Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Writing Game

I write. I write because I have to not because it's a real choice for me. The real interesting thing about writing is you cannot do it all the time and when I can't write, like when I'm behind the wheel of my car or when I'm curled up in bed, my mind is still working creating stories or different ways of saying a simple every day sentence. Sometimes I find that I play with the words and generate quite a few different ways of saying something.

Stories, even the true ones, are from my personal perspective on the life around me and the things I see and write about are seen from my angle. If you think about it, that's why those eye witnesses to crimes are so unreliable. The view is never objective. So when a writer gives their point of view you should always look at it as one way of viewing the incident or event.

I've deviated a bit here but that's why the public is often so entranced by books and stories because it's like getting into someone else's head and out of our own. That is also why most good writers are also prolific readers. So if Hemingway said something one way, how can I say the same thing - but make it more accessible, or more intense, or more anything that make my piece more original.

That's the challenge I set for myself each and every time I sit before a blank page. Writing is a test - one that I have to do differently each and every day to make it work.

4 comments:

  1. I've never considered myself a writer. I began my blog on March 1st, this year. It surprises me that I have kept it up all these months. What's even more surprising is that I have not grown tired of the exercise. I enjoy writing my blog and, of course, reading everyone else's blog.

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  2. Whatever your reason for writing - I enjoy your blog!

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  3. This is the first post I read on your blog and I'm already enticed to read more.
    I definitely can relate to your statement about people trying to get into someone's head through their writing, trying to understand how others think. I think writing allows us to see way deeper than mere daily interactions as to how someone's thought process works.

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  4. Katrine,
    Writing opens windows to the way people people's minds work. Their choice of words and phraseology as well as what they actually write about gives us a clear focus on the person inside most of the time.

    Thanks for coming by!

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