Thursday, June 10, 2010

The way writing works

I've always known my mind works differently when I'm writing but I had a graphic reminder of that today.

Last night I was working on my story - the one I've been trying to finish since Christmas. I'm so close I don't know why I don't just write it and be done with it - until the editing starts, of course. Anyway I had all my characters in a huge cavern, just finished a battle and killed lots of people. Then in an off-hand way, one of the characters says something to the others. Another character spins around and says, "You know the second verse of the Pledge!"

Nothing unusual in that. My response though was to throw my hands in the air and exclaim, "Oh no, there's another verse to the Pledge? I didn't know that. Now I have to write it and find out what it says."

That didn't surprise me - I often have similar sorts of things happen when I'm writing. I don't plan ahead very well; I'm more of a reactor than a proactor, if that makes sense.

The graphic reminder I mentioned before came when I was relating this to a couple of people at work. If the looks on their faces could be translated into actions I would be languishing in a 19th Century mental asylum by now. :)

I've written the second verse of the poem. It's second draft at the moment. I need to do some more work on it but it's good enough for me to continue with the story the way it is. I won't post it here - I have no illusions as to my talent as a poet no matter how much I enjoy playing with rhyming patterns and syllabic rhythms. I write really BAD poetry.

8 comments:

Jim Harris said...

I always love when a character takes control and demands his/her own agenda.

glediar said...

So do I Jim - that's when I get really excited about writing. It doesn't feel like work then, to create the story, it just happens and I'm the conduit that allows the story to unfold.

Danielle Birch said...

Of course there's another verse. Don't be too surprised if there isn't a third :)

glediar said...

A third! You do realise how truly awful my poetry is, don't you?

Danielle Birch said...

However awful it is, it's way better than mine. I seem to rhyme differently to most people.

glediar said...

I have a rhyming dictionary - and there are lots on line too. But poetry isn't always about rhyme; it's more about imagery, emotions and rhythms.

Danielle Birch said...

I may need help again with the poem for Corpse because I changed the mood of it.

glediar said...

Mood is good. I sometimes start with a list of words that convey the emotions I want and then work out what order to put them in to tell the story. Sometimes the resulting poems actually make sense and do what I intended - of course they're still bad poetry.