Tag: Personal

Finding Family

One of my favorite group dynamics–whether it’s a movie, TV show or a book–is the Found Family dynamic. When a group of friends, and sometimes strangers, come together and form something stronger. It’s one of the few tropes that I actively strive for when I create a group of protagonists because there’s something very comforting about making and finding your own family. I think it stems from a few of my favorites.

  1. Firefly- This is one of the first encounters where I started to get a sense of what a Found Family entailed. Despite the (very) short run of the TV series, it was clear that this was a group of strangers who came together with a common goal. Anytime the crew was together, whether it was a one-on-one interaction or all of the crew gathered in the cargo hold, there was a lot of subtext to their interactions. It was a family, from annoying little sisters to overbearing father figures.
  2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer- Another great TV show with a found family. You had Giles metaphorically adopting about half a dozen young adults by the end of the show. And there were really strong family dynamics within the show. Despite the constant forming and breaking of love triangles and relationships, there was always a familial love underlining everything. The heart of the show was a group of strangers who were working toward a common goal and finding love in that goal.
  3. Lord of the Rings- Both the books and the movies give an example of an odd, estranged found family. From the moment the Fellowship was formed, they treat each other like brothers, willing to lay down their lives for the others in the Fellowship. Despite overwhelming odds, dangerous adventures, and leagues between them, the Fellowship all work together for each other and the fate of the world.
  4. Critical Role- I’m a long time fan of this D&D show and I’ve seen the players form a family from strangers twice. The beautiful thing about the show is that we can see so much of the love the cast has for each other come about in their character interactions (even if they’re only joking around half the time). The cast does a wonderful job of blending story with character development and the core of that is in their interactions with one another. And over time that develops into a family unit, whether they want to or not.
  5. The Muppets- OK, hear me out on this one. The Muppets are this strange collection of birds, mammals, amphibians and felt humanoids that seem to have no real connection (aside from their dream of stardom and some apparent relationship in college). I feel like this was my first exposure to what a found family was, even if I didn’t realize it. They certainly weren’t related, but there was more love there than expected!

I’ve always loved the idea of finding a family in friends. You fight and argue, but only because you know you love each other at the end of the day. What are some of your favorite Found Family dynamics?

Strength in Numbers

A few weeks ago a friend asked me if I was interested in joining their writing group. Well, that’s not entirely true. We met up to talk about their writing once and we decided to forge a writing group. She brought one of her friends, I brought a couple of mine, and after two meetings, things are going pretty well. Unlike a lot of writing workshops I’ve been in, we decided this would be a working workshop. Most of us are doing some variation of Nanowrimo or just working on our own projects. The point is we’re doing it together.

Writing is a solitary act. Unlike sports, music or theatre, writing is something that is done solo. In some ways, it’s very freeing, but it’s also very lonely. It’s important to find people who we can talk with about our projects with or even just help us remember a word. I have a number of people who I talk to online about my work, but it’s nice to be able to directly talk with people the minute I have an idea (no matter how stupid it is).

My writing group helps each other, but we also motivate and push each other. We’ve started doing word wars, the prize being bragging rights and permission to use a bad pun nickname. It adds an extra element of fun to our word sprints (not to mention I’ve won twice). Will we use all the words? No. But my philosophy is if I use ten out of a thousand, that’s ten words I didn’t have before.

Having a writing clan is important. Having any kind of support network in a very lonely art gives an author a place to work through problems with simple (and sometimes silly) questions. Working in public makes the devastating distractions of the Internet or household chores (which seem so much more important when we sit down to write).

Do you have a writing clan? Where do you go when you’ve hit a creative wall?

And, hey, if you’re doing Nanowrimo? Good luck and have fun!

Talk

Dialogue is one of the foundations of writing a novel. If our characters say nothing, we learn only what the narrator wants us to know about them. It’s also a crucial element of the classic ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ advice that is often discussed. When I was in college, one of my professors often talked about a book called “Talk: A Novel in Dialogue”. As the title suggests, the book is written entirely in dialogue. Recently, I’ve been thinking about dialogue as a mode of telling the story, specifically by listening to a lot of podcasts.

Anyone who knows me, knows I love podcasts. It’s basically what my friends and I talk about on a weekly basis. I listen to everything from Levar Burton Reads to 60-Second Science. It’s an easy way to fill time on the bus, doing housework and doing my grocery shopping. One of my most recent obsessions is The Bright Sessions.

Even insignificant characters who only interact with your protagonist with for a moment, dialogue can be a way to make that character lifelike and rich to the reader.

I was introduced to the show by my friend Aly, who was 100% correct when they said I would enjoy it. The basic premise is that its recordings from a therapist’s office, but all of her patients have unusual abilities (time-travel, telepathy, and so on). The show is presented entirely in conversation, normally one-on-one. Sometimes it becomes a much larger group, but the characters are so distinct that it’s very easy to follow.

The podcast has a very definitive story to it and we learn a lot about the characters through their sessions. If you’re struggling with characterization through dialogue, I definitely recommend this podcast (both for the story and the lessons from dialogue).

Please Stand By…

Due to a couple of things happening this week, there won’t be a short fiction piece until next week. In the meantime, I recommend going here to check out some of the fiction that’s been here in the past! I’ll have something before the end of the month, I promise!

If you’re interested in knowing what I’m up to these days, follow me on Twitter and Facebook! I post random thoughts, books and short stories I’m reading and I’m going to start doing more exclusives (like my very short reaction piece from a whale watch I went on yesterday).

