“What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form, in moving, how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals!
And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me; no, nor woman neither, though, by your smiling, you seem to say so.”
[Hamlet, Act II, scene ii]
“How well I could write if I were not here! If between the white page and the writing of words and stories that take shape and disappear without anyone's ever writing them there were not interposed that uncomfortable partition which is my person!”[Italo Calvino - If on a winter's night a traveler]
“And God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness… So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him, male and female created He them”
[Genesis 1:26-27]
So I’ve finally decided to quit procrastinating writing a book, but now I remember why I’ve put it off for so long… It’s frustrating and time consuming! I’m struggling with naming my characters, my children… To give them personalities and life, I want to make them as real to my readers as they are to me. When people read my book I want them to genuinely be concerned with the outcome of the lives of my characters, to cry when they’ve been broken, to laugh and cheer when something goes right. Maybe I am expecting too much out of myself and only setting myself up for failure, but I’d like to think that I am capable of capturing my audience through literature. I love writing lyrics and poetry, but I feel a different sort of satisfaction when I am done writing scenarios. I love reading, I love how you can forget your own life and live vicariously through someone else. For example, we love reading the Twilight saga because we want to fall head over heels in love with a gorgeous, sparkly vampire and live happily ever after, and Harry Potter captivated the world because a life where doing something as simple as waving a wand and speaking an incantation could get you what you want would be fantastic! Of course I could go on listing a ton of books from amazing authors but I’m sure you get the drift. I may have a superiority complex but I’m not so blind as to expect to be as great as any of them, but I can dream and what’s the use of dreaming if you set a limit to your imagination? In any case both Stephenie Meyers and JK Rowling never imagined the success that their literature has brought to them, so who knows? Maybe I am capable of following their lead after all…
And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me; no, nor woman neither, though, by your smiling, you seem to say so.”
[Hamlet, Act II, scene ii]
“How well I could write if I were not here! If between the white page and the writing of words and stories that take shape and disappear without anyone's ever writing them there were not interposed that uncomfortable partition which is my person!”[Italo Calvino - If on a winter's night a traveler]
“And God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness… So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him, male and female created He them”
[Genesis 1:26-27]
So I’ve finally decided to quit procrastinating writing a book, but now I remember why I’ve put it off for so long… It’s frustrating and time consuming! I’m struggling with naming my characters, my children… To give them personalities and life, I want to make them as real to my readers as they are to me. When people read my book I want them to genuinely be concerned with the outcome of the lives of my characters, to cry when they’ve been broken, to laugh and cheer when something goes right. Maybe I am expecting too much out of myself and only setting myself up for failure, but I’d like to think that I am capable of capturing my audience through literature. I love writing lyrics and poetry, but I feel a different sort of satisfaction when I am done writing scenarios. I love reading, I love how you can forget your own life and live vicariously through someone else. For example, we love reading the Twilight saga because we want to fall head over heels in love with a gorgeous, sparkly vampire and live happily ever after, and Harry Potter captivated the world because a life where doing something as simple as waving a wand and speaking an incantation could get you what you want would be fantastic! Of course I could go on listing a ton of books from amazing authors but I’m sure you get the drift. I may have a superiority complex but I’m not so blind as to expect to be as great as any of them, but I can dream and what’s the use of dreaming if you set a limit to your imagination? In any case both Stephenie Meyers and JK Rowling never imagined the success that their literature has brought to them, so who knows? Maybe I am capable of following their lead after all…
But I am riding on a tangent; so let me get back to what I started off saying. Hamlet wondered at the marvel of mankind but expressed disdain in that same speech, because the psychology of man is complex enough to deserve a profession of its own. So I am going to start studying the lives of people around me in order to make my characters more realistic. I may even go so far as to practice what I’m learning and experiment with the reactions from strangers. This will affect my musical taste, my speech, mannerisms, wardrobe and personality, so if you catch me acting differently now you’ll know why.
So far I’ve only been able to complete a rough draft for a chapter and started writing a couple of other chapters, but this whole writing business may take longer than I expected especially if I plan on taking the time to breathe air into the lungs of my characters and that is what’s frustrating me. But the characters in my book are the closest thing I have to children right now, because like a mother I am the one bringing them into the world and giving them life. I want the best for them; I care about each and every one of them as though they really exist, even the unlikeable ones. It’s a funny feeling to create something other people will be able to interact with and hopefully love as much as you do. The difference between me and an actual mother (aside from the ordeal/blessing of a nine month pregnancy) is I have the luxury of carving the paths of their lives. Unless of course I get too absorbed with their personalities that they start to take on a mind of their own (which may very well happen considering my over active imagination) then I won’t have a say in who they end up dating or where they decide to go in life. But that would be a great thing to lose even myself in the story!
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