Daily Stats:
Words: yes
Caffeine: morning cup
Evil Calories: Taco salad last night for dinner (not good for my muffin top)
Reality TV: ANTM reruns
For my WIP, I have a full, long-winded layout, character outlines and even visual references for specific places/objects in the story taped all over my desk. (I also have a picture of The Brain from Pinky and Brain. He represents my evil, smelly, hairy knuckled inner critic. I've taped a Barbie dress to him and stuck tacks through his eyes. That way when he says things like, "that sounds like a bucket of smashed a-holes", I can't take him seriously.) However, even with all these elements to guide me through my writing, there is a huge difference between knowing the path, and walking the path. (I also have a picture of Morpheus. He's my inner Buddha, because I think everyone should have an inner Buddha who wears bad ass clothes and knows kung-fu.)
Now, I'm not saying this is a bad thing. Just because it comes out different, doesn't mean it comes out wrong (although The Brain thinks so, but he does the cha-cha like a sissy girl, so he can go suck it). But it got me thinking about how I write, and then curious how other people write. I always see the story first, so it's almost like watching a movie and then translating the moving images into prose. My writing becomes the distinctive voice narrating the images.
But what about you?
Does your voice stream directly from the images of your story, or do the words come first and the images follow?
9 comments:
Vivi, For me, writing a novel is like going to a movie before I've read the book - I have no idea what's coming. Therefore, I'd have to say the words come first and the images follow. (BTW: I'm following your blog, but I'm not showing up your blog as a follower??)
Debra - I know, I think blogger is having a brain fart! I'm supposed to be following you too but it's not showing up.
Images first. Emotion first. Words, those dismal second hand things. It's a challenge to move the visual and emotional to prose and do it justice.
What's this novel on the right of your blog? Going to read it now, it looks snarky.
I don't know. I just kinda go
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........
And when I wake up, there's thousands of little words on my laptop.
Weird.
E - Thank you for saying that! I was afraid I was the only one who often found the words clumsy in comparison to the images and emotion.
Bryan - Wow, that is weird. Do all the words say "all work and no play makes Bryan a dull boy"?
I totally do the same thing - I see like a whole scene in my head like I'm watching a movie (sometimes when I'm in the bath I even find myself talking a conversation out loud! Sounds a little crazy to people who can hear me narrating in different voices!)
And then the words just kinda come out in a desperate attempt to capture the movie in my head...never quite looks the same, but its close enough!
Currently, my writing is coming from nowhere, which means I'm not writing.
Don't tell my agent.
Prayers and a good kick in the arse would be warmly welcomed.
I usually have the "movie" version come to me first. And every so often the words get in synch with the movie and I feel like I just hit the jackpot.
"Bucket of smashed a-holes."
Words cannot express how much I love this phrase.
(images)
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