skrapnel

Today was the first day working on the next series of fiction writings. It basically involved immersing myself in the subject during what I call the “sponge phase” of the idea generation cycle.

The sponge phase involves filling your head with as much information as possible until you reach the point of sensory overload.  For all of you athletes, it’s kind of like when you are loading up on carbs before a marathon. In the case of idea generation, you are loading up on information, images, writing styles and experiences that will help push you through the story writing process.

When you’re training for sports, you don’t want to fill you body with junk. Same goes for the creative process. Here are some of the things I do during my media diet:

• Limit Facebook and other social media use.
  • I’m already filling my head with tons of things–and I dont really need to be exposed to all the extra stuff facebook pushes out. Plus, it’s a huge time suck.
• Limit my personal interaction to people that are positive influences.
  • The creative process is like giving birth, and you don’t want your baby to be exposed to negative things. Some people also can be a drain, stressing me out or weighing me down.
• Limit movies, novels or short stories to things that I’ve already read, focusing on those works that resonate with the story I want to tell.
  • It comes down to too much stimulation. It also helps put you in the right state of mind or mood to match your story.
  • If you’ve already read/seen the work, you know what to expect. I don’t like outside influences affecting my writing in unexpected ways <—This goes for all of the above.

The last novel was very dark and semi-autobiographical. It was also kind of avante garde. This new series of short stories (or maybe a novel) goes back to being true fiction based on several ideas I’ve had over the last few years during my travels.

As most of my faithful readers know, I had 4 years of journals and photos stolen while I was living in Berlin. I can’t look at pictures, drawings or writings from those times. All I have are memories:

• Iceland: wall of snow advancing across a sunny field from purple mountains; fairy villages in a tree stump and stones; glaciers
• Camping in a cabin in a valley outside of Heidelberg with Jasmine. Hiking to the city through the forest in the morning and then back to the cabin at night. Trees had eyes. Spawning white bugs swarming us. Castles, fountains, fairies, flowers.
• Watching shooting stars from high atop a mountain in North Carolina
• Dancing naked in a summer storm

As much as I’d like to go back to those places and immerse myself, I can’t right now. Thankfully, the memories help recall parts of stories that I wrote at the time.

Here are some snapshots of what I’m filling my head with I’ve also been watching different movie versions of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Alice in Wonderland (not the new one). Can you guess what I’m writing about?

Saw this interview with Moby on CurrentTV. It really struck me as true for all media, not just musicians. It’s something I need to keep in mind as I  move forward creating content for people to enjoy. The quote is at about 21 minutes in, or you can just read my transcript of it

“For someone to give up an hour or two of their life to listen to the record I’ve made, they’re doing me a service. I think that the relationship between musician and audience at some point got turned on its head. Musicians started to feel as if the audience needed them. And the truth is I need an audience way more than the audience needs me.  It’s my job to keep the audience interested. Not my job to keep radio interested. Not my job to keep the media interested. But those individuals who are willing to listen to my music interested.” –Moby

So two days ago I finished my first novel.  This morning, it just started sinking in. Without being too navel-gazey, just want to reflect.

The idea for the project was spawned by a nightmare I had in Berlin 4 years ago, so it’s taken awhile to manifest into a novel.

The whole experience was a learning process.  With each chapter, I watched my voice mature.  I learned how to notice my signs of procrastination and how to resist them.  During editing, I learned how to remove myself and slice, dice and polish without taking it personal.

Anyway, today it feels like there’s a weight lifted off my shoulders. I’m ready to start the next venture!

Thanks to my friends and family for the support!

Sometimes when I sit down to write, I have a hard time concentrating.   I may check Facebook and Google News.  My mind may start wandering to the economy, new business, the dishes–anything to keep me from writing.  If I’m not writing, then I get depressed and, well, I can’t write anymore.

Over the last few years, I’ve started to realize that all these habits are actually effects of fear.  It’s kind of like a fight or flight mechanism.  My mind is so scared of what MIGHT happen–what if people don’t like what I write, what if I fail, etc–that it makes up these distractions to sort of ease the suffering that it thinks might happen.  In effect, what ends up happening is that I defeat myself.

I’ve also noticed that I feel like I’m missing out on something or giving up “Chris time” by FORCING myself to do some arduous task.  Whether it’s hanging out with my friends, going to the park, or just chilling, I feel like I’m rebelling against my own authority.

In both cases, what I have to remind myself is that writing and art make me happy.  I’ve purposefully changed my life so that I can spend more time working on these things in hopes that ultimately I’ll be able to support myself completely off my art.  With that in mind, I have the following three questions posted above my writing desk:

• What can I do right now to get closer to reaching my goals?
• What can I do right now to improve my state of mind?
• What can I do right now to improve my quality of life?

Not all of these have to do with writing.  Sometimes I’m legitimately distracted by things like paying bills, doing laundry or eating.  These questions force me into thinking about what’s bothering me by asking if I can do something in that moment to help me focus so that I can get back to work. It helps.

What do you do to fight procrastination?

Was looking up pictures of Jasmine flowers on Google and found this poem.

Do Not Give Up!

Do not give up!

He who gives up

Never reaches the Satisfaction-Shore.

Who knows?

Each attempt of yours may bring you

Many exceptionally heart-enlightening

Heaven-prosperities.

– Sri Chinmoy.

via Helpful Meditation Links — Sri Chinmoy Centre.

The current novel is really dark.  At first I was intimidated by what people would think about me.  I didn’t want to be judged, but at the same time, I needed to explore that side of myself.  As with all of my art, I felt like I had to get it out.

Dreamers, artists, innovators often need to be reminded that we should never give up on our dreams.  We should never be intimidated by our struggles or what others might say or think.  By being true to our vision, we are finding ourselves and our souls.

Every story and experience adds another dab of paint to the human picture.

Sometimes I feel like I’m learning a new language, and it’s important for me to go over all my word lists before I start editing or writing.  It’s like a cue that tells my  mind to move out of conversational mode and into language that is more descriptive.  I can definitely see a change in my storytelling!

During the editing process, I’ve really come to understand the importance of a strong vocabulary.  Since the current book is about a killer, there’s a lot of shaking and grabbing.  Unfortunately, those words are popping up WAY too much.  Today, I’m sharing my list of synonyms for these words.  Hopefully they help grab your brain and shake a few words into it

Syn. “to shake”

• tremble
• quiver
• shudder
• shiver
• convulse
• jerk
• totter
• wobble
• quaver
• twitch
• flutter
• jolt
• rock

Syn. “to grab”

• clutch
• catch
• grapple
• grasp
• grip
• hook
• latch (onto)
• pluck
• seize
• snag
• snatch
• take
• nab

After living abroad for years and speaking mostly foreign languages, I’ve forgotten a lot of day-to-day phrases.  Plus because of PR and blogging, my vocabulary has slowly evolved to mostly quick, to-the-point words.  It’s also very tech heavy.  Since I’m trying to get back to more creative writing, I’m working on increasing my vocab by pulling words and phrases from books I’m reading.   None of them are complicated or intellectual, but I seem to take them for granted.

I’m currently rereading one of my favorite books, “The Wanting Seed” by Anthony Burgess.  Here are a few words I’ve encountered that I want to remember to use more:

• to pat s.o. on the back
• to blink
• to grow bored
• to decide
• to blush
• to face s.o. or s.t.
• hammering (pain)
• to push against a crowd
• guilt
• to observe
• to be struck by an idea
• to wash s.t. down