Saturday, March 21, 2015

Word Play

Writing is a compulsion for some of us.  We love the tidiness of words that fit like soldiers in a march toward some end and the untidiness of words that erupt like a volcano leaving bits of fire everywhere.  When we spill these words across a page, they mean different things to different people, and if we are a good writer, writing critics, just like art critics, spend precious time analyzing and deciphering and admiring.  Yet most of us are mediocre writers at best.  We know that and do not stop because it is a scratch that we just MUST itch. Most of the time what we spill is not deeply intriguing or even interesting beyond the single reading.  For some of us, it can help us understand ourselves and our place in time when no one else does.  We think our words become far more than a spontaneous and uncontrolled communication with the universe.

Some of us have a turn of phrase tumble out of our heads onto the paper that requires deeper analysis before we share, and so we tuck it away into a note for it to ferment.  Another time, maybe it is something we have seen that strikes our fancy and so we paint that scene with words.  We never for a second allow the thought to enter that this unique combination of words might be trivial and we might be lying to ourselves about its potential importance when woven into a paragraph, an essay,or  a scene.  We hope and nurture that it is a tool clearing the passage to something more magnificent down the road.  When we pull it out once again months later, we might possibly read it as the ramblings of an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing...someone famous wrote that and I just stole it...sometimes what floats to the front of the mind it is something that someone else wrote which we admired such a long time ago.

A few days ago, while cleaning up my laptop (digitally), I found a file labeled philosophy.  It consisted of about 14 lines of questions and interesting statements about life.  I was intrigued by what I had written, and at first, assumed I had been very erudite at the time I made that note.  I must have been humming like a finely tuned violin.  The more I re-read the words, though, I realized these were phrases captured from some movie I had seen...where the dialogue (I think from some detective) had been intriguing and intellectual, unlike most movie dialogue.  The questions he asked were so thought provoking that I guess I had hoped to use it as a stimulus for future meanderings of my own.


Have you ever done that?  Is your life cluttered with your notes, others' notes and jumbled words just waiting to be woven into a cleaner more interesting tapestry, or am I the only one stumbling in this cluttered and indiscriminate universe of words to which we are exposed every day?

I have been taking a digital course on writing and love being a student again.  I was never one who hated school.  I am working on bits and pieces of a "short" story in three parts as part of the course.  If I find it worthwhile and do not fear being naked, I may post it if I can actually finish it.  It is going to be close to 20-30 pages, so perhaps translating to a blog will not work...too long.  I am struggling.

14 comments:

  1. I have several baskets full of legal pads, scraps of papers with
    meaningful things I have written down over the last 5 years.
    Want to go through them and discard some - no time. I am always making notes :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Isn't it great that we have our blogs to provide a place to put all these words and thoughts that travel through our heads?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Go for it. I have fun writing a story and continuing it on my blog. It's fun to get some input from my readers as to what will happen next. You are right, it can't be too long, but it can go over a few weeks.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You are not alone. I have so many notebooks crammed with bits and pieces of inspiration, snatches of conversation, descriptions of an interesting looking character--most of it going no where. I have a file on my computer now as well.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have read something about this before regarding the importance of finely tuning words and that the idea of this is more in books regarded as literary works.

    Interestingly I just saw a piece where the romance writer was taking a simple statement and showing how much better it was with three sentences to say the same thing with more flavor etc. For me, I don't write that way. I write for the characters and the story. The words are just a tool to convey that. Likely why my work will never be considered of great literary merit :). Maybe how we see this is part of our nature-- write what comes to you and if it's finely tuned words, go for it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I usually finish stories that I start, but recently I've completed a few paintings that have been waiting for me for fifteen years or so.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes, I used to save things that caught my eye in all my journals. No more. I must read things that are terribly shallow or not really worth reading these days. Good for you for going back to school.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sometimes i save such bits and pieces, but i often lose track.

    Write the story and enjoy it and post it as a serial on your blog if you want, or maybe create a separate page on your blog for it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I suspect the struggle to decide what to do with your story will be the only struggle. I look upon taking words and arranging them in the way that appeals most as a craft and you are a master craftsman.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yes, I have several notes.. here and there.. mostly electronically to serve as reminders about what to write. And I never do. :/

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yeah, we all have files, notes and journals filled with half-formed ideas, bits of dialogue and scraps of descriptions. I like messymimi's ideas for your story.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Interesting thoughts to ponder here. I am compelled to translate life to better understand it/myself though writing, photos and poetry. I often look through old scribbled notebooks and excavate unique jottings that I had forgotten. I also have had the fear that I will use something as my own thought that I have written down via someone else's thoughts. Mostly I can't understand my own notes. Sometimes I jot something down that seems unique at the time but it doesn't translate or stand the test of time.

    ReplyDelete
  13. My life contains piles of scribbles.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I didn't much like school until I got to uni. It's a shame as I could have really liked it.

    ReplyDelete

Take your time...take a deep breath...then hit me with your best shot.