Posts Tagged ‘Writing’

1
Oct

I want to write a banned book

   Posted by: Dawn    in Book World News, Books, Education, Lit issues, Social Commentary, Writing

It’s true. 

I want to write a book that is banned with long stretching arms of censorship for a catalogue of reasons as a rationale.

I want to write something that readers will instantly recognize as insightful, or that makes people take stock of their own environment, fishbowl, or personal perspectives and invisible but ingrained biases.

I want to write something that causes people to ask questions to those who hold power over them.  I want young people to read it and allow themselves to throw away the nonsense idea that questioning a thought or concept is blasphemous simply because it’s in print or in a textbook.  I want thought leaders to read it and question whether or not they’re the antagonist or the protagonist.

I want to write something that upsets people enough to take action.  I want to stir the pots of cooking frogs and force them to leap out of their apathetic, slow burning pots.

I want to write something that shocks institutions because it challenges their authority over thought and information.

I want to write something that makes men in robes uncomfortable because it encourages questioning centuries-long authority based on “that’s how it has always been” and “it is not our place to question the divine.”  I want people to voice the questions they were always afraid to ask and not settle for “mystery” because no one has a logical, or reasonable answer.

I want to write something that makes people ask themselves if they treat their friends or family members with the respect they deserve.  Something that makes locker room comedy an embarrassment to everyone, not just the target of the joke, something that drives offenders to perhaps uncomfortable self assessment and evaluation.

I want to write something that will become outdated and irrelevant, and remembered only because of the impact it made on society and those who read it rather than because the issues will continue to be issues in the future.

I want to write something that people can burn ceremoniously because the challenges have been overcome.

 

Banned Books

Banned Books

 

It’s Banned Books Week, and I would be remiss if I didn’t point you to a list of some of the greatest works pulled from shelves for challenging ideologies, “values,” and social norms.  Go do yourself a favor.  Read a banned book.  Then give it to someone you want to inspire.

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5
May

How are YOU?

   Posted by: Dawn    in Creative, Memes, Outside the Box, Things of Interest, Writing

How are you?

 

No… really… How are you?

 

We ask these questions to each other out of rote socialization, and most times the answers go unheard.  We ask it in passing in the halls, we ask it as a place holder when there is no other way into a conversation, and we ask it to be polite.  How often does someone ask it to genuinely know? How often, when asked that question, do you feel that the person asking has already moved on to the next strand of thoughts before you’ve even opened your mouth? How often do you actually listen for an answer?

 

The problem with this query is that all too often it is mistaken for “How are things with you?”  They’re not the same at all, really.  One implies curiosity about the circumstances and events in your general life, the other, the first, is a curiosity about you the person, about how you feel and are engaging with the world.

 

To answer the question honestly requires a moment of introspection, evaluation (of both yourself and the perceived relationship between you and the questioner—do you trust them with your emotions? With the truth?), and honesty.  It requires you to lower your shields if just for a moment to let someone in to see your world, for good or for ill.

 

So this homework assignment is a question, even a Meme, if you will.  I want you to stop, take a moment and answer.  Emotions are wily things, and often the more profound they are, the more difficult it is to express them without asking someone to crawl inside your head and heart to feel it themselves.  But that’s the beauty of words.  They provide you, when strung together, with the ability to describe emotion—whether in a jumble of words together, through metaphor, through analogy, or through poetry or a story.  Even images carry great weight to convey meaning and emotion.

 

Express it however you wish, and feel free to leave it in the comments here anonymously, or to me via email.  Feel free to leave your name, but I hope that the anonymity will provide for a cushion of honesty and sincerity without the fear of scrutiny.  Here’s your chance to capture whatever emotion/s—wonderful, horrible, or middling–you’re feeling right now and express them to someone who genuinely wants to know…

 

 

How are you?

 

 

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1
Nov

NaNoWriMo Pitfalls

   Posted by: Dawn    in NaBloPoMo, NaNoWriMo, Writing

For the past two years I attempted to tackle NaNoWriMo and I wasn’t able to finish my project either year.  It wasn’t for lack of trying, or ideas.  In preparation for this year’s challenge I tried to pinpoint what it was that waylaid my success so that I didn’t fall victim to the roadblocks of my past.  Maybe this list can help you too.

