writing » Random Says...

A to Z reflections

May 072012

It’s been a week since the Blogging from A to Z Challenge ended. Today participants were asked to write a post reflecting on the challenge, what we discovered, what we liked and what we didn’t like.

Before I list my own reflections, I’d like to invite you to add any comments sharing your own experience of reading my takes on the letters. One thing I so liked about this challenge is how it got me writing more frequently. It makes me wonder if readers thought that was a good thing, or a not-so-good thing.

But, enough procrastinating!

What I discovered

I found myself fascinated by the letters and words themselves so the challenge became almost a celebration of language.
My tendency to be interested in many different things and to be indecisive carried over into this challenge.
I discovered some new words I either had not heard of or that I had never learned the meaning of.
I can, if need be, pull together posts more often than I usually do.
I have improv on the brain.

What I liked

Taking on a challenge to post most days of the month gave me a structure that got me writing much more frequently than usual.
The game of going through the alphabet is a simple and fun idea.
I actually learned things in the process of writing some of the posts, whether it was learning a new word or discovering something about myself.
I like when things go to unexpected places and that happened a number of times.
It was cool to know a lot of other people were in the same boat.
I really liked the random blog (“Surprise Me!”) button that some people added to their page so I could visit a random sampling of other blogs.
The challenge was well-organized with great support.
I was impressed with how many people took on (and completed) this challenge. (Good job, everyone!)

What I liked not so much

I quickly noticed that many of the participating blogs were oriented around certain topics (like Young Adult fiction) that I did not necessarily relate to.
There were so many participant blogs to visit that I found it overwhelming. I think it would have been nice to have them listed by blog theme or emphasis.
I didn’t feel I received many visitors or comments.
The random blog (“Surprise Me!”) button was not set up for a self-hosted WordPress blog. I know I could have done more research into what it would take to adapt it, but I chose not to.
Since many of the participant blogs were hosted on Blogger, I ran into quite a few cases where leaving comments was a pain. When I have to comment as either a WordPress.com or Blogger user, or use some other system I’m not hooked into, I hesitated (or outright refused) to leave a comment. While I have blogs set up on both WordPress.com and Blogger, they are inactive and I didn’t want my comments pointing back to them.

Overall I was very glad I participated in this challenge. It was actually fun to play the game. It was also more time-consuming than I expected. Between coming up with a take on each letter, writing the post, finding graphics and maintaining the discipline to post nearly every day, I found myself putting more energy into this blog than ever before.

Then there was the time it took to visit other participants and add comments. That was a great way to discover and explore other blogs, and it was fun to see the variety of takes on the challenge. Many people had chosen a theme they followed for the whole challenge. I could see how that would be a good way to make the collection of posts more coherent, but I was glad I had no theme because it meant each day was an adventure in seeing where I would go with the letter of the day.

Q is for Questions

Blogging from A to Z, Improv 4 Responses »

Apr 192012

This image raises a lot of questions

We ask, therefore we are. Is that true? Does it even make sense?

Questions seem pretty fundamental to being human. They express our wondering, our yearning to know. They’re also useful in the creation of story.

Maybe the most basic story question is, “What if?” What if a short man-like being finds a magic ring that makes him invisible when he wears it? What if the ring was made by an evil creature who wants it back?

Whether they are stated explicitly or not, “What if?” questions tap into our imagination and the realm of possibilities. Beyond providing a starting premise for a story, questions lead us deeper. Who is the protagonist? What does she want? What scares the crap out of her?

When I write, I often don’t ask these questions consciously, but I think bringing conscious questioning to aspects of a story can be very useful. In order to get to know my main character better, I’ve “interviewed” them by having them answer a bunch of questions. That’s barely scratching the surface of how questions can help.

Rather than delve into that here, I’ll point you to a great post by Veronica Sicoe, Questions Are the Life of the Party.

Instead, I’ll segue into how questions come up in improv. Questions in improv are usually discouraged, at least in dialogue. Many times, questions add nothing to a scene and just put the onus on the other players to make offers everyone can work with. For example, say A enters a scene and asks, “Hey, how’s it going?” They have given virtually no information to their partners. Compare that to A coming in and saying, “Fred! Help me clean up the living room before Mom gets home!”

On the other hand, questions inherent in writing also apply to improv. We speak of establishing CROW:

C — Character. Who is in the scene?

R — Relationship. How do the characters relate to each other?

O — Objective. What do they want? What are they trying to achieve?

W — Where. Where does the scene take place?

These may seem basic but when creating a scene on the fly, it can be easy to forget, so having a mnemonic is useful. The quicker CROW can be established, the quicker the scene can move forward.

Another useful question in improv is, “What comes next?” It’s just getting at cause and effect, but this simple question can really help keep a thread going in a scene. Sometimes improvisers get carried away and make an offer that seems completely random in the context of what has gone before. For example:

A: “Fred! Help me clean up the living room before Mom gets home!”

B: “Okay, but this is your mess, so you’re going to owe me big time.”

A: “Well, considering there are aliens in our back yard, none of this may matter.”

