A Writer’s Reality: Guest Post!
Please welcome Emmy from the blog, Love Woke Me Up This Morning. Emmy is a fiction writer and NaNoWriMo participant. Below, Emmy discusses her perspective on the role of a writer’s sanity, or lack thereof.
I sat at the table hunched over my laptop and sipped on my pumpkin spice latte, when suddenly; a face appeared at my shoulder.
“What are you working on?” he asked. It was one of the baristas at the local Starbucks where I was typing, who had now become a friend since I was there so often.
“I’m doing something called National Novel Writing Month,” I explained. “In the month of November you have to write a 50,000 word novel by the 30th.”
He looked at me like I had three heads.
“I’m crazy,” I told him, as if I was explaining that I had some form of strange disease that he didn’t understand.
“Yeah, you are,” he said, then went back to work.
Thus the life of a writer- particularly a writer during National Novel Writing Month. Although, if you are an avid writer like I am… 50,000 words is probably one of the least insane things you do.
For example: when I’m brainstorming and envisioning a scene in my head I tend to walk in circles around the house muttering to myself so I can get a better picture.
Or I have full out conversations with my characters in my mind so I can understand them better, and therefore write about them more accurately. I talk with my family and friends about my story and characters as though they are real people with real things happening to them – which is really crazy since most of my stories involve fairies, elves, and unicorns.
Yes… I think it’s fair to say that writers are a little bit crazy. Who in their right mind would dive into an imaginary world, only to have to tear it to shreds and let other people criticize it over and over again? What sane person would stay up all hours of the night so they could get a single sentence just right? We are basically like the schizophrenics only without the medications and doctors to help us sort the people in our heads.
Something I have learned though is that… reality is highly overrated. In fact, without writing, many of us would not be able to handle reality.
Writing makes sense of reality.
Writing helps us to not go crazy.
The characters we create reflect what we know of the world, or point us in the direction of what we wish the world was really like.
The stories we write are a part of our hearts and share who we really are.
So go – be insane. Write your story and let the baristas at the coffee shop give you strange looks. Talk to your characters all you want.
Because as writers – that is our reality.
Mother Theresa once said: “I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.” Emmy is a city girl living in a small town trying to live and learn those words. Because despite what the title of her blog might lead you to think – more often than not she doesn’t remember that it is Love that wakes her up every morning. So grab a cup of coffee (or your preferred beverage of choice) and come along for the journey. She blogs at: www.lovewokemeupthismorning.com. You can also find Emmy on Twitter and Facebook.
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Posted on 2011 Nov 29, in Guest Posts and tagged fiction, Fiction Writing, Lifestyle, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, Writer Resources, writing. Bookmark the permalink. 12 Comments.
Thanks again, Emmy, for adding your voice to Bunny Ears & Bat Wings.
I especially like your point, “The characters we create reflect what we know of the world, or point us in the direction of what we wish the world was really like.”
Great post!
great post
we write because we have to. It’s what we are about. Listen most of what we pencil in a pad or key bang will never see the light of day but it makes us whole.
Only a certain few understand this. I’m glad we know each other and I’m glad we’re part of the few.
Good luck with nanowrimo
Thank YOU Alexis for letting me guest blog! It’s so great to be able to share our views on writing with each other. Because we all totally understand! And I’m glad you liked it too Lance!
The online writing community rocks like that.
Great post; and very well written.
My family even looks at me like I’m crazy. They expect that I’m writing because I get some sort of ‘prize’ or something ‘free’ out of it. But, what they don’t understand, is if I go a week without writing something down – even a poem – it feels incomplete. Writing is part of person, IMO.
Good luck with NaNoWriMo! I just did that (for the first time) this year too!
Especially loved this part –
“Writing helps us to not go crazy.
The characters we create reflect what we know of the world, or point us in the direction of what we wish the world was really like.”
Well, Norena, I hope your family is supportive nonetheless.
“Writing makes sense of reality.” Yes, that’s it exactly. It’s a way of understanding the world better, and then sharing what you’ve figured out with others.
And, yes, the characters do start to take on a reality of their own. I have a couple I’ve been writing about for over forty years. You can probably imagine how real they feel by this point.
Your characters are likely similar to life-long roommates at this point. I love and hate my characters, but I have to admit, I don’t have mock-up conversations with them nearly often enough.
Thanks for posting this. In my head, I am confident that something is NQR but it is comforting to read blogs like these (yay! Other writers talk to themselves, mock up conversations in their heads, and spend lots of time in their imaginary worlds) so that I know there are other people similar to what I do.
This post is hilarious
NQR= creativity.
We’d be boring if we hung onto normalcy. And no one would want to read our stuff.
Insanity is a part of the creative process: Three out of four voices agree. And the fourth’s just obstreperous.
It’s that obstreperous voice that tends to get the most attention.