WRITING | HUMOUR | LIFE EXPERIENCE
Even My Characters don’t like Me!
I cannot write if I’m not having fun, but learning, wow, this is so hard
Learning new lessons is hard at my age. Just last week I learned that not everybody on Medium loves me. When I told Jenny, she looked at me, and said, that must be bloody difficult with your ego, honey.
I didn’t think much of Jenny’s response but considering it took away the positive message that my, she knows me very well.
It did, however, prompt me to visit a therapist. She seemed kind enough, and I sat on her sofa as required and she asked me to close my eyes and tell my problems. When I opened my eyes, I was alone.
Jenny insists it’s like she’s married to a man with a dual personality, and one doesn’t like me.
Why?
When writing, I care about my characters and like to invent people who come alive on the page. To do this, how much do I need to know about a character?
I am learning that the voice of a character, especially if the narrator is the character, and then writing a distinctive voice is important. That might lead to ask: does voice have anything to do with style?
Mistakes I’ve made are everywhere. One was that of using the voice of a young woman narrating how she became an adult entertainer in the pornographic film industry. Why? I have no experience of that industry except innuendo and cliché to fall back on. Bad idea.
Jenny just came in with a cup of tea, leaving me to think about this: At least you don’t need to worry about winning the lottery, sweetie, no one will come looking for you.
If I’m authoring a lengthy story, seldom posted on Medium, I create a character scrapbook. In this I keep notes of everything I need to know about the life I’ve invented and stick to them.
Another valuable lesson I learned is that character must have “place,” somewhere to ground the story. This place is important, and something I seldom gave much attention. A writer should know a character’s environment and/or architecture. In my scrapbook, I’ll draw a map of every door in a house or office, or igloo!
“Harry…?”
Sorry, it’s Jenny calling.
“Yes, love?”
“Not you, the other one.”
Ha, bloody ha!
I always wonder what it takes from a writer to entice readers to turn the page. Or, on Medium, get past a thousand words. Isn’t this the question to which every writer wants the answer?
What is Tension? How does it relate to plot? How do skilled writers weave it in and make it pay off?
For me, personally, it’s one of the great mysteries. How a book engaging readers for only hours gives them the experience of time spanning days or decades?
Or how long is it before jealousy reveals itself? Keeping track of time and consciousness in a story is essential if we are to carry the reader’s interest.
I love exploring the merits of “show, don’t tell.” This whole thing is fascinating. The boy is ashamed (that’s tell), or the boy bows his head, feeling his knees knocking, and twiddling his fingers behind his back (that’s show).
I’ve read some interesting adult theme writings on Medium.
Belle du Journey is one I like to read, when Jenny’s not looking over my shoulder. I think she is a wonderful writer to explore when wanting to know a secret side of a woman’s thinking and desires. My stories are exceptionally dull when compared to the content and style Belle uses. I don’t know if it’s all true, I don’t care. I learn something from reading her blog. At my age, I just cannot put it into practice! But learning about style, I certainly can.
Belle manages to take images and senses to the page. I love to learn how writers paint vivid impressions with words to enliven narrative and awaken readers’ senses?
“I am writing to you from a pastry shop” — wow, there’s some great aromas in here. True, not exactly Belle’s subject, though I’m sure she loves pastries as well sex.
It’s all about style, I suppose.
Many a long year ago, I had to make a conscious decision to be in touch with the real world. It was a strange feeling. Today I play my life as a sleight-of-hand, to have people taking no more than a casual interest in who I am. Jenny insists this has not been difficult. I have, in the last few years, enjoyed the experience of writing, most of it fun, but hoping, in my way, to one day create something beautiful.
When not concentrating my imagination on fictional stories, I write about my life. Now, writing this sentence, I wonder what I might have done in my lifetime to suggest I’m even capable of such a thing, and more, what the heck would anyone find remotely interesting in reading such an entry?
So, you see, as a husband, father, and grandfather, I am content with my lot. I have raced cars, rode horses, flown in the skies, and sailed on the oceans. I have lived a privileged life and been successful. None of this, however, made me competent to write stories.
Kindness, I feel, has been the only kind of wealth to which I am constantly attracted, because its possession can never be devalued.
“Harry, just letting you know the dogs went walking without you!”
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