Feeding the Muse

When I tell people that I write, one of their first questions is where I get my ideas and how I keep my creative spark active. Anyone who creates art knows how hard it can be to keep the creative juices flowing, whether that’s drawing, writing, creating music or cooking. So how does one keep the creative spark active? In a world that is constantly demanding attention and brainpower to just function in the day-to-day activities, keeping creative is a challenge for anyone with a creative side hustle.

Repetition helps, doing the thing until it becomes muscle memory. The random word doodles that I do (and sometimes post) for this blog can often lead me to “What if…?” or “Imagine this character in…” trains of thought. The creative part of the brain is a muscle and muscles only ever get stronger through work (and often resistance). Even if one out of every one hundred things you write is tolerable, you increase your odds of creating something you like.

I found that letting the mind wander is as important as having intense focus on a creative endeavor. Sometimes, doing menial chores or just walking around the city, I’ll have ideas for stories, characters, settings, and even plots. I have a special note on my phone for ideas I have while out walking about.

Paintings, music, and physical movement also keep the creative juices flowing. Other art can sometimes be the best inspiration. I have images of old maps and paintings saved on my laptop that I look at when things feel a little stale, trying to reinvigorate the mood of whatever I’m working on.

And, of course, a good cup of tea is a good energizer at the end of the day.

How do you feed your muse? Music? Art? Power nap? Tea? Let me know!

Making the count…

So, almost every day since early January, I’ve been posting Facebook status first thing in the morning. Since getting my new office job, I’ve been waking up first thing in the morning, writing and posting my word count.

Usually, I shoot for around 400 words or so. I do my best to stay positive about it, even on days when I don’t make my goal. I do my best to try and write a coherent story, working on one project. Some days I can only manage an out of place scene or a character sketch. More often, I make a continuation of the same story from the day before. Either way, I feel that having that time first thing in the morning is important for my mental health and my creativity.

But why post it on Facebook? What does a daily number mean in an endless stream of updates, photos, links and humble bragging (myself included)? I don’t use it to track my total word count or judge the quality of my work. So why do it?

One of the most important things when writing is accountability. It’s easy for me to say I’m gonna sleep in for the morning and skip my day, but people notice now. I once had my mother text me when I didn’t post a word count to make sure I was still alive (her words).

As I’ve been doing this, I’ve been seeing the same likes and comments and realized that I have a personal community that is supportive and encouraging. And, in an endeavor that’s primarily done in solitude, it’s a good feeling to have visual confirmation that friends and family are supporting you.

So, whether you have a Facebook or Twitter, I encourage you to celebrate your small victories. Cause working alone is hard, but the beauty of social media is having people to celebrate small victories with you. And those build up pretty quick into bigger victories!

For the Non-Chatty Commuter

I’ve always been very jealous of anyone who could read in the car. I got motion sickness when trying to focus on anything in a moving vehicle. As I’ve gotten older, I listened to music in the car and eventually podcasts. I’m not what people would call a “chatty commuter”.

Recently, I’ve started listening to audiobooks that I’ve borrowed from the library while on my commute to downtown. Altogether, my normal commute takes an hour each day either way. The library here in Seattle uses the Overdrive program, so I can download books and keep them on my phone and enjoy listening to a novel as I’m coming or going from work. Most recently, I’ve listened to The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden and it was wonderful (a good choice since it reads so much like an adult fairytale). As of right now, I’m listening to Fledgling by Octavia Butler.

I don’t know which I retain better, but I certainly feel like I’m doing more reading during the week. When I only have 30-40 minutes on my lunch break or a few minutes as I’m drifting off to bed, I feel like I’m enjoying more stories on a regular basis. I’ve heard that there’s no real difference between reading a paper book versus listening to audiobooks. but there are those who argue there’s a difference. Either way, for me, audiobooks make the commute in the morning one of the better parts of my day.

Terry Pratchett, An Author’s Legacy and The Steamroller

Recently, fantasy fans around the world cried out in agony as Terry Pratchett’s hard drive (containing 10 unfinished novels) was destroyed as per his will. As was his wish, the hard drive was crushed by a steamroller and, honestly, I can think of no better send off. But reading the news got me thinking about other authors and what it means for a work in progress when it’s creator, for whatever reason, ceases to be able to work on it. Is death really the end for an author?

Despite his death in 1973, J.R.R. Tolkien’s works are still published regularly with revivals of legends of Middle Earth or companion guides to his world. Easily the most recognizable name in fantasy today, Tolkien’s impact on the realm of fantasy cannot go unnoticed, his stories still fresh and new 44 years after he died. His world and words live on by those who tell his stories and build upon them either on the page or the big screen. The Children of Hurin or The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, for example, were both published within the last ten years, drawing on the influences from the legends in Tolkien’s The Silmarillion.

Douglas Adams, on the other hand, was continued with the best intentions. However, And Another Thing… didn’t quite have the same feel as the previous iterations as the rest of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series did. It was written with the best intentions to honor Adams and his legacy, but it fell flat, in my opinion. It’s a nice, neat continuation of the world of Douglas Adams, but it failed to have that same charm that I had grown to love while reading the books.

I feel that an author’s world doesn’t have to continue after their death. But the unfinished worlds, defined only by the author’s own imagination and intent, should be left. I respect and agree with Mr. Pratchett’s final wish, though I am sad to know we will never read them. But if that’s the end of his unfinished novels, I can think of no end more fitting than what he asked.

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