Hi Tuesday Writers,
It's 93 degrees F in Austin, Texas. Not surprising. But
the flowers outside my window here are standing tall and vibrant -- mainly
because we had a quick, drenching surprise rain a few days ago. The flash
lasted just long enough to make the sidewalks mirror-bright in the sun's
reflection for about half and hour. Then it dried up, disappeared and was back
to the mid-90s as if it never happened. Except for these gorgeous
flowers.
People are like the weather. Complicated and surprising, much more moving invisibly beneath the surface of things than we realize. Whenever I'm surprised by people's behavior -- including my own -- I think to what an amazing writer and one of my favorite writing teachers told me: "People are never all just one way. Not even Hitler." I was reminded of this very thought a few hours ago when a friend sent me an email from that website cracked.com. In the email was a black and white photo of Hitler himself, moustached and winter booted, straddling a toboggan, in the snow, smiling his head off. If I didn't know better, he could have been anybody having some wintry fun and a really bad (facial) hair day. I never imagined him this way.
People are like the weather. Complicated and surprising, much more moving invisibly beneath the surface of things than we realize. Whenever I'm surprised by people's behavior -- including my own -- I think to what an amazing writer and one of my favorite writing teachers told me: "People are never all just one way. Not even Hitler." I was reminded of this very thought a few hours ago when a friend sent me an email from that website cracked.com. In the email was a black and white photo of Hitler himself, moustached and winter booted, straddling a toboggan, in the snow, smiling his head off. If I didn't know better, he could have been anybody having some wintry fun and a really bad (facial) hair day. I never imagined him this way.
PROCESS: CUT
THROUGH THE FACADE
When it
comes to building realistic characters in our writing, having compassion for
them is key, just as it is in our own human relationships. Nobody is all one
way. Not even Hitler.
Try this: Consider a character or a person -- yourself, for example --
someone you know well. Jot down one or more ways what that character or person
desires or wants in a situation conflicts with her/his actions or behaviors.
How is what s/he says at odds with or opposite her/his behavior -- or how s/he
wants the world to perceive her/him.
FEATURED VENUE: POST SECRET
Not all
secrets direct a life of camouflaging behavior to distract from the secret, but
a secret often remains a secret because, in hiding it, we act in ways to not be
associated with that behavior. PostSecret is an ongoing community art
project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a
homemade postcard. Submissions are open 24/7. It's also an excellent source for
generating thoughts.
Submission guidelines here: http://www.postsecretcommunity.com/news-faq/mail-secrets
PROMPT
“Nobody knows I _____” (5min)
GUEST
WRITER BIO: Stacy Muszynski is a writer and editor. You can find her in Huffington Post, The Rumpus and elsewhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment