Kind of sad, no?
*
Since I fried my Vaio by spilling orange soda on it at 3 AM, thank you very much, I've been without a laptop of my own for nearly a week and of course with limited time to use this borrowed computer, there hasn't been any writing.
I needed something to keep my distracted, and low and behold, I found my "victim." Though we have not met face-to-face yet, we've become friends. He's a re-enactor, like myself, but has been doing the hobby since he was thirteen, and he re-enacts five periods.
He expressed interest one night, after reading, "Proctor," which is the novella I finished, that he too wanted too drop the reader into an era long passed. The problem was simple. It's something we all experience. Even the most advanced writers know this all too common dilemma.
"I have trouble putting my thoughts on paper," he said to me one night. "How do you do it? With details?"
Hmm...
I can say I'm an unorthodox writer as I don't follow the path as others do. Those character information sheets? They've never worked for me, and for those who plan out each and every chapter in precise detail as if they were creating a Last Will and Testament, nope, I'll pass. Some of the basic "rules" I accept however, and that's carrying around a pad of paper and pencil, and that was my first suggestion to my friend.
If you have difficulty organizing those crazy thoughts, write them down.
"Get a pad of paper and pencil and write down all your thoughts," I suggested.
"All?" he asked, than laughed afterwords.
"Yes. By jotting them [thoughts] down, you can begin organizing. You'll soon learn more about yourself eventually. Also important. You can also look back at those random things, and use them in stories."
"True," he said. "How do you get details?"
"People watching." I explained how just watching everyone around you is so vital in creating characters, clothing, hair, dialogue, dialect, expressions, injuries, etc. The possibilities are endless, which is another reason to have a notebook and pencil, unless you're like me now, and can mentally file away such specifics.
So, that is what stage I'm currently at. Baby steps for sure. Though he feels weird recording his thoughts, it seems he's up to it.
*bows*
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