.

[Crowley]

I wanna be handsome in that dangerous, not so dangerous sort of way, if you don't mind. Oh...and maybe I ride a motorcycle or I'm the quiet brooding trapeze artist....yeah. Anywho I should have a scar or birthmark as well, and maybe a wallet with a chain. Lol...I love this observation and the write...you always have keen powers of observation and a steady pen. Loved it!

[Cherrie]

So a small scar over the eye riding a 67 Indian on the way to the circus. Got it.

[Crowley]

Wooohooo!!! Exactly...I'm so dangerous in your hands.

[Lorry]

Nice. I like. Personally, I think you are spot on. I always change the subject when people I know ask to see what ive written. To me, everything I write is a journal, the diary to what I live, see amd feel. Perhaps that explains why it took me until well into my thirties before I shared any of it.
And it also explains how I imagine the person in the character being overly like the person, like them, but with the volume turned way up. :)Exaggerated just enough to avoid libel action :)

[Cherrie]

Lol yes I hate libel actions.
And yes I like to dial people up a notch as well.

[Wesley Dingler]

I do that a good bit. I've killed most of my friends (and a couple of their parents) in stories. Mostly they think it's as funny as I do.
There is no shame in it for me.


")

[Cherrie]

That's the difference between a writer and the witch doctor (intent).

[Wesley Dingler]

Can I not be both?
I think it's a Pisces thing to be both good and evil wrapped in a single package.
That package is me.

So instead of bi-polar
can we start calling it Pi-Polar?

[Cherrie]

Lol that'll work it can be the two for one sale an PiPolar it is.

[Wesley Dingler]

yes!! That's me