According to WordPress, today is the official second anniversary of my blog. It’s the day, two years ago, when I decided to see what WordPress is all about. I wrote one post and promptly forgot about it for the next six months.
So this morning I decided to go back and take a look at it. At this moment it has three “likes” and no comments. But I’m okay with that – it’s nothing to write home about. Hell, it’s nothing to write WordPress about. It’s four sentences of basically question marks. It’s the same first post I see on many blogs, to varying degrees.
But let’s face it – this WordPress thing is a tough thing to get into at the start. None of us really knows what we’re doing, and most of us don’t understand what the follow/like/comment thing is all about. How many people here had no idea that there was such a wonderful community here? Come on, put up your hand if you’re one of us.
Once we’re in, and I mean REALLY in to this mode of communication, it’s astounding what it can do. We meet people with similar tastes, we share invaluable information with one another, and we find a place to sound off, to practice our craft, and to feel a part of something so large!
And it all started somewhere for each of us. When was the last time you read your very first post?
It seems every week WordPress is changing something else. I’m still flabbergasted over clicking on my “posts” button and seeing them all in a reader-type list instead of a list where I can easily find twenty of them and edit them quickly in one click.
Then, was it last week? we had to start going into our dashboard to open a full screen with all the options (including being able to preview our post) in order to write something – instead of this “beep beep boop” crap I keep seeing.
Today, it seems, they’ve changed something else. The “Freshly Pressed” button is gone. Not that I often check the page, but where do I find it now?
Is there anyone out there who has found these changes an improvement? Or am I the only one who thinks they’re more of a pain in the ass?
Edit: My notifications box isn’t lighting up today either. Is anyone else having this problem? Check your notifications just in case!
Writing characters who are vastly different to ourselves is something many of us do, or at least strive to do. It’s not easy to extract one’s personality completely from the page – we can only write what we know, after all. Yes, imagination is a far-reaching avenue, but how do we make it stretch as far as it can possibly go?
I have a theory that is probably not all that unique, but I’d like to share it anyway.
When I was in high school drama class, I learned about something called the Stanislavski Method, or, Method Acting. For a full description of what it is and how it came about click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislavski%27s_system In my own words I can tell you it’s a method of acting where the actor studies the motivations of the character and makes use of empathetic observations in order to “become” the character. Its a way of bringing about realism and believability.
This is the method I have striven to bring to my writing. To “become” the character I’m writing makes my dialogue and my character’s actions come to life. To do so I need to be able to concentrate and to empathize with what they are experiencing. I often try on their expressions and imagine, as though I’m watching them on a screen, moving in the ways that their emotions dictate. There are times, therefore, when I must go through a scene twice or more times in order to get the nuances just right from each perspective, but by doing so my scenes are much more lifelike and full of what makes my readers able to envision them.
I believe empathy is something that is essential to a writer. It’s why we people-watch; to gain insight on how people emote, their body language and what causes it. Without empathy, we can only write characters who are cardboard cut-outs of stereotypes.
I realise this is hardly a groundbreaking idea, but the Stanislavski Method of Acting is certainly one to pay attention to for a writer. The more we know our characters and what makes them tick, the more our readers are able to sympathize with their plights. We want our readers to love them or hate them. For this to happen our characters must display passion, and for them to display passion we as the writers must feel it first.
Do you ever imagine yourself watching your scene play out before you? Are you able to put yourself in your character’s shoes? I’m very interested to hear what other writer’s methods are.
When I write short fiction, I like people to have to think about what they’ve read. I tend not to over-explain things – I think of short fiction the way I think of a joke. If you have to explain it, it loses something.
My father had a very dry sense of humour. Think John Cleese, and you’ll have an idea of what my dad was like. For years I didn’t “get” his jokes – say from the ages of 0 to 4. After that I learned to think about what I was being told, and to this day I prefer dry humour over any other kind. So my fiction – at least anything shorter than a novel – leans that way, especially the funny fiction. It’s different with longer works. I know when I don’t understand a novel I usually end up putting it down because it only gets worse.
But I often wonder if I’m being too obscure. Take the little story I wrote yesterday. It makes sense if you can figure out what I’ve done with it… but I have no idea if anyone who read it, did. If you’d like to humour me and give it a read, it’s only about 100 words long. Here it is: http://lindaghillfiction.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/fishin-pole-blues/
Otherwise, I’d like to hear from you. What do you prefer? Do you like to think about what you read in fiction? Or do you prefer to have it all laid out?
As I waited in the Emergency Room with my elderly mother today, I listened to two strangers discussing the horrors of what they had heard routinely goes on in ERs across the country. And horrors they were.
One spoke of elderly patients dying in chairs and on gurneys whilst being ignored by overworked staff members; the other gave an account of a friend of a friend whose nine year old daughter died after not being properly treated. As the story went, two doctors of opposing opinions argued over the proper care of the child. One believed the girl had pneumonia and wanted her on antibiotics but the other decided it was a mere cold. The latter of the two was also on the latter of two shifts and won out. The nine year old lasted two days before flesh-eating disease got her. The parents are still waiting for the lawsuit to be tied up a year later.
