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“You enter the extraordinary by way of the ordinary.” ~Frederick Buechner
Workshop:
Six Conversations for Writing Creative
Journals
“For to remember
is to make a pledge: to the indelible experience of personal perception, and to
history itself.” Patricia Hampl
Now
that you have developed some sensory language, and defined character attributes
and physical locations, the next stage is to extend your seedlings to focus on
relationships, memories, and communication. Look for specific threads where
past history can connect with present history in your personal world.
We
want to be able to connect emotionally with our readers—sometimes across
barriers of language or age or culture. However, often, we first need to
understand how we connect with ourselves. In her study on memoir Patricia Hampl
also notes that it is a landscape bordered by memory and imagination.
Art
and imagery can become a separate language of communication. One way to begin
to explore some aspects applying autobiographical premises and techniques is to
use vignettes, a self-contained prose passage, according to Michael J. Bugeja, which
then can be developed later into narrative, or poetry, or essays, if so
desired.
Consider
vignettes as a series of verbal photographs. These mini snapshots can be seen
through your own personal autobiography or through a fictional character.
Sometimes it helps to lay the groundwork for memoir through a character in
order to set up a scene, especially if you are exploring sensitive issues where
healing still needs to take place. In this situation a certain emotional
distance helps ‘see’ into the truth behind the memory.
One approach that Michael J Bugeja suggests can also
become an over-arching thread for perspective and voice and theme.
Poet as a Visionary can
be a veteran of an experience—someone who has participated in or been an
involved witness or someone who hasn’t—yet gives an overview of events,
sometimes by imagining what it would have been like or has an opinion on the
whole process.
Poet as an Eyewitness
has the experience and gives a first hand account of some aspect. The emphasis
is on impact of the experience whereas the visionary’s emphasis in on
perspective or opinion.
We’ll examine some examples in the next blog as we discuss
voice, but for now look over your maps and see if the words you chose fit
either as a visionary or eyewitness voice.
Action
Steps:
Begin
the shaping process towards an outline and possibly a working table of
contents. Choose one perspective to develop a possible theme thread.
1. Make a list of your key words so far.
2. Next to each write a very brief sentence
that focuses it’s meaning to you then.
3. Next to each mark whether the key is a
location, or a relationship, or a inner revelation. Do any repeat more than
others?
4. Take whichever focus repeats and then set
up a practice outline using that as the foundation.
Share: Which
perspective did you choose and why?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop:
Six Conversations for Writing Creative
Journals
“But
ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will
tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of
the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of
the Lord had done this?” Job 12:7-9
Scripture often reminds us of the power of creation in our lives
and inspires us to see through a new lens, or another different perspective.
One summer I shared some inspiration I found after some investigation regarding
the unique characteristics of birds as a family devotional. Here’s an example.
“Bird
Struck! Woodpecker
Family
Devotional
“Thank
you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how
well I know it” Psalm 139:14.
Although
they differ in length, all woodpeckers have a straight chisel-like
self-sharpening bill and straight stiff tail feathers, which help them to lean
against tree trunks.
They
are like living electric drills similar to the jackhammers workers use to break
up sidewalks for repair. The woodpecker can pound up to twenty some blows a
second on a tree. That’s a lot of hard battering.
At
the back of their lower jaw is a muscular pad that acts as a shock absorber.
They are specially designed for the work they do.
Not
only do they drill into branches and trees to eat insects and grubs, but the
holes they excavate often become nests for other smaller birds such as
nuthatches, wrens, and elf owls.
Jesus
tells us that God knows when each sparrow falls and how many hairs are on his
head. We are each unique to Him—a one-of-a-kind design that has specific
abilities for special tasks.
Sometimes
He has a very special job He asks us to do. If another bird tried to imitate
the woodpecker, he would be badly hurt without the shock absorber. So it’s
important not to imitate other people but be our unique selves.
When
we follow Jesus, He Himself protects us and becomes our shock absorber. Then we
can freely live our lives in His protection doing the work he asks us to do.
