Friday, November 29, 2013

Gotta Finish It First...

So, I have been writing for (counting on fingers) eighteen years now with nothing to show for it except lots of files containing ideas that started out strong but fizzled before the first chapter got finished.  I'm working on one now that I began sixteen years ago and it no longer resembles what I wrote then.  I guess I've grown and my characters grew right along with me, which caused the story to change.

He was a real jerk in the beginning - mainly because I wanted him that way.  Then a friend read some of his scenes and said to me, "I don't want her to dating him."  What?  You don't like my hero?  So I took another look at how he acted and - well - yeah, he was pretty much a jerk.  He's older now and after everything he's been through, he's wiser and chooses his actions more carefully.....most of the time.  He's caring, sensitive and above all, honorable.  I hope that comes out by the time I quite playing around with the story and finally send it off someplace for other people to read.

She started out as one of those heroines that now get on my nerves.  You know the type - not quite level headed, idealistic, stamps her little foot in a pique when things don't go her way - yeah, that type.  The way she is now, though, she'd be the first one to slap that kind of heroine and tell her to get a grip already.  She doesn't back down easily and especially not from the hero, unless it suits her to do so.  She has her own mind and is not afraid to use it.  Maybe she doesn't think things all the way through but she's pretty confident she can handle anything thrown her way.  Maybe she's a bit too confident and that's one of her flaws, I suppose.

I guess one day I'll get this thing done.  I just gotta quit thinking of new plot lines and finish with the one I'm currently working on.  I can always write a second book.

But I gotta finish this one first.

Post #3

Yeah, I never did keep up with a diary, either.  And blogging is kind of like keeping a diary or journal, isn't it?  Innermost thoughts put down in writing, shared or not depending on how private those thoughts are - and believe me, some thoughts should be kept private.

Sometimes I think we share too much of our private lives in ways that are much too public.  Between Facebook, Twitter and all of the other social media outlets, at any given time of the day, we can peek into the lives of other people and browse through their posts, pictures and comments to find out what makes them tick.  We just can't seem to help ourselves.  We've got to know what's going on outside of our own lives.  Sometimes we treat life as one big reality show except real life isn't scripted and editing yourself isn't as easy as it sounds.

The written word has one, rather major flaw.  There is no way to project positive emotion behind negative writing.  Criticism delivered in writing stings a lot more than if delivered face to face.  In black and white, words must be taken at 'face' value.  Face to face, a compassionate gaze can soften the harshest criticism.

This is why message boards and comments tend to flame out of control because someone says something that possibly wasn't meant to be hurtful but because emotions simply cannot be expressed properly through the written word, someone takes offense and the fuse is lit.  If flaming is left to continue, explosion occurs.  The aftermath can be devastating but thankfully, the written word can be erased so it's as if it never existed in the first place.  Posts are deleted, never to be seen again and soon forgotten - except for those who were involved and who will probably remember what happened for a very long time.

I guess all this rambling is to say one thing - be kind in your writing.  Consider your words before you put them out there where, while they can be deleted, they can never be taken back.  Edit yourself or, if that's not possible, run it past someone you trust.  Get their opinion before you light that fuse and cause unintentional damage.

And to the internet trolls, you know who you are.  I believe that if we ignore you, you will go away.

I normally don't make resolutions but this year, I will be making one.  I resolve to never respond to an internet troll, no matter how inflammatory the comment.  If we do not give them attention, their reason for trolling no longer exists.  Let's be considerate, compassionate and kind to one another.  There's enough nasty in the world as it is.  Let's not add to it.