THE BLACK HEART BOOK script wins BRONZE AWARD!

[mysteriesofthesea]

http://www.audism.org

And I am not surprised to see that Gary Malkowski, the man, who founded the website,..is a Canadian!!

I just met a new term on google this morning. I just met a new concept and the idea blows me away. I had always had a feeling that this existed,..but I was never really sure.

There have been certain events in my life..which pointed my thoughts in this direction,..but I never dreamed that it had a name….

(My husband has always told me that I just had a “BAD” attitude.)

Other people online have called me…”stupid” and at those moments,..I wondered if this might exist!! Heh! Then,..I go to google and find a whole website about it!!

At least,..now,..I am not alone. I know that this exists. I sort of feel “validated” when I try and tell folks that there is an actual “cultural” gap between us….and was told in return that..”No! It’s just your imagination. Such..a..thing…can’t exist in this modern, enlightened world of ours!!”

And yet,..heh! There is a whole WEBSITE about it!!

……….Stanelle

[Sidhecafe]

As to the questions of writing….I believe EVERYONE has a story and a VOICE in which to tell it. Anyone can write their story and they all have value as part of human culture.

If a person pursues writing as a craft, which IMHO it is, then there comes in the dedication and affliction of being, “a writer”.

Why am I a writer? I started writing poetry when I was 10 years old because I wanted to express the feelings I had in side of me, I was obsessed with sunsets then and I grew up on the ocean so the natural world continually entranced me. One of my first poems that was “discovered” by my family was one I stuck in my oldest sister’s luggage when she was leaving for college- to tell her I was going to miss her. My mother still keeps it on her bureau.
That same year I had an English teacher who told me I had great potential as a poet and a writer and talked to my mother about it.

My mom bought a timer and made sure I wrote for at least 15 minutes every night before I went to bed!!!

Though I still write the occasional poem – and torture myself occasionally by participating in public poetry readings – even did a slam once. Yikes! 😯

Mostly I write fiction now. One scifi story I’m working on presently, but to describe what I write as a whole I usually use the term “speculative” which I find is more of a broad term to describe it. I’ve written a modern fable/fairy tale type story, one about serial murderers, and about sorceresses, aliens and genetic engineering…
I can’t stay within one genre because that’s not how my stories evolve.

For me, a story starts with a character in one moment in time usually. The action begins and I follow it. The character starts to evolve and the story is uncovered to me. Then I begin the fleshing out of the details the plot, how will this work with that sort of stuff and move the story along emotionally.
I write very character driven stories, the characters motives – emotions are very important to me and why the story is important. I don’t write for an audience, I write for myself. Do I like it? Does the story challenge me? These are the questions that move my creative process.
If someone else reads it and likes it great – if they have constructive criticism that will help clarify the story and make it more immediate – even better!

I fought long and hard with the doubts about my writing, and probably always will. I have finally arrived at a place where I know I can write. I know I can construct sentences that work, paragraphs that build scenes and tension.

Selling what I write is another matter altogether – one I’m still grappling with – the commitment to sell oneself, is something I’m working slowly towards.

Bottom line for me is that being a writer is part of who I am, a natural progression of my life to express my self with words. And that might sound arrogant or self-satisfied to some people but it’s a compulsion more than anything else. If I haven’t worked for a while I get peevish and depressed and whenever that happens I have to stop and ask myself, “When did I last do any writing?”

Stanelle, the question of ghostwriting for a dying friend…why not? Regardless of whether I agree or not with a friends message or voice, if I could do something for them that would help ease their mind or get something done for them before they passed I would do it. I think we must honor the dying – they do not know where their journey is taking them, and if they need to leave something behind and it is within my power to help with that I would.

OK, ok enough of me 🙄 ….between this and having to write a personal statement for grad school admissions, I’m sick of thinking about myself!!! (odd thing to happen to a Leo 😉 )

[mysteriesofthesea]

I must tell you somethings and elaborate on some of the things that you have said starting with:

“Being a writer is part of who I am,..a natural progression of being able to express myself with words…”

….Sidhecafe,..I WISH THAT I HAD SAID THAT PHRASE!! I WISH THAT I HAD BEEN THE ONE TO THINK OF IT AND WRITE IT DOWN!!

…As far as I am concerned that is what writing is all about…whether it is science fiction fan fiction or tales of one’s own life which seem to pop out of “no-where” into one’s brain as the result of one’s lived experiences!! Whether what one writes is what one has experienced in one’s life or in one’s imagination, the innermost workings of the individual mind just beg to be recorded!!

Growth is change and your writing changes and expands as your mind and perceptions grow and expand and change with your life experiences!! That makes your writing a part of who and what you are..so far!! You sound as if you are a “natural born writer”…(much better than being a “natural born killer,”..I suppose!)

And it certainly helps that your family encouraged you to sit down and write!! Your writing became a habit for you!! Since you are a working journalist,..it is your mode of making a living and if you do it full time,..that should be a very satisfying living indeed!!

Another thing that you just said that stands out in my little brain is,…”If I haven’t worked for a while,..I get peevish and depressed and whenever that happens I have to stop and ask myself, “When did I last do any writing?”