Action
What are some special things you know how to
do? How can you help someone else with your abilities?”
What
have you been reading, or seeing, recently in nature in your investigations that
inspires you to see through a new lens and a fresh perspective whether land or
sea or sky or animals. What insight have you discovered to share and how do you
want to share it?
Action
Steps:
1. Take a walk in
a familiar setting such as a walk around a few blocks or a nearby park, or a
trail you jog or walk whenever possible.
2. Deliberately choose
a characteristic to look for or listen for: foliage, or animal, or wind and
concentrate on that specific detail.
3. What do you
notice that you have not noticed before?
Share: What is your
fresh insight that inspires you?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop:
Six Conversations for Writing Creative
Journals
“Material
objects are used to express spiritual truths and reveal that nature is more
than it seems. Nature is book of symbols…….’This empty world which we do see is
an exact picture and pattern of the spiritual and heavenly world which we do not see.’”
Herbert Lockyer
With an expanded language to push us out of our
comfort zone consider what symbols are the most representative to your habitat.
Begin with the familiar ones that speak across languages and cultures. For
example, we all can relate to symbols we see daily such as the sun, moon, and
stars.
And yet at the same time we may see each from a
different perspective depending on where we live. Extended summer sun may be
experienced as a joy of longer days, or, for those for whom the sun lasts long hours
in the summer, it can mean sleep deprivation. For example, in Fairbanks, Alaska,
the summer sun means twenty-two hours of daylight.
Once you have your list of symbols investigate
their meanings. Which are positive or negative to you specifically. Are they
different from what others might perceive them? Why? Which sensory connections
have the most impact for you physically, mentally, or spiritually?
When you have investigated the top few symbols
that you relate to write up a brief letter to yourself as to why they capture
you. Then consider how you would like to share in some form of art, whether or
not you have the skills to do so.
Why would that symbol in that presentation best
express a truth you have discovered?
Action
Steps:
“In
a parable, there is nothing contrary to the truth of Nature.” Herbert Lockyer
1. Now make a list of potential symbols that
fit your spiritual truth you recognize in your habitat.
2. What truths do they best represent—both
positive and negative?
3. Which one do you think best fits a
parable? How can you share it in a creative format, whether as a short story or
a song or another form of visible art?
Share: What symbol best
fits your perspective truth?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults
“The capacity to recall the sensory impacts
and perceptions of one’s early years is obviously also a vital part of the
talent in question: but a further dimension of recall is needed for the
physical world of childhood, which, we tend to forget, is out of scale in
surroundings proportioned to adults.” Mollie Hunter
As are our story worlds out of scale to our
normal everyday experiences. Not just the right word then to describe heat, or
cold, or color, or temperature, but also the personal internal emotion that
resonates along with them.
Crawling into a blanket-made fort for a child
may hold all the anticipation of a dangerous journey, or a return to a safe
haven. We need to be able to echo that experience for older readers too. The
settings and description need to be in accord with both the age and the story
itself.
Too often I concentrate on the description
and miss the added impact of the feelings. This, I think, is what leads to a
superficial treatment. I remember the first time my youngest son saw the stars
at night. He was only two and did not have the vocabulary to describe what he
saw. So he flung himself backwards and spread out his arms as if trying to hug
the sky or hold it somehow. Pure speechless astonishment poured out of him.
That night we, who did possess the word vocabulary, saw the night sky in a new
way.
This, I think, is what Mollie Hunter reminds
us—to be conscious of this in our writing and remember the sense of awe that
accompanies these first experiences, and not to diminish their impact.
Action Steps:
1.
For
each of the five senses think of a particular experience that was positive and
one that was negative.
2.
Next
to each list your immediate personal words that describe your reactions.
Share: What horrible taste do you still
remember from childhood?
Read deep, marcy
Write with Impact
 “The imagination is
our way into the divine Imagination, permitting us to see wholly—as whole and
holy—what we perceive as scattered, as order what we perceive as random.”
