How do you write? Are you kidding me!!
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Original - Misc › Non-Fiction/True Stories/Autobiographical
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Category:
Original - Misc › Non-Fiction/True Stories/Autobiographical
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
52
Views:
7,172
Reviews:
192
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
The Musical Muse
The Musical Muse
March 1,2008
I have taken a continuing education course through the local university regarding creativity. Actually I’m working towards a certificate in Creative Writing, which would get me probably a nice frame and that’s about it. However, this creativity course has sharpened my focus on ‘HOW’ I write. It didn’t really point to anything new. I have attempted most of the tips and techniques offered by the instructor at various times in my writing life on my own to some spectacular failures and some success.
The amazing thing was that most of the other students were my age or older and getting back into writing or attempting it for the first time. I could actually see the light blubs going off above their heads when various methods were offered and explored. I was sitting there going, been there, done that, give me something new -- then we had a creativity class using music. There was one part where we didn’t write we just listened to it. Everyone had an inner vision of the same thing which was really odd. The music evoked water images from everyone: a stream, a lake, white water rapids, a tempest. That was tres cool. It turned out to be from Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series. Go figure.
What I did discover was that music, any kind, any genre, classical, punk, soundtrack, etc. etc. and so forth did something major for me. I have already discovered that I cannot write in silence. When I got seriously sick in 2006, I knew I was sick because I said in absolute silence (and darkness too but I won’t get into that). I knew I got better when I started listening to the radio again and pulling out my cds and mp3s. Anyways back to the class, some of the smaller exercises in the music class were just snap shots, a couple of paragraphs in a five minute time span. The chapter named “Onomatopoeia from Tentacles for the Brides Bouquet” resulted from the start of that class paragraph. So attempting little exercises can leader to bigger and better angst. (insert tongue in cheek here.)
LOOKING BACK:
Within the two past years – Cake (2006), Cinnamon, Caramel, Cloves (2007) and Candy (2008) I have written 2125 pages to date. Cake is over 200,000 words. The others progressively get larger as I go. I easily recall the music I was listening to as I wrote, especially if it was an emotional rollercoaster.
I have always loved that song by Holly Cole – “Make it go away”. I thought it was just a beautiful melancholy masterpiece. I had a mental flash in Caramel when Azrael and Marcus were so fucked and Az was staring out the window of the office while the rain poured down. It just clicked. They had to ‘make it go away or make it better, because that is what love was supposed to do”. And those boys were tearing each other to shreds.
“Welcome to the pleasuredome” was a cassette tape (anyone remember those?) I had when Frankie Goes to Hollywood burst onto the scene. When Claudius and Sex needed to get together, to have a connection, before the battle royale this song just starting playing on my computer. No. I don’t have ghosts. I had musicmatch set to autodj for three hours and just as I got to that scene “The Power of Love” started. I actually cried listening to it as I wrote. I ended up looping that song until I had the scene done.
Since my writing class, if a song evokes something from me, I loop it continuously until I get that emotional feedback down into the scene. There are times, I’m having to wipe my face with tissues because I got watery eyes and a runny nose.
I can see the progression in my writing even over these past few months. I think it is all for the better. The hit counters on my AFF offerings keep going up, so I am making the assumption that the audience likes it too.
So, I end with this. Send me song titles and artists that pull something from you, the reader emotionally. I need canon fodder and I want to expand my musical horizon. If I was thinking, I should have writing a song list of the music I was using when writing. It probably would have been an interesting sidebar.
Later!!
Kiix
March 1,2008
I have taken a continuing education course through the local university regarding creativity. Actually I’m working towards a certificate in Creative Writing, which would get me probably a nice frame and that’s about it. However, this creativity course has sharpened my focus on ‘HOW’ I write. It didn’t really point to anything new. I have attempted most of the tips and techniques offered by the instructor at various times in my writing life on my own to some spectacular failures and some success.
The amazing thing was that most of the other students were my age or older and getting back into writing or attempting it for the first time. I could actually see the light blubs going off above their heads when various methods were offered and explored. I was sitting there going, been there, done that, give me something new -- then we had a creativity class using music. There was one part where we didn’t write we just listened to it. Everyone had an inner vision of the same thing which was really odd. The music evoked water images from everyone: a stream, a lake, white water rapids, a tempest. That was tres cool. It turned out to be from Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series. Go figure.
What I did discover was that music, any kind, any genre, classical, punk, soundtrack, etc. etc. and so forth did something major for me. I have already discovered that I cannot write in silence. When I got seriously sick in 2006, I knew I was sick because I said in absolute silence (and darkness too but I won’t get into that). I knew I got better when I started listening to the radio again and pulling out my cds and mp3s. Anyways back to the class, some of the smaller exercises in the music class were just snap shots, a couple of paragraphs in a five minute time span. The chapter named “Onomatopoeia from Tentacles for the Brides Bouquet” resulted from the start of that class paragraph. So attempting little exercises can leader to bigger and better angst. (insert tongue in cheek here.)
LOOKING BACK:
Within the two past years – Cake (2006), Cinnamon, Caramel, Cloves (2007) and Candy (2008) I have written 2125 pages to date. Cake is over 200,000 words. The others progressively get larger as I go. I easily recall the music I was listening to as I wrote, especially if it was an emotional rollercoaster.
I have always loved that song by Holly Cole – “Make it go away”. I thought it was just a beautiful melancholy masterpiece. I had a mental flash in Caramel when Azrael and Marcus were so fucked and Az was staring out the window of the office while the rain poured down. It just clicked. They had to ‘make it go away or make it better, because that is what love was supposed to do”. And those boys were tearing each other to shreds.
“Welcome to the pleasuredome” was a cassette tape (anyone remember those?) I had when Frankie Goes to Hollywood burst onto the scene. When Claudius and Sex needed to get together, to have a connection, before the battle royale this song just starting playing on my computer. No. I don’t have ghosts. I had musicmatch set to autodj for three hours and just as I got to that scene “The Power of Love” started. I actually cried listening to it as I wrote. I ended up looping that song until I had the scene done.
Since my writing class, if a song evokes something from me, I loop it continuously until I get that emotional feedback down into the scene. There are times, I’m having to wipe my face with tissues because I got watery eyes and a runny nose.
I can see the progression in my writing even over these past few months. I think it is all for the better. The hit counters on my AFF offerings keep going up, so I am making the assumption that the audience likes it too.
So, I end with this. Send me song titles and artists that pull something from you, the reader emotionally. I need canon fodder and I want to expand my musical horizon. If I was thinking, I should have writing a song list of the music I was using when writing. It probably would have been an interesting sidebar.
Later!!
Kiix