The Stories We Tell

 

Just about mid way through the summer we be. I suppose it could be winter on the other side of things. So...midway through the season. That should cover everything. Are you midway through any new projects? At the end? At the beginning? Somewhere all hey diddle diddle that's not the beginning, the end, or the middle?

Did you say hey diddle diddle? Now you are fibbing and telling tale tales. Maybe short tales. Maybe we're back to the all hey diddle diddle beginning, end, or middle. I guess that would be tall, short, or average, but that doesn't have the same flow. Either way, I now know.

You made a story up. You wrote it. You said it. You just let it roll off the tongue without thinking about it. See? You can tell a tale. May not always work or be good, but it can be told. To get it to the place where it needs to be, you may just have to look beyond the fog. Hence the pic above.

Scattered thoughts all around or near the surface, but the true aspect of your tale is beyond in the fog. A little focus while ditching the hey diddle diddle and, like the sun rising on up, the fog can clear and you can stop being hey diddle diddle somewhere not the middle.

The important part though is to tell the tale you want to tell. First time through, it could end up crap. Though the structure is there and now you're more aware. Also...you stopped getting hung up on the hey diddle diddle.

Everyone has their own course to get through the hey diddle diddle. The important part is to get through it. Because...

Things can always be re-written.

Nothing is ever going to be perfect. Especially not from the get go.

No matter what you are doing, everyone gets better the more they do it.

Everyone has thoughts and doubts about every aspect that you have. Don't let such doubts deter you. Being a tad crazy helps...just fyi.

There will always be aspects of the story or the process you aren't fond of.

You can't please everyone. That includes yourself sometimes. Somethings you may not like that others love. Even in your own writing. That is just how it goes. Don't get hung up on your own dislikes.

And most of all....most of all....getting there....almost there...

Don't let the stories you tell stop you from telling the stores that you want to tell.

How's that for some backwards logic? Or would it be straightforward? Are we back to the hey diddle diddle again? 

Did I make any sense? See what crazy can do? Just gets all hey diddle diddle.

Have you ever let your own thoughts stop you from writing what you wanted to write?

Hopefully I didn't hurt your head too much, and the rest of your summer or winter or hey diddle diddle is enjoyable.

Insecure Writers Support Group and Story Inspirations

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

The awesome co-hosts for the June 3 posting of the IWSG are Victoria Marie Lees, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre, and C. Lee McKenzie!

 
And co-host/IWSG Admin C. Lee McKenzie has a new book out - That Moonwater Witch! Find it here.

 
June 3 question - Do most of your story ideas come from one place (the news, dreams, etc.) or do they hit from all over the place?

A Creative Ramble

You are wrapped in the golden silence of a ceiling-to-floor booklined study, hunched over the oak desk on which 50-odd pages of your latest manuscript are spread out...

A cool pine-scented breeze wafts gently through the open window. From the third-floor level, you can soak in the green landscape and distant mountain peaks.

Pen poised in mid-air, you and your muse in perfect harmony, as your mind collects a myriad of images, all restless and impatient, waiting and hoping to be chosen as “the one”, the next popular idea for the epic story unfolding. You examine the next idea...

SCREECH!

Your eyes pop open. The rancid smell from your neighbours overfried lunch assaults your senses, while the brat screaming at the top of his lungs eliminates every trace of the verdant pastures!

POOF! 

                                                              

Creativity gone – in a puff of smoke (and that’s from the jalopy that has backfired in its tenth attempt to get going!)

Goodbye exotic writing location!

Hello blank Wordpress document...

The myriad of images scatter, scared away by the string of vocabulary which has been unleashed by Brat Mama, who appears determined to compete with the toddler, in the Who-Can-Scream-The-Loudest category. New images pop up. They flood the creative well. This includes the mouthful that may be delivered to Brat Mama, censored words that are far removed from the epic world of the booklined study moment. But wait. Some of these thoughts are good. Mmmm, can’t rule them out completely. There could be some gems hidden amongst that batch. Great ideas for that scene on conflict.

Okay, back to the Word document. Type a few sentences. And then... blank. Meanwhile, the screeching contest has subsided. Desperate for a few more writerly ideas, you entertain a fleeting moment of madness... maybe the screeching contest should continue... there’s a need to wrap up the conflict scenes. Ha! The muse refuses to budge!

So what next?

I think that the essence of creativity doesn’t really take place in front of the computer, or hovering over a blank sheet of paper at the oak desk. It’s all around you, every day. It takes place in the totality of your day-to-day life, everything that has happened before you actually sit down and face that blank page.

All life experiences contain numerous creative moments, story possibilities which are waiting to be shaped into workable ideas and then put down onto paper. You have to be aware of your surroundings – all the time! It’s in the snippet of dialogue at the supermarket checkout point, that billboard image you pass everyday, a classified newspaper advert, that obituary that brings your character to life. And you need to explore different ways of doing things - for example, make contact with somebody you’ve never met before, interview a journalist, street artist, video game designer...

There are hundreds of places where characters are lurking, waiting to be found. For example, you need never be stuck with character ideas again. Find inspiration by checking out 365 encounters with strangers HERE. And remember, that’s only one example.

So watch the world go by.

Look around you.

Connect with people.

And listen.

The story ideas are there, all waiting to be snatched up.