tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post7441239515291721106..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: Staying Sane: N M BrowneKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-82715153349424504402015-10-29T17:18:12.422+00:002015-10-29T17:18:12.422+00:00I"m an obsessive what-iffer and it's a bi...I"m an obsessive what-iffer and it's a bit of a plague, I can think of a load of different scenarios to explain anything people do or say and all the things that could happen on a perfectly ordinary trip or activity, and I can't seem to switch this off! I invent stories about people I don't know but see about the place or know but don't know certain things about, and I invent characters who I talk about to people and when those people one day mention them, I know that character has become real! There is a term for this, I think they are called 'mini-sagas' and I've read that Barbara Pym did this, even doing detective work to find out about people she observed and inventing things to fill in the gaps.Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-31257445204618594112015-10-29T10:45:21.271+00:002015-10-29T10:45:21.271+00:00Great post! It's a mental see-saw. Yesterday, ...Great post! It's a mental see-saw. Yesterday, I was on a high - v.happy storytelling session in the afternoon. Good! Today, I'll use the energy from that to write. Ah, but no- just discovered I hadn't made it in a poetry comp - hit the floor. Can't write. How did I ever imagine I could. Am useless, etc. But we can't not go on writing, eh? <br />AND putting stories round people is a crucial part of being an empathic human. I wouldn't trade the lows of being a writer for the stability of not being a writer. Sandra Hornhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01761260568729338471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-27372827808930974332015-10-29T10:26:58.667+00:002015-10-29T10:26:58.667+00:00Very interesting post. I particularly identified w...Very interesting post. I particularly identified with your comment, Catherine - like you, I imagine every possible scenario, especially the negative ones. JO - your couple. I once, quite a long time ago, went to a totally nightmare dinner party with a totally nightmare couple - great material for a novel I was working on at the time.Enid Richemonthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17218197995089241666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-66965407544030131452015-10-29T09:07:16.372+00:002015-10-29T09:07:16.372+00:00Great blog. Books are cathartic for some readers ...<br />Great blog. Books are cathartic for some readers and writers. As Susan has said above, it is a 'millennia -old craft' and we are lucky to put pen to paper or type the words that flow on the keyboard.Leelahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10190446612816700008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-90754859995750856482015-10-29T09:02:51.784+00:002015-10-29T09:02:51.784+00:00I think putting absurd people in stories is a wond...I think putting absurd people in stories is a wonderful way of managing them. There's a couple who - for various reasons - I have to have quite a lot of contact with. He is a bully and she is a silly woman. Neither are readers (fiction-is-a-waste-of-time sort of people) so maybe they'll never realise they are the prototype for an unpleasant couple in a novel I'm playing with. (And, even if they should read this, I doubt if they'll recognise themselves)<br /><br />For me - the alternative would be to be openly rude to them, or - at least - to him. This way I can not allow him to bully me but not ruffle feathers.JOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03127111575563904349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-73460377307024673362015-10-29T08:59:52.249+00:002015-10-29T08:59:52.249+00:00It was a great read. Thanks, Nicky.
Before books,...It was a great read. Thanks, Nicky.<br /><br />Before books, you learned how to put yourself in the place of others by listening to story-tellers. Some lucky small children, who own adults able to tell them stories without a book, still learn that way - before progressing to written stories and widening their understanding. <br /><br />We are the latest practitioners of a millienia-old craft. That's one of the stories I like to tell myself, anyway.<br /><br />I wonder what the status of those first story-tellers was?Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-75351238979554902562015-10-29T08:54:49.797+00:002015-10-29T08:54:49.797+00:00I agree with you - writing gives us understanding,...I agree with you - writing gives us understanding, if nothing else and even if we don't always apply it in those everyday situations, we can at least imagine what might have been going on! Actually, I think that ability to 'imagine' is a double edged sword. It was a long time before I realised that not everyone 'imagines' every possible scenario when, for example, undertaking a long voyage, including every worst case scenario too. We spend so long saying 'what if?' when we're writing that it's well nigh impossible to prevent ourselves from doing it about everything else and we tend to err on the side of potential disasters. I know I often have to give myself a shake and try to behave normally! Catherine Czerkawskahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14554969254207924049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-36354391572631729192015-10-29T08:40:58.240+00:002015-10-29T08:40:58.240+00:00Very well put. I can identify with much of what is...Very well put. I can identify with much of what is you say. It is somewhat more unnatural to shut yourselves way and work in solitary isolation. And yet we are compelled to do so. Thanks for a great post and, indeed, a great readWendy H. Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04022089775887274043noreply@blogger.com