Day: December 14, 2009

James Scott Bell gives offers a great exercise in looking inside oneself, as an attempt to learn not to “write what you know”, but to write “who you are.”  Here’s the result of answering his questions for myself:

• Take a look inside:
  • What do you care most about in the world?
    • Happiness.  Feeling good.  Making people happy.  Family.
  • If you were to write your own obituary, how would you want it to read?
    • He was a kind and thoughtful man.  He cared about people.  He absolutely loved life.  Had many faults, but would laugh at himself.  He made a difference.  He brought a little bit of sunshine into people’s lives.  He was a great writer.  He was one of the smartest people.  He was a pessimist, and he hated that part of himself.  He loved the outdoors.  He loved flyfishing.  He loved Wyoming.  He loved the mountains.  Loved snow.  He was honest.  Tough, but fair.
  • What is your physical appearance?  How do you feel about it?  How does it affect you?
    • There’s always that 20 lbs. I’m trying to lose.  My hairline has receded into the distant past. What hair I have is turning gray, I’m losing my hearing, and I have arthritis in the middle toe of my left foot.   I don’t like my appearance when I look in the mirror.  I see just a plain, boring guy.
  • What do you fear most?
    • Losing a child.  Growing old.  Being too feeble to enjoy life anymore.
  • What are your major strengths of character?
    • Honesty.  Determination.  Loyalty.
  • What are your major flaws?
    • Short temper.  Pessimist.  Negative person.  Stubbornness.
  • What are you good at?  What do you wish you were good at?
    • I am good at flying.  Good at “figuring out things.”  Good at computer stuff.  Good with trivia.  Good at fishing.  Good at love.  I wish I was good at budgeting my time.  I wish I could stop procrastinating about writing.
  • If you could do one thing and know that you would be successful, what would you do?
    • Write.
  • What are three events from your childhood that helped shape you into the person you are today?
    • 1.  Summer camping in Tenderfoot inspired a love of flyfishing and the mountains.
    • 2.  Growing up around the Apollo moon missions gave me a love of Science and Science Fiction.
    • 3.  Being given the assignment of reading “The Hobbit”, and then finding a dusty old hardback copy of “The Lord of the Rings” and discovering a whole world of the characters and places I had discovered in J.R.R. Tolkein’s wonderful prose.
  • What are some of your annoying habits?
    • I can’t stop lecturing, even after I’ve made my point.
    • I see the “bad” in everything.
    • I am a perfectionist.
  • What secret in your life do you hope is never revealed?
    • ??? I can’t write that here!
  • What is your philosophy of life?
    • Much like that of Conan the Barbarian’s.  We are born, we lead a hard life, grasping for what happiness we can find in a world where much is unfair, and unhappy.  In the end, we die, going from a “training ground” to eternal happiness in a place where there is no more hurt, no more tears, no more pain… only love.

Illuminar Messiah

My story is about Brinn, an immortal, who has become separated from his people.  He is the last of his kind left in the land.  He longs to be with his kind, and unable to reach them, comes to hate his immortality.  He longs for nothing more than to die.  He tries to kill himself but can’t.  He just wants the endless days and nights to stop.

And there’s Eldar.  He watches the demons come for his mother’s soul as she dies.  He can see the spirit world.  He is so afraid of death, of the darkness that follows.  He longs to find a way to escape it, to find a way to become immortal.  He wishes he could be one of the illuminar.

The two find each other, and together, while saving their worlds, help each other to find the release they are searching for.

Studying a book on plot and structure and listening to James Horner’s “Casper’s Lullaby”.  I am fascinated by ghosts.  My character can see the spirit world.  I listen to the music and picture the sad plight of spirits trying to communicate with the living.  What message do they have?  What do they need to tell?  How lonely it must be to be at the window into the living, looking in, but unable to go back, to touch, smell, taste, or experience that world again.  How sad.  I long to help them.  The ghosts.