Asking What comes next? internally can help players avoid such leaps. Or, “What comes next?” can help the improviser who is drawing a blank while trying to think of an idea. Chances are, there’s an obvious follow-on action to whatever the situation is. Like:

A: “Fred! Help me clean up the living room before Mom gets home!”

B: “Okay, but this is your mess, so you’re going to owe me big time.”

A: “Anything. Let’s just get this done. We have half an hour.”

It may seem that these result in mundane or boring scene choices. The thing is, keeping a scene grounded helps let the audience into the scene. The other thing is, almost without fail, a player will answer the question, “What comes next?” with a perfectly acceptable, and fascinating offer.

A: “Fred! Help me clean up the living room before Mom gets home!”

B: “Okay, but this is your mess, so you’re going to owe me big time.”

A: “Anything. Let’s just get this done. We have half an hour.”

B: “You know, next time you decide to off a neighbor, make sure there’s less blood.”

(Okay, so “acceptable” might be a stretch, but still.)

Do you ever ask questions to help with your writing? What questions do you ask?

A musical prelude to the A to Z Challenge

Random 6 Responses »

Mar 312012

This post really has very little to do with the A to Z Challenge aside from reminding you that it begins tomorrow. My total preparation at this point is to acknowledge that tomorrow is all about the letter ‘A’. Compare that to some of the people who have already chosen themes for their month of letters.

In other news, I’m now up to 99.98% sure I’ll also try my hand at ScriptFrenzy. I figure that’s certain enough to justify adding the badge onto my sidebar. (Ergo its presence.)

Now, let’s talk about music, shall we? Originally I was going to write about my disappointment with Loreena McKennitt. Actually, I am going to write about that.

Years ago, a friend took me to see Loreena McKennitt perform in Seattle. Though her music was not my cup of tea, I didn’t dislike it, and often the energy of live music transcends the liking or not liking of a musical style.

I quickly realized that McKennitt was performing the music to closely match her CDs. In fact, at one point she described her band as “idling Porsches,” an apt term because the musicians she had with her were excellent and they were just coasting through her music.

What pissed me off was the fact that these great musicians were being hobbled by a need to stay true to the studio recording. What good is an idling Porsche if all that amazing potential is left unrealized? I longed for a jam where those guys were allowed to really play.

But then I remembered seeing Andreas Vollenweider in concert years before. It was awesome. He had a percussionist with him whose playing truly sang. And Vollenweider himself let loose on his harp beyond what I had heard on his recordings. I left the concert buzzing with the wonderful music. But, from that day forward, I found listening to his CDs unsatisfying and I stopped listening to his recorded music.

So, maybe McKennitt was onto something by reining in her band.

Have you ever had the experience of being turned off of a band’s recorded music after seeing them play live?

Though I couldn’t find a satisfying video illustrating my point, here’s a nice example of Andreas Vollenweider.

Postscripts:

Musical taste is obviously subjective, so please don’t take my comments about Loreena McKennitt as a condemnation of her music.
I find myself slightly addicted to viewing performances and long-forgotten videos on YouTube, so I have a feeling you may be seeing an occasional video embedded in my upcoming posts. Consider yourself warned.

The perfect pen: Noble quest or procrastination ploy?

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Aug 262011

For crying out loud, I don’t know why I chose pen as the perfect thing. Now I have to take a picture of my pen. Just a sec. Okay, thanks for waiting.

Years ago, I wrote by hand. I liked the portability and ease of a journal and pen. But I was frustrated by the tools — especially the pen. I finally realized it was a texture thing. After buying many different pens, I found that a fountain pen was the most satisfying.

A fountain pen added a tactile component to writing that I really liked. It even gave me some control over the flow of the ink.After a year or two, I barely used pen and paper at all because I was writing on the computer.

The thing is, this isn’t about the pen. I could have just as easily written The perfect organizer or The perfect journal or The perfect software. You get the picture.I’ve searched for all of these, and in each case, that perfect tool was going to be the key to some kind of success. In the past, I’ve always come close to finding something “perfect” but, in most cases, once I obtained it, I just thought of something else that I needed.

My most recent quest was for a small notebook and pen to carry around with me. The notebook and pen idea comes from advice given to writers: Always be ready to jot down an idea; you never know when a great idea will come to you. This advice seems especially relevant because, with this blog, I’m writing more often and can really use those random ideas that pop into my head when I’m far from home.

So, without further ado, here is the perfect notebook and pen system:

It may not be obvious, but the case is made of metal. Also, this is roughly the size of a deck of playing cards.

The pen acts like a “pin” that holds the notebook’s cover closed. Once removed, the cover flips open as shown in the next picture.

Whether this is the perfect tool or not, I still think it’s cool. (By the way, it’s called Flip Notes. Or would it be Flip Note?)

Whatever. The ~~clever~~ sneaky thing about the quest for the perfect tool is that it kinda sorta resembles actually working on something useful. It’s easy to miss how these quests might just be a creative waste of time.

Except, this time it’s different. Really.

Coming soon: the Hargadine Cemetery

I explored a new cemetery yesterday. It was one of the most interesting cemeteries I’ve even seen. Of course I took a bunch of pictures and will be posting them soon.