Sailors on the Sea

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Sometimes Down is Good

It's raining this morning. A bit of a surprise as the local weather people assured us it would be a nice day. Oh, well.

Kind of down again. It's the garage. Home searching. Doctor visits on the near horizon. Writing. And the rain. I guess yesterday's attempt to lift myself up wasn't so successful after all.

The truth is, I've done some of my best writing when I'm down. Maybe that's why I tend to embrace the feelings so warmly. They're not only familiar, but they are filled with inspiration. When I am down I seem to relate better to my characters. They become more real to me, and I begin to understand better why they are doing what they do. Even characters I didn't particularly like.

It was during a down time that I developed Odelmaar's character, and indeed, his whole family. (Odelmaar is one of the 'heavies' in Swords of Fire: Traitor.) Up to that point I didn't like Odelmaar at all. Or any of his children. In the down time I learned about his daughter. She ceased to be known as "FM 225" and was given a name: Tavaar.

In case you're wondering, "FM 225" was how I designated unnamed characters.

"F" indicated the character was female.

"M" indicated the 12th generation since the founding of the family compound.

"225" was the 225th unnamed girl of this generation.

The mother at this time was "FH173".

I was rewriting the story and had reached the place where Khirsha was in Gahrem Village, serving his latest punishment as a toteman on a small caravan. Odelmaar's daughter became important to the scene, but it was only later that I learned why. After her and Khirsha's - encounter - I became more interested in Tavaar. Who was she? Why was she like that? Ultimately this would lead me to write Tavaar's Backstory, which took nearly a year. (And it still isn't finished.)

I fell in love with Tavaar, which is kind of sick when I think about how much of me is in that character. Guess I'm a bit of a narissist.

I used down times to write a lot of Prophecies of Madatar, particularly when scenes involved Elden and/or Mishua. Apprentice was written entirely during a down time. The draft, anyway. Most of my story germs are created in down times. Only a few have come when I was "up". I guess "up" is too superficial. It's the "down" times which put us in touch with the spiritual side of life.

The problem with this down time is the timing. I will not be available much to write today. Got the garage sale going. In the rain.

3 comments:

fairyhedgehog said...

I'm not surprised you're down if you're doing a garage sale in the rain.

Can you keep a notebook and pen by you and do some writing by hand?

Bevie said...

Actually, we've been busy enough that writing isn't an option. Not getting rich, but it's already been a good day money-wise. I'm kind of chilled from the rain, but that looks like it's finally ended.

Lisa said...

Glad the garage sell is going well.

ALthough I'm not happy to hear that you've been so down, I am happy to hear about the time you've invested in the next in your series. It is just amazing the amount of care and detail that you've put into your novel. I can see how you can escape in it - that nice thing about long stories and the sense of escaping. well, write away!

Contributors

A Tentative Schedule

Monday - Progress Report
Where am I with regard to the Current Book

Tuesday - Thoughts About Writing
I was going to be profound, but let's be real

Wednesday - What Am I Learning
What can I take from what I am doing

Thursday - Work Sent Out For Review
Respondes to my submissions

Friday - Other Works of Fantasy
Some of my other fantasy writing

Saturday - The Impact of Music
How music has influenced what I write

Sunday - Venting
My 'morbid' time. A safe compromise, I think