Tuesday, September 11, 2007




WRITING STUFF: GETTING ABSORBED IN THE STORY

The writing is so good it absorbs me.



I am walking the Cornish seacoast, choppy wind in my hair, thinking about hot cups of tea. Thank you, P.D. James - you put me right in there, eyes welling with tears.


Or maybe I am thrown back into my old Counterintelligence days, thinking about how interconnected tradecraft techniques are, especially when peripheral people are drawn into a job, or when you recognize something on the other side of the fence that you always thought was yours alone. Thank you, William Gibson - you got my stomach in knots, sweating over the old paranoias.

Getting drawn in is what it's all about. Losing yourself in the story - it's why you read, isn't it?

And isn't it why you write, too?

THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS

The Calendar that tells me I only have thirteen more work days left.

The dish of M&Ms on the coffee table. Only a few at a time are disappearing - DH & I are both being very controlled and sensible. Besides, I remember that time I went face down in 5lbs. of them.

Rum cakes from Tortuga Rum. I just ordered a chocolate one for someone special's birthday.

I know it's September 11. I'll remember the past, but I won't let it stop me. The future is too important.

7 comments:

Angie said...

Getting drawn in is what it's all about. Losing yourself in the story - it's why you read, isn't it?

And isn't it why you write, too?


Definitely. :) There's nothing better than getting sucked so far into a story that you have to read -- or write -- until you can't focus your eyes on the text anymore. Then you go for a nap and dream about it, LOL!

Angie

Sonnjea said...

Very nice. And I admire your restraint; a bowl of M&Ms would last about 13 seconds at my house...

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

Nothing like getting so drawn into a story (whether reading or writing) that time disappears. When I used to paint, I used have that happen, too. I'd only just get started, look up and several hours had passed.

Now, if only I could make the time at the office pass so quickly and pleasantly...

Kate Thornton said...

Angie - sometimes the best ideas come out of those dreams!

Sonnjea b - Hah, it's not that hard after that 5lbs of M&Ms episode a few years ago. And that 2 boxes of Ding Dongs contest in the Army...

bunnygirl - I wrote a story once about manipulating the time you don't like, but there's always a payback in the universe.

To read "A Matter of Time" - go here: http://www.fogfire.com/ Click on my story "The Common Cold", scroll down to the end of it and then click on "Archivres" to find "A Matter of Time"

Let me know what you think - it was published in 1998 - gosh, almost 10 years ago, and I *still* haven't figured out to how to do it for real.

Bernita said...

Yes, it is.

A day of grief and gallantry.
After reading my daughter's essay at http://readingt.readingcities.com/index.php, I felt anything I might write about Sept 11 would be superfulous.

Kate Thornton said...

Bernita - what an essay. I think you're right.

Zany Mom said...

Writing is good therapy. I write because my characters tell me to. They fight over who gets to speak first. And then they always do unpredictable things. I have to keep writing to find out what happens next! (yes, i think Stephen King said that, but I thought it before I knew he'd written it).

Off to write some more (dipping hand into bowl of m&ms before leaving...)