I HAVE A WRITER'S MEMORY,
WHICH MAKES EVERYTHING WORSE
THAN MAYBE IT ACTUALLY WAS.
(Amy Tan)
I can take a minor incident and turn it into the Titanic. I can take a small snub and turn it into "nobody likes me anymore and never will again." I can take a sniffle and turn it into walking pneumonia. You get the picture.
But, apparently, all of that isn't just me being dramatic. Or emotional. Or crazy. It's just me being a writer. Whew! I feel so much better now.
BUT...
...sometimes things are as bad, as hurtful, as crazy, as dramatic as I think they are. That's when it's time to let my writer's brain out of its cage and let it chomp and gnaw and tear apart whatever is happening. It makes a big mess but I usually end up with a character, scene, or story as a result. And it makes me feel better.
Maybe whatever was going on wasn't so bad after all. Or maybe it was. Either way, as writers, we're ready.
BUT...
...sometimes things are as bad, as hurtful, as crazy, as dramatic as I think they are. That's when it's time to let my writer's brain out of its cage and let it chomp and gnaw and tear apart whatever is happening. It makes a big mess but I usually end up with a character, scene, or story as a result. And it makes me feel better.
Maybe whatever was going on wasn't so bad after all. Or maybe it was. Either way, as writers, we're ready.
You're right; we definitely know what to do with the material in our lives.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly gives us a different perspective, doesn't it?
ReplyDelete