Austin Farrer (as quoted in Reversed
Thunder by Eugene H. Peterson)
Mythic is often acknowledged, or accused, as imaginary with
the emphasis on made-up impossibilities, or fantastical and unbelievable
stories for entertainment. But mythic imagination is actually visionary—a
strategy of seeing from a new perspective. It dares to ask the what-if
questions to the nth degree. It risks failure over and over again in the
attempts to make whole broken parts.
Mythic imagination permeates story and science, exploration
and cuisine, language and geography. It is priceless, peerless, and passionate.
It dares to dream beyond the reality it can see and touch
and feel. Galileo studied the heavens, improved the telescope, created an early
version of a thermometer, and set his world upside down in arguments by
proposing the earth and other planets revolved around the sun. For that he
faced a trial for heresy.
Three Persian astronomers, or wise men, followed a star
across a thousand miles to welcome a newborn king, born in a stable.
Known primarily for inventing a working light bulb, Thomas
Edison also invented the phonograph and a motion picture camera. With world
changing fantastical consequences. Madam Curie is famous for her studies on radium
and Albert Einstein for the “speed of light”. He is acknowledged as a genius
even though as a teenager he struggled in a school that demanded rote only learning.
One of his quotes states, "The
important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for
existing."
Mythic imagination explodes with possibilities. It ignites wonder. It
sparks creativity.
Share: What
reality would you like to see re-designed? How would a new perspective change
its focus?
Journals,
Diaries, and Letters (Perspective)
“…When we have no
thought of achievement, no thought of self, we are true beginners. Then we can
really learn something. The beginner’s mind is the mind of compassion. When our
mind is compassionate, it is boundless.” Henri Nouwen, The Genesee Diary
All writers are well aware of the treasure that can be found
during research with journals and diaries and letters, especially for memoir
and historical genres. But this area of reading offers gems that can impact all
our work. Regardless of our particular field, reading journals, diaries, and
letters can give us perspective, expertise and courage. We’ll dig a little
deeper into applications over the next few blogs.
First: Perspective.
Henri Nouwen is a writer that often challenges me in his
books causing me to wrestle with my beliefs and choices, solitude and service.
Yet it is in his personal diaries that I am more ready to listen without
argument or questions. Why? Because in some ways reading his diary or letters
is a form of eavesdropping that is restorative. He shares his heart. And builds
a bridge of communication. His feelings are true to him and cannot be dismissed because I don't happen to understand them.
Not only am I neither a man, nor a monk, nor have
experienced hardly any lifestyle close to Nouwen’s, but I still have this opportunity to
understand him by these very personal writings. And then when I need to write a
scene that may involve a person close to one of Nouwen’s experiences I will
have some honest thoughts to guide me.
How as a non-linear processor can I possibly write through
the viewpoint of a character that cannot conceive of anything other than
step-by-step deduction? Or someone in a social or economic strata completely
foreign to me, without inserting possible pre-conceived and possibly false
attitudes.
Reading private thoughts gives a clearer perspective heart
to heart that helps bypass arguments and stereotypes. It works for the
characters we love and the ones we’d rather never meet. But by grounding them
from real live personalities we can write them with more honesty and help our
characters grapple with real life situations. With compassion.
Share: Whose journal have you read that gave you insight?
Read deep,
marcy
History Cont'd Part Three
The following is a detailed essay that shares a very organic
way of passing on family history.
Describing a
place with history: Language and
Literature From a Pueblo Indian Perspective
1. What
style does Leslie Marmon Silko use? (reflective or emphatic, didactic or
philosophical) How does that affect the process she is explaining?
2. How many of you have experienced moving from one
place to another
or re-visited a former family home?
3. What
are the ideas or images that you find familiar and can relate to in this essay?
When I try to access this essay by the
url, I get computerese instead, so I suggest that you just go to google and
type the title above. The essay is a little long but well worth your time.
Share: What new
idea or application struck you after reading Leslie Marmon Silko?