Writing down the thoughts in your head has become so much a part of you that when you don’t sit down and express yourself in your chosen art form,..it actually affects your disposition!!

Don’t put selling your work in the same catagory as selling yourself,..I let myself fall into that trap with my line-drawings and my cartoons.

I was told by a college prof,..many years ago,..that..”to be a true artist,..one must paint with water colors and oils..because that is where true art lies! Just keep your cartooning and drawings to youself! They express too much of your own quirky personality and not enough of TRUE art!”

So I did just that,..I drew only for my friends and reduced myself to doing copies of copies as far as painting was concerned. My copies of copies were not all that good.

Then,..last year I got confident enough with another person that I had met online and I gave her a very poorly done “copy of a copy of a panda and its’ baby.” I intended to show her my collection of drawings that I had done in pencil so that she could compare the quality of what I had done with work that that was just a “copy of a copy” and work that had come out of my heart and soul. Sadly,.she and I never got to make that comparison.

What I am leading up to with this tale is this: Don’t fragment your writings and your artwork, inside your self, saying,..”This is just for me and this will be for the people that I want to sell it to or even just show it to.”

Let all of your artwork,..whether it be writing or painting or poetry..or whatever…. come from inside yourself and share the same quality of being output from the depths of your soul. 😯

Wheeeeew! Now,..I am a’soundin’ like a “preacherman!!” 😳 🙄 I’ll shut up for a while and tend to my kitty cats!!”

…………Stanelle,
..who goes to the bar of the pub
to get some gingerale to wash out
the sting of all of the hard cider
that she has been drinkin’ here
in the virtual pub,
and to settle her stomach!!

[Sidhecafe]

mysteriesofthesea wrote:

Since you are a working journalist,..it is your mode of making a living and if you do it full time,..that should be a very satisfying living indeed!!

actually not a journalist 😳 – just educated and trained, did that one internship as a general assignment reporter and confirmed what I already knew- I had no desire to be a journalist. I thought it would be the best major for me to take to improve my writing, and I wanted to leave college with a skill.
Now I’m sojourning as the corporate receptionist for a well known northeast beer company, while I apply to grad school. Figure I’ll go back to school now that I really want too- I didn’t want to be in college the first time around.

Don’t put selling your work in the same catagory as selling yourself,..I let myself fall into that trap with my line-drawings and my cartoons. …

They express too much of your own quirky personality and not enough of TRUE art!” …

What I am leading up to with this tale is this: Don’t fragment your writings and your artwork, inside your self, saying,..”This is just for me and this will be for the people that I want to sell it to or even just show it to.”

I was very lucky to be encouraged in my art, I hate hearing when people disuade others from their heart felt passions as not “true art” 👿
I’m sorry anyone ever told you your drawing wasn’t art- that is evil.

And as far as selling myself, I only use that to explain the part time job it is to send out manuscripts and sell what I write. i.e., as in representing myself to the publishing community/editors/what have you.
I didn’t mean producing work I think will sell! lol
that could be a fun excercise though!

[mysteriesofthesea]

From what you have had to say here,..what you have to offer..would be interesting,..indeed! More tomorrow,..like you,..I am called away!! My pot of soup from left-over Thanksgiving Turkey awaits!! 😛

…..Stanelle

[Anonymous]

Sidhecafe, insightful posts as always. Sorry, Stanelle, for not responding to your questions sooner, but real life gets in the way again. Also, I’d missed your post before. I know you said, “FunkET… NEVER AGAIN……. will I ask you what’s on your mind,” but I hope that statement was specifically directed at my malodorously Funky alterego (funky also means smelly), and not intended for my ever-so-slightly sweeter-smelling, yet horribly runny, Logan persona. 😆 (joking around) But seriously, I thank you for the time you took to read and comment on those twisted yarns despite my warnings.

Anyway, I’m going to try my best with very limited time and brain cells to specifically address your given dilemma as I can glimpse it… Unfortunately, my position is affecting my thinking, so don’t expect an insightful post, and as per usual, expect digressions.

mysteriesofthesea wrote:

Sidhecafe and Logan,..question here!:

[1] Would you be a ghost-writer…for say,…a dying person..even if what that dying person had to say in their story or stories..offended your personal code of ethics?

[2] Logan,..I have read in some of your past posts that you believe something to the effect that a person should write what they had to write no matter what others thought about how they were using the art of writing to express themselves. Do you believe that “code” would extend to a dying friend as well?

[3] Do you think one should criticize or mock when one does not fully appreciate what is entirely happening in a given situation?

[4] Logan,..I can see you as a prolific writer. You always have seemed to have a lot to say in all of your posts. I have a feeling that you could easily write circles around me!!

[1] Without more specifics to such a situation, I honestly can’t definitively say if I’d be willing to do it, and even with more info I guess I would still have doubts one way orthe other. I might do it… Depends.

While what others have professed has never offended my belief-system, my beliefs have caused me to take offence to what others have said on occasion… Especially, if what they say seems to me cruel/inhumane. Much as I hate labels, I tend to label myself a relativist. Since I don’t look at morals as absolute, that makes me somewhat more understanding of other attitudes and ways of thinking. Still, just because I may have some sympathy with them because I can see causes for their attitudes does not mean I like it. Ahhh, but methinks I’m on a pathway to irrevocable digression.