1.   Lack of advanced scheduling:  Just write 1667 words a day, that’s all.  It doesn’t sound like much, but 3-4 pages a day can really add up if you skip a day or a weekend.  NaNoWriMo’ers have a holiday in November to contend with, too.  In the years past I have aimed for my goal of 1667 words each day, and was satisfied when I reached that goal.  The problem with this strategy is that if a complication arises and you can’t write for a day, or a weekend, your total just compounded.  It’s easy to fix this issue, though.  This year I plan to write more than the required word count per day so that I’m not behind when it comes time for Thanksgiving, or weekend trips, or long days at the office that leave me exhausted.

2.  Internal Editors:  One of the most difficult things for me to fight is my internal editor.  The point of NaNoWriMo is to focus on quantity, not perfecting quality–that’s for December.  In the past I would create an outline, lay out character histories and plot, and when NaNo started, I would invariably become more concerned with making sure I was on track with my outlines, monitor how closely I was sticking to the “plan,” and I would put off writing a later scene or chapter because it wasn’t in the “plan.”  This year I’m writing from scratch.  No outline, no preconceived plot, no character history.  I’m just writing and letting the character tell me where he/she is going.  This year is about quantity and quantity only.  No Red Pen of Doom this month–it’s going in the briefcase and staying there until Dec 1.

3.  Writer’s Block:  Every writer fears sitting in front of a computer screen, or with a pen and paper, and having nothing to write when on a deadline.  A blank space can be overwhelming.  You start thinking of all the space you have to fill, all that goes in to making a story, and you have nothing on that page.  See, I’m a firm believer in the fact that writer’s block isn’t about not having ideas, it’s about having too many.  All the noise, not knowing where to begin, it all blends together to create that vast white space on the page.  It’s the outside factors that cause writer’s block, and they can be avoided.  Rather than forcing myself to continue writing a scene that isn’t working when I have a better idea, I’m going to jump ahead and take on what is fresh and active in my mind.  Instead of thinking about all of the overwhelming problems of plot, dialogue, and type, and letting it overwhelm me, I’m going to step away and ask myself one of the 6 basic questions– Who, what, when, where, why, or How?  I’ll find a ridiculous question to answer about a character (I’ve even considered taking a Friday 5 set of questions and answering them as the character would).  I’m just going to tell the story that the character takes me on rather than forcing them in a box. 

Every writer is different, and every writer has different means of handling these issues.  What challenges have you faced in years past?  What issues worry you about this year and how do you plan on dealing with it?

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4
Sep

Character Creation

   Posted by: Dawn Papuga    in Creative, Homework, Outside the Box, Things of Interest, Writing

One of my favorite parts of writing fiction is character creation.  Coming from a story driven interactive writing background, I have created hundreds of characters over the years.  Some were successful and kept their places on the creative stage in my mind.  Others burned out the same day they were created, served their purpose, and exited stage left.  Each character comes to that stage in my mind in a different way–one of which is more of a knee jerk reaction than conscious effort. 

I can’t help developing stories about the people I encounter on the street, in line, or from images/pictures I come across.  It’s a function of the way my mind works.  In that respect, I suppose it’s much like blinking.  Before I know what happened I end up having an entire personal history for an individual I saw in a picture, or an explanation for what is going on in an image.  While that can be loads of fun, sometimes my Muses are on overdrive and I have stories and characters all running around on that creative stage and no time to help them tell their stories.  Frustrating.

But am I the only one whose mind works like this?  It’s a fun way to stretch your creative legs and let your imagination go wild.  So here’s your homework assignment:

What is going on in this picture?

Photo by Claudio Gatti

 

Who is that (He or she)?  Where is that?  Why are they there?  Why are they sitting?  What happened just before (or what is about to happen…) this moment?  Run with it!  I’m dying to know what your first gut impressions tell you about this picture.  Please share yours…

 

**Image originally found here by Claudio Gatti.**

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