Confession Time: I have the worst time recognizing someone. I’m actually better at remembering names, well, sometimes, and also when it comes to working in the café where I earn my living until I make the NYTBSL (I’ve been working there for a while), remembering what the regular customers eat. I’m not sure whether this failure to see a person and have it click in my brain is a cognitive disorder of some kind or whether I have this deep-seated phobia of making a fool of myself over mixing up people in my mind that it backfires on me. I was chatting with a woman during the coffee hour after church today and mentioned this dilemma and joked that I can’t recognize myself in the mirror at times . . . and began to wonder how this relates to my writing.Maybe this malady is useful for a writer. It can be liberating.
Are you cramming yourself into a writer’s corner, with the consequences of limited or stilted writing, because you’re not seeing the writer in you wanting to explore a new direction?
Or, is your story suffering because you’re writing what everyone else is writing and it’s not full of life because you’re failing to see your true reflection in the mirror of the person who wants to write darker or funnier or hybrid (space aliens on a Christian mission?)?
Are you seeing an exhausted, emotionally strained person in the mirror that keeps getting rejection after rejection . . . but rather will continue to put up with the dark eye circles and pinched neck pain because she keeps nurturing her craft, refusing to give up?
I see all of these reflections staring back at me from the mirror. Do you?
You know what? Good for us!
It’s not over until the fat lady stops hearing those little story-telling voices in her head.
Elaine Stock never expected that a college major in psychology and sociology would walk her through the see-saw industries of food service and the weight-loss business; co-ownership with her husband in piano restoration; and ten years in community leadership. All great fodder for creating fiction.
Elaine’s blog, Everyone’s Story (http://elainestock.blogspot.com), has an awesome international viewership that enjoys weekly author interviews and inspirational stories.
Elaine was a 2011 semi-finalist in the prestigious Genesis Contest in the contemporary fiction division. She is also active on Twitter (Twitter@ElaineStock).
Her first short story was published on Christian Fiction Online Magazine. Click here to read.
17 comments:
And I'm still hearing those story voices.
aka The Fat Lady
I agree. I'm learning when to take a stand and know that I can't change something in a story. It's hard. I know we have to be flexible if an editor wants change but I have to be ready to defend what I feel is right. I couldn't have done this even 2 years ago.
Nice correlation, Elaine
Oh my! You're the opposite of me. I have a hard time pulling up names of my closest friends. I know a woman named Ginger. When I see her I have to run through a list of spices before I remember. One day I might just call her Paprika. God made you just right, Elaine. He will use you just as you are to minister through the written word.
LOL! I'm pretty good with names and people...but all that stuff you said about writing is so true of me!
Like Deb, I'm learning when to stand my ground. Sure, I can be flexible but not if it changes the essence of my story (i.e. adding too much romance, or taking out an element that someone doesn't like yet needs to be there for the suspense).
Here's to never ceasing to hear the voices!
Blessings,
Tammy
I sometimes see someone and know that I know them, but I can't remember their name ir where I know them from. Other times I'll hear a name of someone at church (or scouts, or school, or soccer, etc.), and I know I know the name, but I can't picture the person. Often I can't even remember if I heard the name at church or scouts or school or soccer.
I wonder how that translates to my writing? That's why I try to keep a log of my characters and their descriptions. It really helps.
I usually do okay with this unless that person isn't where I think they should be. A church member at the grocery store? Oh dear do I know them? Maybe I think the bottom half of them looks like the pew?
Diana
www.pencildancer.com
I can remember faces, but I never remember names, lol! In fact, at times, I can't remember the names of people I interact with on a regular basis! (And that's pretty sad...)
Sometimes Elaine, you amaze me with your insight. And you always inspire me.
Jean--may that fat lady blessedly be forever pleasantly plump!
Debra--creativity vs. doing what is necessary to get published can be such a narrow fine line that it's difficult to distinguish. My Rule of Thumb: perfect the craft and the story but stop... until a publisher says they'd only buy it if... LOL.
Wow, Connie. What a concept; God made me just right, huh? Thanks for the spiritual vitamins (L-O-V-E).
Tammy--we writers are in hot water if those voices stop! Thanks for visiting!
Donna, keeping a log is orderly, let alone intelligent. But, I am so SOP it doesn't work for me. Thank God Karen Ball freed us SOP writes at the St. Louis conference
Diana, you made me grin with the visual of folks with pew bottoms. Thanks for the smile.
Gwendolyn--I defer back to Connie's perspective of God making us just right. Isn't that great comfort? Hope you visit my blog, Everyone's Story. I'd love your company.
Christine--as far as insight & inspiration, right back at you :)
Let's hope the voices keep talking to us!
Caroline, only us writers can get away with wanting to hear voices
Thanks for visiting Ritty's blog.
Ritty,I'm not sure how long you will have this feature on your blog, so I want to thank you publicly now for hosting me... thanks for the opportunity to grow my internet presence. You're the best!
I actually have an identical "problem" of looking in the mirror and not knowing who is looking back at me. It gets quite strange when I'm working with male characters, which oddly, many of mine are.
Still, building that empathy for others is good, not just for our writing, but for our dealings with each other. I know that writing has allowed me the chance to learn about people and understand them in ways I never could have without it.
And really it's rather funny that some call those of us who hear voices in our heads as crazy (and well they should since being a writer is such a sweet madness)... perhaps they are just jealous because their imaginary friends don't play with them anymore.
Eden, thanks tons for making me LOL with that comment about non-writers' jealousy over our imaginary friends still playing with us unlike their silent friends.
Thanks for visiting Ritty's blog. Hope you will again.
Wow!! I just love seeing so many new people commenting. Thank you all for stopping by. Make sure to stop by often AND if any of you would like to be a guest writer and have the opportunity to inspire other writers with your words, just let me know!
Elaine, I feel so blessed to know you and that you were willing to be a guest on the blog. I am not looking to put my next post up until Friday or Saturday. :-)
Sweet words, Rhonda. Heartfelt thanks. So glad we connected... and let's stay that way :)
Faces I remember. Names, never. It gets embarassing. I'm in the grocery store and hear someone say, "Hi, Sandy" and I turn around and know that I know the person but I have no name to put with her. Will I ask her name and feel like an idiot? Guess again. I keep talking, hoping something will trigger a remembrance. Usually doesn't happen. I have more chats with strangers than the usual old gal.
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