I recently did a guest blog for author Dixon Rice. It's about ways to access our right brain creativity. Check it out. Wredheaded Writer
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Mood writing
I've been on a writing binge lately. I'm currently working on three short stories, two novels and a novella. I'm loving the process and the outcome. Amidst all this writing, I've noticed something that hadn't really struck me before. It's how my moods affect my writing.
This seems like an obvious concept, but I've never noticed it until now, not on this level. It goes something like this: I'll be in the groove of a story, it's coming into me like running water and I'm drinking it in and writing it out and wham! A distraction. I have a four-year-old, therefore, I have a lot of distractions.
So I have to set my story aside and go about my other life, the part that doesn't involve writing. Then when I get back to my story, it's not exactly hard to get back into, but it feels different somehow, like I'm working on a similar yet different story. I'm just having different feelings about it. I'm still enjoying the characters, the plot, the everything, but I'm pretty sure if I'd let the entire thing flow out at once, I would've described things differently, or even taken the story in a completely different direction.
It's fascinating to me that my stories are made up of my moods. They're totally dependent on when I write them, if I can get them down in one go or have to set them aside.
I'm not talking about good or bad moods here, just general head space. I'm realizing, through my writing, that it I'm changing slightly and constantly throughout the day and my writing is affected by it.
This realization isn't good or bad. Sometimes a story can benefit from a new angle, and sometimes the original feeling of it can be lost completely and it can suffer. I've come up for a solution for the latter. Music.
You know how when you listen to a song you haven't heard for a long time, it takes you right back to who you were when you listened to it all the time. You re-experience the same feelings and remember how you felt about life during that time. By choosing certain music to listen to while writing, a specific song for a specific story, one that I haven't listened to much in any other context, I can use it to take me right back to the same head space every time I work on that story.
I've always preferred quietude while I write, until I figured out this mood writing theory. I've heard other writers talk about listening to music while they write and assumed it was for setting the mood of the story itself, but maybe they're setting the mood of their minds.
This seems like an obvious concept, but I've never noticed it until now, not on this level. It goes something like this: I'll be in the groove of a story, it's coming into me like running water and I'm drinking it in and writing it out and wham! A distraction. I have a four-year-old, therefore, I have a lot of distractions.
So I have to set my story aside and go about my other life, the part that doesn't involve writing. Then when I get back to my story, it's not exactly hard to get back into, but it feels different somehow, like I'm working on a similar yet different story. I'm just having different feelings about it. I'm still enjoying the characters, the plot, the everything, but I'm pretty sure if I'd let the entire thing flow out at once, I would've described things differently, or even taken the story in a completely different direction.
It's fascinating to me that my stories are made up of my moods. They're totally dependent on when I write them, if I can get them down in one go or have to set them aside.
I'm not talking about good or bad moods here, just general head space. I'm realizing, through my writing, that it I'm changing slightly and constantly throughout the day and my writing is affected by it.
This realization isn't good or bad. Sometimes a story can benefit from a new angle, and sometimes the original feeling of it can be lost completely and it can suffer. I've come up for a solution for the latter. Music.
You know how when you listen to a song you haven't heard for a long time, it takes you right back to who you were when you listened to it all the time. You re-experience the same feelings and remember how you felt about life during that time. By choosing certain music to listen to while writing, a specific song for a specific story, one that I haven't listened to much in any other context, I can use it to take me right back to the same head space every time I work on that story.
I've always preferred quietude while I write, until I figured out this mood writing theory. I've heard other writers talk about listening to music while they write and assumed it was for setting the mood of the story itself, but maybe they're setting the mood of their minds.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Back on the blogline
Blog? Oh, that's right. I do have a blog. Despite my lack of attention to it, I haven't forgotten about it. I've just been busy with other things, like family, writing short stories and plotting novels.
I don't make a habit of celebrating the *new year. I mean, after all, it's just a continuation of the last year, more days strung onto the eternal necklace of time. But it does seem like a good place to, say, bring my blog back to life.
I'll begin resuscitation by posting my latest story acceptance. It came on New Years day, so I'm counting it as lucky. My story "Eyes Like Mine" will appear in Witches Brew, an anthology published by Wicked East Press.
Stories include:
The Dolls Of Malika Hall.....Aubrie Dionne
Ashes To Ashes.....Ryan Spier
Take Two Sips Of Witch's Brew.....John H. Dromey
Dining With The Dead.....Pat Lewis Bussard
Scalp Lock Of Hair.....Stephanie L. Morrell
The Legend Of Nodding Hill.....Jeffrey Hale
The Witches Of Thorcrust Wood.....Julie Reece
The Old Name Of The Stars And The Seventeen Words For Wind.....Clinton A. Harris
The Best Of Taste.....Edward Ahern
The Wichita Tea Party.....Mark Taylor (Novella)
By Royal Command.....Jay Raven
Eyes Like Mine.....Heidi Mannan
The Gingerbread House.....Karen Over
Sarah Clark.....Betsy Phillips
The Bane's Punishment.....S.L. Dilsuk
Destroyer Of Men.....Lisa Farrell
*A bit of New Years trivia: The World Book Encyclopedia states that "The Roman ruler Julius Caesar established January 1 as New Year's Day in 46 B.C. The Romans dedicated this day to Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings. The month of January was named after Janus, who had two faces-one looking forward and the other looking backward."
I don't make a habit of celebrating the *new year. I mean, after all, it's just a continuation of the last year, more days strung onto the eternal necklace of time. But it does seem like a good place to, say, bring my blog back to life.
I'll begin resuscitation by posting my latest story acceptance. It came on New Years day, so I'm counting it as lucky. My story "Eyes Like Mine" will appear in Witches Brew, an anthology published by Wicked East Press.
The Dolls Of Malika Hall.....Aubrie Dionne
Ashes To Ashes.....Ryan Spier
Take Two Sips Of Witch's Brew.....John H. Dromey
Dining With The Dead.....Pat Lewis Bussard
Scalp Lock Of Hair.....Stephanie L. Morrell
The Legend Of Nodding Hill.....Jeffrey Hale
The Witches Of Thorcrust Wood.....Julie Reece
The Old Name Of The Stars And The Seventeen Words For Wind.....Clinton A. Harris
The Best Of Taste.....Edward Ahern
The Wichita Tea Party.....Mark Taylor (Novella)
By Royal Command.....Jay Raven
Eyes Like Mine.....Heidi Mannan
The Gingerbread House.....Karen Over
Sarah Clark.....Betsy Phillips
The Bane's Punishment.....S.L. Dilsuk
Destroyer Of Men.....Lisa Farrell
*A bit of New Years trivia: The World Book Encyclopedia states that "The Roman ruler Julius Caesar established January 1 as New Year's Day in 46 B.C. The Romans dedicated this day to Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings. The month of January was named after Janus, who had two faces-one looking forward and the other looking backward."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)