As for if you should, if I might hazard some thinking, I don’t know. It depends on various factors, including how you feel of course. Can you really write something well that you’re uncomfortable with? It’s a challenge, and generally I do think it’s a good thing to challenge our beliefs and push our comfort levels.

If writing it went strongly against your ethics, I’d suggest you not do it… If not writing it is the less ethical option in your opinion, well I guess you should. Interesting dilemma. I wouldn’t let personal offence be the deciding factor… Though moral outrage might stop me.

Are these real-life stories? I think I’d be willing to be the mechanism for getting on paper someone else’s thoughts, experiences/ “stories” even if I found aspects to them personally disturbing — especially if it was for a dying friend. Might I ask how they offend your “personal code of ethics”?

I was about to say that no matter what the content is, surely if by penning it you are fulfilling a dying friend’s wish, doing right by her in such a way is the ethical thing to do. However, if my problems with it went well beyond my personal ethics (for instance, hate literature, promoted certain illegal activities etc.) well I guess I wouldn’t pen it… I would be willing to share in a discussion on controversial and taboo subjects. If her life experiences were amoral to your mind, and these stories come from there, well one can document without trying to justify them. I couldn’t set down hardcore erotica for anyone — it would just make me too uncomfortable.

In certain cases it might prove difficult translating those stories into a coherent text (a sort of editing) without overly interpreting them according to my own peculiar thinking. Really, given the choice, I’d far rather collaborate with someone on a project where I had the chance to interject my authorial voice by offering some sort of commentary — moral and otherwise.

[2] If you feel it’s something you have to write, then sure. And if the friend who is sharing those stories with you wants them put on paper by you, well perhaps loyalty should compel you to do so. Sounds like the “right” thing to do.

[3] Criticise or mock? Sorry, is that a general question, or specifically relating to you acting as a ghost-writer? I’ll take it as the latter and say no to both criticising and mocking. One can maintain a critical eye, but it’s important to keep an open mind, and try to see another point of view.

You will most probably have to try to understand where that person’s coming from to effectively get it on paper, but it’s best to try to remain non-judgmental — you’re trying to get someone else’s mind on paper… And while it’s difficult to leave one’s personal biases behind, try to express it from their point of view. Anyway, that this person is a friend, you’re obviously sympathetic to them. I sure wouldn’t mock a dying friend in any way. If you can’t fully appreciate what’s going on in “a given situation” then you’d best not expound on it — avoid such exposition.

*just a tangential note: Saw a Japanese movie about a real-life serial killer called Vengeance Is Mine. One of the most amazing things about it was how the writer/director didn’t judge the killer protagonist. He neither condemned nor condoned the person for his actions, he just tried to tell the story (with embellishment no doubt). While it was about real-life tragedy, it was hardly an exploitative movie, nor a morality play (in a traditional sense at least).

I’ve written stories where the anti-heroes appall me on some level — I’m interested in obsession and compulsion and inner conflict when telling a story… Often there is a morality play dimension, but I try not to judge my characters since clear-cut heroes and villains don’t appeal to me — people are more complex than that. I could easily extend that to not judging the, as one might see it, amoral qualities of another’s “story” that I was penning. Again, if it was hate literature, or intended to promote certain illegal activities, well I guess I would have a real problem with it.

[4] Thank your lucky stars I’m not prolific anymore. The only way I can write circles around you, or anyone else at the boards, is in the following manner —> ooyouoo & ooanyone else at the boardsoo *

*you never did specify the number of circles

Anyway, just my 1.61 cents (not sure of the current US/ Can monetary conversion).

[Sidhecafe]

Logan, really great post! Very balanced how you think back and forth over the possible elements of Stanelle’s decision.

Stanelle, I hope some of this has been helpful to you.

“What unites us universally is not our experiences, but our feelings in the face of our experiences” – Anais Nin….

probably bastardized that quote a number of times on this board but it seems to resonat well for me these topics our our life experiences and how we respond to them. ..

[mysteriesofthesea]

BRONZE AWARD….in the Houston Film Festival script catagory!!! The Awards will be passed out in a week or two at the Film Festival!! 😯 😯 😕 😀

Heh!

Life CAN be VERY good,..at times!! Yah know? 😯 😀 😀

……..Stanelle

[Sidhecafe]

Woo-Hoo!!! 😀 😀 😀

That’s great Stanelle!!!!! Congratulations!!!

Yes!!!! Sometimes Life CAN be Very Good!!!

Yeah!

[Anonymous]

Congratulations! 😀

[mysteriesofthesea]

And I’m looking for stories of people,..who are considered “true charactors!!”
(Whatever that means!!)

Anyone have any such stories of scifi fan sillies,..who at one time could have driven you..just plain..”nertz?”

What have you been up to Logan?

[Anonymous]

Welcome back. Busy taking care of my daughter during the day and working on documents at night. Other than lack of sleep I’m enjoying myself. Yourself?

[Author]

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