- This topic has 8 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated September 6, 2013 at 5:05 am by
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There is a – writing related – point to all this. You just have to read down to understand my state of mind.
I was just typing a reply on another thread, one that anticipates even worse news to come. And I’ve really had enough of all the bad news I’ve read recently. Another comment really set me off (not at the commenter, by the way – I agree with her that cancer should hurry up and die) thinking about my own loathing of death.
I learned Death was a villain when I was six, when Death (and a monster of a vet) took away my kitten. She was only nine months old, and there wasn’t even anything “wrong” with her. I’ve run into a lot more reasons to dislike Death since then, of course. So all these emotions went coursing through me.
Then, all of a sudden, a big, fat plot bunny poked his head out and stared at me. What if, when I was six, I (or some kid a lot like me) had made a vow to find and kill Death when I got older? What if I took that vow seriously enough to try to fulfill it? What would happen? (You get the idea; I’m sure you all know the way that plot bunnies hop around.)
So I’m sitting there, honestly upset after reading about someone else’s misfortune – and all of a sudden this big plot bunny is staring me in the face. I don’t even want to get an idea for a story out of a situation like that. Am I sick for thinking of something like that? Or is that just the way the writer’s mind copes with emotion? Even if it is, am I a jerk because I can’t get the stupid thing out of my mind, now?
Welcome to the world of writers.
Yes, this is often how people who write deal with disasters, both their own and others. There is nothing wrong with it. It’s not like you are going to go to the other person and say ‘You gave me a great idea for a story!’
We look at everything in life, good and bad, and often file pieces away for later. Often, by the time we get to it, the file numbers have disappeared and we don’t even know where it came from. Other times the event triggers something right away.
It just happens.
The powerful things, good and bad, give us story ideas, as Zette said. And assuming you are talking about the unfortunate situation I suspect you are, I sort of think that person, being a writer as well, would not be upset to think this inspired another writer. Write the story and treat it as a tribute to the life of an amazing person.
–June
I agree; it’s a way of staying sane in the face of mounting unhappiness. Cops make gruesome jokes about mutilated bodies. Writers find story potential in the midst of misery.
Your brain is trying to protect you. You’re still a good person.
Happy writing,
Deb Salisbury
The Mantua-Maker, Quality Historical Sewing Patterns and Books
www.mantua-maker.comThe Art of the Hoop: 1860 - 1869, Dress, Sewing, and Clothing Care Advice
https://www.mantua-maker.com/a---1860s-fashion.htmlDead Wizard's Loot: Wizard Whitewing #1
http://www.djsalisburybooks.com/Dead-Wizard-s-Loot.htmlWriters write about the things that hit too close and make us cringe. That is exactly the right reaction, and said person might even enjoy the story in the way we can imagine saying the perfect thing days later as a way to get back at someone who was mean to us. Sometimes life takes choices away. You can let that fact swallow you whole, or you can take what inspiration you can get from the fact and fight back in the only way we can.
She remakes mechanical devices, and he dreams of becoming a steamship captain in The Steamship Chronicles. Book 1 is free in eBook.
https://margaretmcgaffeyfisk.com/the-steamship-chronicles/Novelists Somerset Maugham and John O’Hara both seem to have covered a similar problem to yours by retelling the ancient story Appointment in Samara.
Death gets everything; everything dies, from the smallest virus to the most massive universe (it’s of course necessary to accept multiple universes for that last), so that a story dealing with death is one of the most natural stories.
So you think of yourself tomorrow in the same way you did yesterday, with perhaps a little more growth.
Readers (whether they know it or not) read the better writers to find out how they have handled these difficult situations — sometimes they’re helped sometimes they’re not.
Hard though it may be, perhaps it’s the duty of the better writer — the Nobels etc. to think and write about these subjects.
Sounds like you are a pretty normal writer to me. We’re always taking things that happen around us and to use and putting them into a story.
I have a mother with brain cancer now, and I had a big bunny reach up and attack me about a character who has only a short time left and decides to go on one last big one-way adventure. Not sure exactly what yet, but the bunny won’t leave me alone either!
Yep, you’re definitely a writer.
J.A. Marlow
The String Weavers, Salmon Run, Redpoint One series.Writer alter-ego of Dreamers Cove
J.A. Marlow wrote:I have a mother with brain cancer now, and I had a big bunny reach up and attack me about a character who has only a short time left and decides to go on one last big one-way adventure. Not sure exactly what yet, but the bunny won’t leave me alone either!If you can, and feel up to it, You could check Alec Guiness and Last Holiday for how a similar situation was tackled.
Writing about these feelings is necessary for one aspect of the advance of our civilisation.
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