 It’s interesting how a metaphor can contain a number of meanings, and that even when it has the same meaning it may also carry a variety of perspectives. Over the past year I’ve watched several ‘period piece’ series from Britain. Downton Abbey and Lark Rise to Candleford top the list with their quality of actors and setting. However all have phrases, metaphors, and references to common historical threads that don’t necessarily transfer over to other heritages. For example, the central importance of the manor and all that it implies. “To the manor born” reflects an inheritance to prestige and wealth. Or it also means a personality is well suited to manor living. But in many circumstances it’s not only the titled families that are born and raised into the manor, but also many servants can trace their heritage back decades to a life style bound to the manor. Tenant families considered a position tied to the estate, or in the manor itself, as the highest possible opportunity for their children. Both segments of the societal hierarchy took their position and privilege seriously. Newcomers to the manor though often saw it simply as a job and sometimes with disdain. Not all inheritance manor families accepted their position as a responsibility but took it as a right and misused their power. Using the word manor, even literally as a location, has the potential to create emotional tensions, questions and perspectives. One word alone can open up multiple threads of possibilities.
Journal Prompt Choose an expensive dinner celebration, such as an anniversary or graduation. Choose four people involved in the actual meal and write a few sentences for each showing their feelings. Suggestions: guest of honor, family member attending, a staff person in the restaurant, a server or cook in the kitchen, a passerby, another diner close enough to overheard pieces of conversation.
 Busyness, stress, aging, and noise are just some barriers that affect our day-to-day memory retention. Time slips away and we realize we’ve forgotten an errand, or a phone call, or to pay a bill. So we cope with various methods to help us remember, but we also don’t let the frustration control us. Long-term memories, however, have the capacity to cripple plans and relationships when they become so entwined in our minds and hearts that we measure all our decisions against them. Especially when our memory has become distorted over time. Like the telephone game children like to play, the whispered word or phrase at the end is completely different than the beginning, and usually unintelligible. In the movie The Secret of Moonacre, memories of an event are passed down from generation to generation, each adapting it to their own perspective. The meaning behind the original event is completely submerged under suspicion and accusation. Each side of the conflict fuels the animosity all built on a faulty foundation. When newly arrived Maria Merryweather comes to live in this environment, she realizes that if the truth isn’t discovered there can be no restoration. She begins a search through all the stories and memories trying to find the true thread. Her fresh insight finally breaks down the twisted memory brambles and releases everyone to start fresh.
Journal Prompt: Take a special event from your past and write it up as a free-write, not pausing, just pour out all the pieces you think you remember. Then write down all the emotions that still influence you from that memory. Ask a sibling or friend or family member, who was also present, to share their recollections. How close are you emotionally? What different details stand out? Apply this idea to one of your characters. Have them completely misunderstand an event and makes decisions based on that faulty impression.
 “What is art but a way of seeing” –Thomas Berger Poets use metaphors to present life in a new perspective. Painters and photographers capture fleeting moments. Their images connect us through time. And our curiosity flares when a particular portrait or landscape causes us to pause, to focus. Sometimes we are caught by the effect and study the craft. Sometimes we are caught by the mood and wonder at the story behind it. Automat by Hopper provides that moment in time to see. An attractive woman sits alone in a diner, late at night, holding a coffee cup. The room is well lit where she sits, but outside the window only darkness. Has she missed her train? Is she waiting for an arrival? Did someone she loves leave, and she can’t bring herself to go home? Next to her is a bowl of colorful fruit. She wears a green coat, edged with black fur at neck and wrists, and a yellow hat with a broad rim encircling her head. The table is round, white-topped, also edged in black. Black chairs. A yellow heater. Black doors with a yellow bar. She is alone. Her isolation frozen in stillness. If you were to capture this image as a word metaphor, what would you say?
Journal Prompt: Write up a paragraph of internal monologue as she convinces herself to leave the diner, OR a paragraph that begins with her standing up—what happens next?
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