Like sands through the hourglass
I watch a lot of television. Just like some people don’t believe in having a TV, I don’t believe in not having one — as a matter of fact, we have five and there are only three of us.
And while you might think TV is a waste of time, just because I’ve watched a lot of TV in the past few days and haven’t written anything besides my name on the bottom of a grocery receipt doesn’t mean I haven’t been all over my WIP.
I saw a commercial for some kind of bag that supposed to keep your vegetables fresh. I wasn’t buying it – literally or figuratively – but she caught my attention. She looks just like a character I’m writing. Or the way I have always wanted her to look. I stared at the TV and I found her online and I study her haircut, her make-up, her earrings. My character doesn’t wear an apron, but the look is just what I’m going for. Even if every physical bit of this character isn’t revealed to the reader, having this real picture in my head will help me as I write her.
Then take soap operas, for example. If I watched them (she says, whistling and glancing away) I would tell you how the intricacies of the plots and subplots gives me a huge clue on how to intertwine the two and drop none. And those folks don’t go to the bathroom either, so don’t think there is no similarity between popular fiction and daytime drama. They are also a great example of editing. Cut to a new scene, lose nothing. Everything you need to know is right there for the taking, everything moves the story along.
It’s easy to always think about a WIP, when I’m watching TV, whether I’m in the throes of writing it or not. Would your character watch the TV show you are watching?
It’s easy to think about it when I’m grocery shopping. Would they buy the food you buy? Which cookies would they throw into their cart?
It’s easy to think about it when I’m getting dressed. Would they wear what you wear — would you never be seen in what they would consider high fashion. Could you afford it?
Just when I feel bad that my word count hovers where it hovered a week ago, I realize that I’ve been working when I thought I was wasting time. I mean, technically, making dinner is not wasting time, but it’s really productive if the WIP is rolling around in your head while you’re rolling your chicken in breadcrumbs.
What activities that might look like they’re unrelated to your work, make it better or even make it possible? Have you ever thought about that before — or do I don the crown as queen of rationalization?
For me it’s the indulgence of soap operas — no place are there better examples of internal and external conflict, plot twists and turns — not to mention twisters, split personalities and organized crime — than Pine Valley, Llanview and Port Charles. Simply said, I tune in because it helps my writing.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Okay, so are ya slackin’? I have to say something about television and it’s ability to suck the creative enthusiasm right out of you. We no longer have cable. Gone. We get exactly two channels and you know what? It doesn’t matter, because there’s a bigger and better attention sucking monster on the block: Perez Hilton. Amy, I’m coming clean on your blog, I am hooked on that crap. After I read it I feel like I do when I go that extra sickening mile and eat one too many jelly beans. I’m going cold turkey though, no more Perez! Not today though, I’ll start tomorrow, yeah, today is too soon. Of course, I can wait until the weekend when I’m not working and I can get some actual writing done instead of all this procrastination…haha
I’m “working” when I do all kinds of stuff at home, cooking especially. I find cooking so mundane, that thinking about WIPs actually brings some satisfaction to the kitchen stuff. But the place I get the most work done, away from work, is on long walks. Walking and talking with a friend or daughter, sticking points with plot and characterization and conflict all come together.
I don’t write stories, with characters, but I find that my ideas for my blog come from not trying to write. Reading a book, watching TV, walking the dog, cooking dinner…all are good for letting my mind wander in the way it should for my blog. I suspect it’s a very different kind of writing than novel writing, so I’m not sure how that compares.
I learned some of my writing technique for pacing from soap operas back when I watched them.
I’m obsessed with watching shows online. Well, not obsessed, but I enjoy it. I do hate the television, only because the people who use it around me have it on ALL the time, and they use it as background noise which drives me crazy. I can only watch TV/internet shows for about seven hours or so a week. Maybe a little more.
DH will have all three TVs going. Drives me batty!
But yeah, I learn a lot!
Listening to music. It somehow unleashes some other side of my brain and I invent a soundtrack for the movie of my book. It’s work. It really is. I swear.
E
Seems we all have our own escapes that lead to our creativity. And J, I think it’s very much the same as writing fiction. My blog ideas also come at the strangest times, usually when I have no way to write anything down. Figures right?
I’m with you. I have teenage boys and sometimes the best way to “bond” with them is over television. Granted I don’t always love “Dirtiest Jobs” or Fuel TV buy hey if it gets them talking then who am I to complain.