Karen Foley
Lynn Raye Harris
Ellen Hartman
Diana Holquist
Samantha Hunter
Shirley Jump
Dee Tenorio
Jeannie Watt
Writer Brain. I haz it.
Last night I watched Dan In Real Life. Now I love Steve Carell. But that's not really the point of this post.
While watching the movie, which made me sigh and cry, I thought: "Why do I bother? I'll never write anything that makes anyone feel this way."
Never mind that writing a novel and writing a movie are vastly different, or that READING a book and watching a movie are different. I was convinced I sucked, and would never ever do anything as good as that movie.
And then a little bit further along, I got an idea for a book about a woman torn between two brothers, and how it would be so hard for her to choose, and what would she do about it...
BAM! SHAZAM!
Writer Brain.
Moments before I'd been thinking I should just give it all up, since I was clearly never going to be any good. A few minutes after that, my mind went awhirl with possibilities and I couldn't wait to get to my desk to scribble them down. I might not ever write that book, but I'm sure gonna write SOME book!
There's not much in life that doesn't lead me to "what if." If it's true that there are no new tales, only new ways to tell them, I live it. Every movie, every book, every conversation, leads me that happy place in my mind where the stories unravel and I get to live a million lifetimes.
Then, of course, comes the hard part, actually writing the book or story or novella, and making it work. Because darnit, some ideas are super swell in the brain but not so much on the page. The fingers type the letters that make the words that create the sentences...but there aren't enough of them to make a story. Or else midway through the book, the idea peters out with a fizzle.
I hate when that happens.
I sometimes wonder what it would be like not to turn everything into a story. And I can't imagine it. I wonder if it's easier, not living so many lifetimes and going through the ups and downs of a dozen relationships. I wonder if it's easier, not thinking so much.
I hope I never have to find out!
How about the rest of you? If you're writers, are you ever able to put it away? Readers, can you live your own lives without comparing them to your favorite books?
M
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Yep
I used to be able to put it away... now, it's harder. Like you, it's rare that something doesn't trigger some idea, some flash, solve a plot problem, give me a new angle, etc... It's really hard when it's a rather, ahem, inappropriate situation (say, a friend of yours discovers a dead body) and your first response, simultaneous to sympathy, is to tell her "write it all down, you could use it in a book!"
Aiy. Or when you are enjoying a nice ride across Lake Ontario in on a ferry from Toronto (the ferry service is now defunct, but was nice when it lasted) but the entire time they are loading, my mind is constructing disaster/crime scenarios again... for a book.
Maybe the only time this hasn't been happening to me lately is when I am tutoring... my mind is so occupied with teeny writing problems students have, grammar, how to fill two pages with comparing and contrasting Macs to PCs (no wonder students hate writing...) that my imagination takes a nap.
I love it though, in travel -- I don't write while I travel, I never even bring the laptop, but I do construct scenarios and plots and ideas which always end up in books at some point.
But yeah, how can we be writers without writer brains? Sometimes it's fun, and other times, it worries me that our writing brains never really shut off. They are always working on some level -- comforting, and disturbing at the same time...
And as for the "not as good" syndrome, yeah... part of the territory, I guess... But you know someone is out there thinking the same thing as they set down one of YOUR books. ;) I know I did after reading Dirty.
Sam
There IS no comparison
There IS no comparison between Macs and PCs...haha, sorry, got side-tracked.
Yeah, there is that matter of never being "offline" with the brain. Everything's being filtered. But since I don't know any other way to live, I guess this is how it will be.
I don't always write, but I am usually always THINKING about the writing.
M
PS- and thank you, I'm glad you liked Dirty. :)
Yes
My brain tends not to work that way, but I'm glad yours does! Every once in a while, I do think, "hmmm..." but it doesn't happen very often ;) Guess I'm not terribly creative that way!
Great post. And it's true, I
Great post. And it's true, I doubt any of us can really "turn it off". I'm always tweaking a story that I read, or a movie I watch, telling myself how I would have done it differently--not necessarily "better" mind you LOL
J.K. Coi
Immortals To Die For
www.jkcoi.com
Up and running
We've been experiencing "technical difficulties" as no doubt everyone has noticed, but let's hope that gets resolved today... be patient, and please keep coming back to check, though I know it's a pain.
JK, yes -- we do that too, always analyzing what made something work, or what didn't and what could have been done differently/better.
Sam
Putting my hand up, too!
The more I write, the more I read, the worse it gets. I'm like that one movie where that woman has the constant movie voice playing in her head. I forget what movie it was, but she's constantly got movie trailers commenting on her every move, everything she sees. It's like that--everything I read, see, do, becomes a little back cover blurb idea. Some my brain just naturally tosses to the side and forgets, because they're just not good enough to be a whole book, and others my brain will chew on for days, formulating into a whole idea.
It's a sickness, LOL.
Shirley
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
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*Please*
tell me that you're going to write that story, Megan, because I have a major weakness for love triangles. I know some people don't like them and blah blah blah, but well written? I love them. May be my favorite plot device. (Apparently I love fictional angst.)
As for writer's brain - I have an... underdeveloped one. I'll see or hear something and lines will pop into my head. Unfortunately, I never get further than a few pages at most, and I'm stuck. Generally it's maybe a few paragraphs. And/or I'll forget what I was thinking by the time I get to write it down. I've had a few interesting internships where the "writer brain" was almost constant.
As for reader brain - I have that too. I'll compare real life to books/scenes... but generally that gets me in trouble :X.