In all of these cases, the tragedy which resulted might have been avoided with the presence of a competent patient advocate. After a cursory search in my own area of the world, which is Ontario, Canada, I discovered that finding an outside advocate isn’t easy. (I did only a quick search because had I been looking for an advocate in the case of an emergency, it’s logical that that’s all I’d have time for.) I found that it’s possible to get one to accompany a patient to appointments, etc., but the advocate must be interviewed in advance and paid for – highly inadequate in the case of having to go to the hospital in an emergency, and inaccessible for someone with no money. In any case, most of us rely on family and friends to advocate for us, as was the case with the little girl.
I have no way of knowing what the parents’ knowledge of medicine was, nor what their levels of intelligence are, but I do know, as a parent, that most mothers know what their children are like when they’re healthy and how they act when they’re sick. Was the mother in tune with her daughter but unable to express her concerns to the doctor? Did the doctor simply choose not to listen? Again, I don’t know. What I do know is that it’s important for us to have at least a little understanding of what our loved ones are facing before we take the trip to the hospital in the first place. If that means going on the internet to search for the symptoms, so be it. At least we’ll know what questions to ask when faced with a busy doctor, and what to insist on as far as tests go.
I can’t help but think that these horrific events could have been prevented with the right amount of basic knowledge, advocacy, and attention to detail.
It’s scary to think that doctors don’t know what they’re doing. It’s frightening to know that our hospitals lack the funds to provide quality of care. But what is just as alarming is the fact that there’s no one to stick up for us, the patients, when we can’t or won’t stick up for ourselves.
I want people who read my fiction to fall in love with my characters. Not the bad guys necessarily, but at least the good guys. It took me a while to figure out how to do this, but in the end it always comes down to emotions. When my characters emote in a way that people can relate to, they feel a connection.
When I write, “Hank felt sad,” I know that my readers will look at the words on the page and think Hank is sad. Too bad for Hank. But if I write, “Hank cried,” people will read this and feel it, because it’s something that they do, or try not to do, when they are sad.
Emotions have a way of getting the best of us. They’re something we share, no matter our race, language, or beliefs. They are universal. And so when we see someone whose beliefs we don’t understand on the news, for instance, and they are crying, we feel their pain. At least those of us with compassion.
My best friend John told me a while ago that when we yawn when we see someone else yawn, it’s a sign that we’re not a psychopath. I know this has nothing to do with emotions, as such, but it does show our capacity for understanding what someone else is feeling. Empathy, compassion, sympathy… they’re all necessary for us to understand. And what makes good fiction worth reading as well.
If I take all the things I like, and all the things I dislike and put them all, say, into a box, my box will be filled and devoid of a unique number of things. Some people in the world would need really big boxes, and others would fit all the things they like into a shoebox. I tend to try to avoid both types.
The types of people who make me suspicious, however, are the ones who tell me they like everything I like and dislike everything I dislike. How can they? Our boxes, after all, are as unique as our fingerprints. And so when I come across someone I seem to have a lot in common with, I try not to tell them I like the same things they like – at least not too many – because it kind of freaks me out. I don’t want them to get suspicious of ME.
Sometimes I think we should have a sheet that we can check off things we like and don’t like and hang them around our necks for other people to see. No wait, that’s just stupid. Can you imagine how many people would look at your sheet and not want to associate with you because you, for instance, enjoy eating peanut butter with cheese? I’d never have spoken to my best friend if I’d known that up front.
The point is, I like what I like and you like what you like. If we all liked the same things, how boring would the world be? What would we have to argue about? We’d all be one big happy world without conflict and we’d all sit around smiling all day because the things we don’t like wouldn’t even exist. I don’t think I’d like that. Would you?
My dear friend Joey, at joeyfullystated commented on my Saturday post that if I go blind, there are always audio books available so I don’t have to read. That got me thinking about audio books again, as I have contemplated trying one in the past. I passed the opportunity up however, because I can’t see myself sitting still long enough to listen to a story. Add to that that I’m easily distracted by things which catch my eye, and I think it might be a waste of money. I need something to look at. All the time. Even if I’m listening to music, I’ll read the lyrics or look at the album cover.
What’s really weird is, I tend to remember things that I hear more than things that I see. If you tell me your phone number once, I’ll remember it in five years. If you show me your phone number it’ll be gone in five seconds. But I digress.
Have you ever listened to an audio book? Did you enjoy it? Were you distracted? Were you or are you hesitant to buy one? If so, why? If it’s for the same reason I’m afraid to go for it, I especially want to know – or am I the only nut in the jar?
Don’t waste time. There is money to be made and advancement is within reach. A space at home to develop your ideas will help you increase your income and stabilize your financial situation. Invest in yourself and your talent.
As tired as I am, I can’t help but feel the motivation from my horoscope today, especially considering the thought I had last week about taking some university courses. And heck, what writer doesn’t need a space in his or her home to work? It’s like this was written for me.
I don’t usually put too much stock in horoscopes, but there are times like these when they really hit the target. My biggest problem now is choosing where to really focus my efforts. If I’m to take the courses, I still have all summer to myself to work on my novel. I’m still trying to decide if I should just self-publish without trying to find an agent/publisher or if I should brush up another project and give the whole self-publishing thing a go to see what is involved. Maybe some good, honest critique of my novel is what I really need before I make my final decision.
In the meantime, I’m psyched. I have a dream. I have a work-in-progress that I truly believe in. And now I have a cheap newspaper horoscope telling me I’m on the right track.
lindaghill.com 