Deanne's Writing World
Follow me
  • Home
  • My World - blog
    • The Daily Brat
    • My writings
    • Where I've Been
  • Untangling the Knot - Field Goal Vlog
    • Training Log
    • Sneak Peak at Untangling the Knot
    • Kicking and Patriot Photos
  • The World of my Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Molto Mayhem - Favorite Italian Recipes
    • Betting Jessica's Character World
  • Author's World
  • Contact Info

Overheard at... Starbucks

2/24/2012

1 Comment

 
“I’m listening to her and I realize I have no idea what she’s saying.” 

It was cute in its very rarity, two older gentlemen were comparing notes on what it was like to speak with their wives. They went on to say that so much of the conversation seemed to take place within their spouse’s head that it was difficult to follow when they made leaps to other topics. 
 
I imagine my husband could relate to this. At points in time he will ask me what my thought process was that led to an, apparently, out of the blue subject change or question. It is quite funny to go back and track it: “Well…. We were discussing vacation, and I thought of the bats in Tahoe. That reminded me of the zoo, which reminded me of summer camps which reminded me of Girl Scouts which reminded me that I was in charge this weekend which reminded me of the work I still needed to do on my computer which reminded me that it was running slowly. So…. Can we call someone to fix it or not?”

The danger, as a writer though, is that this can easily happen in my writing as well. It is clear, at least in my head, why my character does something. But, unless the reader somehow has psychic access to those personal thoughts it can appear to be a random , or worse, out of character, action to them.

Editing my own work does not really help with this (unless it is years later and even I can’t remember how I reached a certain place). What can help, though, is having an objective third party review my work. When I hear questions like, “but why did she xyx?” I know I have made a leap that my readers won’t be able to follow. 
 
Sadly, these leaps happen more frequently than I like, both in my writing and in real life.  I believe it is the problem with being creative… our imagination never shuts down, even when our husbands are telling us something they think is critical. Somehow, I will still end up thinking about the airplane, then the weather, then the cold, then the jacket then the….. 

… Come on, Honey, keep up.

1 Comment
Cassiel Knight link
2/24/2012 05:47:12 am

LOL! I loved this! I could see my husband in yours and the two older men. I also drive him nuts when I change subjects so fast without the transition. There's been many times I've been telling him about something else and he's been back where I left him. It's funny, because I can totally tie that into my writing when I've forgotten to set the change into the next scene. It's true - art does imitate life. :-D

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Subscribe to my blog:

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    About Me...

    Picture

    Deanne Wilsted

    Link here to Betting Jessica on Amazon.com

    Background - Overheard While Writing
    It's hard to explain, but 12 years ago, when I started to write seriously, the only place where I could get my work done was at Starbucks. 

    Since then, 4 manuscripts and 4 favored Starbucks later, I sill find myself drawn to a cozy corner and a half-decaf Americano.... not to mention the many friendly faces that greet me when I arrive.

    And, while I try to stay focused, there are some times when the conversations or interactions that surround me draw my attention away from my own characters, and into the world of life's own characters. 

    This BLOG captures some of those funny, sincere, inspiring moments. Maybe they will give you a reason to write as well.

    Archives

    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011

    Categories

    All
    4th Of July
    Agatha Christie
    Age
    Animals
    Anxiety
    Art
    Bath
    Betting Jessica
    Blogging
    Book Covers
    Books
    Boston
    Bullying
    Business
    Camp
    Change
    Charity
    Chocolate
    Christmas
    Covid
    Dessert
    Dogs
    Earthquake
    Egypt
    Emotions
    England
    E Pub
    E-pub
    Exercize
    Family
    Fiction
    Food
    Genre Fiction
    Genre Fiction
    Goals
    God
    Government
    Gratitude
    Great Books
    Happy Hour
    Harry Potter
    Hotels
    Humor
    Inspiration
    Italy
    Jane Austen
    Kids
    Lake Tahoe
    Language
    Literary Agents
    Literary Ficiton
    Literary Ficiton
    Lost Dogs
    Memorial Day
    Milestones
    Military
    Molto Mayhem
    Mommyhood
    Music
    Nolables
    Obama
    Observation
    Obstacles
    Online Saftey
    Oxfam
    Parental Controls
    Parenting
    Paris
    Pets
    Poetry
    Politics
    Portland
    Promo
    Publishing
    Reviews
    Romance
    Rules
    School
    Science
    Seasons
    Senses
    Silliness
    Small Business
    Soulmate
    Sports
    Starbucks
    Stress
    Summer
    Summer Jobs
    Talents
    Tears
    Tennis
    Travel
    Untangling The Knot
    Vikingsholm
    Weather
    Weddings
    Writing

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from DonkeyHotey, Micah Sittig, dalbera, Salim Shadid, Matthew Juzenas, Ms. Phoenix, MRBECK, miss_millions, naosuke ii, charlesdyer, lorenkerns, Vegan Photo, Bellafaye, Bahman., Corey Leopold, christopher_brown, Premnath Thirumalaisamy ~ Taking a Break, F H Mira, harrycavalcante, grongar, Montgomery Cty Division of Solid Waste Services, Francisco Antunes, cumi&ciki, frankieleon, geezaweezer, kiera.chan, pulkitsinha, optictopic, Bradley N. Weber, Probably Okay!, Monkey Mash Button, Karen Roe, toritoons, frankieleon, dharrisphotog, shawnzrossi, rfduck, ell brown, Victor Tongdee, Phillips Academy, Andover, Brandon Giesbrecht, Moyan_Brenn, Patricia Pierce, Adrian R. Tan, Chris Parker2012, pds209, gabrielsaldana, g.sighele, Kevan