Another day in the virtual office - and Pros chat?
Well, yesterday didn't work out very well in the virtual office as far as what-to-do-between-bursts-of-work goes, but it was very nice to have people dropping by! So I'm going to do it again - do pop in and say hi. *g* I think I'm feeling a bit better today - maybe I was fighting something off yesterday
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Excellent to hear you've another Visions in process - shall look forward to that! I don't suppose I can help with the agonising though. Pretty sure I've seen Blythe Spirit in your visions before, and I must have read it, but for the life of me can't remember it...
November is a bit grim, but I seem to remember that it's the one where the last lines (which I don't think Sebastian was always very good at) make up for the gloom. Shall try and remember to let you know, if I turn out to be right!
how *does* a writer achieve the depiction of a scene which you can immediately see in your head - you're *there* with them - and is still in your head hours later?
Ha - that's where the magic comes in, I think... *g* I always imagine that the writer themselves are feeling so immersed ins something, and can see and feel it so vividly for themselves, that they pass it onto the reader... but I dunno - I wonder!
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Having wandered off thinking, and having another look at Jat's fog story, I think it's probably also when writers remember that people are surrounded by things all the time, not just a description's-worth of where they are to set the scene and then off to other bits in the story, but that on a cold foggy day, you can't just see the fog and forget it, you feel it around you all the time, and then you notice that your feet are crunching on frozen leaves, and then something else, and so on. The day never goes away, it stays with the story and the lads, and so perhaps then it stays with us... Well, that's perhaps what I reckon, anyway. *g*
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I know, that’s always the way. But it must be lovely to have returned to some comments.
Excellent to hear you've another Visions in process - shall look forward to that!
Thank you so much! I’ve been sitting on a couple for a while now which I’ll post in the future. There aren’t that many images left I can use so I’ve got to select them sparingly.
how *does* a writer achieve the depiction of a scene which you can immediately see in your head - you're *there* with them - and is still in your head hours later?
Ha - that's where the magic comes in, I think... *g* I always imagine that the writer themselves are feeling so immersed ins something, and can see and feel it so vividly for themselves, that they pass it onto the reader... but I dunno - I wonder!
And have the words to describe what they see? That’s the thing. If it was me… I can see things but I’m not wordy enough or technically able enough to get things down on paper in that kind of magical way.
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Having wandered off thinking, and having another look at Jat's fog story, I think it's probably also when writers remember that people are surrounded by things all the time, not just a description's-worth of where they are to set the scene and then off to other bits in the story, but that on a cold foggy day, you can't just see the fog and forget it, you feel it around you all the time, and then you notice that your feet are crunching on frozen leaves, and then something else, and so on.
I like that, an interesting way of looking at the question. I’m sure I can have those feelings but it’s getting them down on paper in this magical way which would be the challenge for me.
Thanks so much for your reply. I know you lead a busy life and writing replies takes time but I do appreciate it.
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Oh, I don't know - I seem to remember saying that you had at least two pieces I'd like to see more of. In fact I've gone and had another look at them, and I still would like to read more - I was completely immersed! And that's not even counting the wee kittens snippet, which was actually what came to my mind first. I've said it before and I'll say it again - you should...!
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The kittens! For a second there I thought what kittens? but must have been thinking of the family of black kittens (plus mum) I saw emerging from behind a tree in the snow one magical lunch hour from work in Hyde Park. It was surreal, they just kept coming and I wish someone else had been there to share the experience and tell me I wasn't dreaming.
Do you know what stumped me in that piece of writing and for the next 14 years? I wanted Doyle to meet Bodie in the lodging house they were sharing (in Londonistan) but I couldn't work out how to engineer that meeting. One thing I've learnt is it helps to know *what* you want to write about - to at least have a rough idea of where you're going - before you search for the words to describe the visual outline you already have in your head, because I can definitely see them!
And on that note I'm going to have my cheese roll...
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