My stories very much blend the history of the real world with what happens in their universe.
My first novel takes place in 2002 because of some of these elements. The characters don't work if they are removed from that time.
Etienne and Basilie must be children of post World War II. Basilie has to be a corporate raider circa 1980s. Adelaide can only rise as a supermodel in the pre-waif days and in the shadow of beauties like Cindy Crawford.
More importantly, Etienne's uncle dies in Algeria. His father probably served in Indochina. He completed his national service in a post colonial Djibouti, which means he didn't see the action his father and uncles did.
I was reading Frantz Fanon yesterday, and as a anti-colonial philosopher AND a psychiatrist, he had some interesting notes about the impact of warfare on the Algerians and the French alike during the war for Algerian independence.
I realized, reading these notes, that I had finally found my link to Uncle Gaston's service, conduct and death. This excites me.
The intricate crossing of fiction and history allows the author to comment on the actions of nations and the state of society.
I've already written a short character sketch to introduce Khadijah, who may challenge everything Etienne believes about his family, his country's "civilizing mission" of yesteryear and what it means to be "French."
It may help him do what's right in the aftermath of his own actions.
Showing posts with label motivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motivation. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Why write?
When writing non-fiction, it's easy to explain your motives. You have a goal. You want to educate. You hope to prove something.
Fiction... Sometimes it can feel like a waste of time. You're making up stories. Who cares?
The simplest answers may be that writing fiction addresses the human condition or comments on a moment in time in our society. Both are important.
But why bother? To a certain extent there is the ego factor. I did this. I like this. I want to share. I seek feedback.
Seeking publication is hard and serious work. Is it worth it? If you don't know if you'll reach the end goal of publication, why bother?
The answers vary.
It can be therapeutic to transfer energy and emotion into ideas on paper.
It can provide a sense of accomplishment.
I have trouble finding enough books I want to read or stories that hit all the criteria that make me enjoy reading.
So, I write them.
Fiction... Sometimes it can feel like a waste of time. You're making up stories. Who cares?
The simplest answers may be that writing fiction addresses the human condition or comments on a moment in time in our society. Both are important.
But why bother? To a certain extent there is the ego factor. I did this. I like this. I want to share. I seek feedback.
Seeking publication is hard and serious work. Is it worth it? If you don't know if you'll reach the end goal of publication, why bother?
The answers vary.
It can be therapeutic to transfer energy and emotion into ideas on paper.
It can provide a sense of accomplishment.
I have trouble finding enough books I want to read or stories that hit all the criteria that make me enjoy reading.
So, I write them.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Recipe
I have tried to return to my habit of writing three blog entries a week, but I find myself uninteresting. I used to write newspaper columns. Deadlines do not scare me. The empty page does not intimidate me.
But if I find myself dull, you won't give me a second chance.
Could you be a tad more forgiving?
But, seriously, I have tried setting a thrice-weekly reminder on my iPhone. I have tried writing a blog before I commit to projects.
In the end, I failed.
In the last few days, I've noticed this blog has gone fallow, so to speak, and my recipe blog is growing. While the recipes have faltered with my lack of cooking as of late, the voice and the contemplation about what I eat, how I eat and why seems more reflective and creative.
Here are two recent samples:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/08/mac-and-cheese-taste-test.html
Mac and Cheese Taste Test
Although I would like to believe Betty Crocker taught me well the basics of mac and cheese, I do have boxed, processed macaroni and cheese two to three times a month. My husband likes it (as he does my baked mac) and more importantly, it's something he's comfortable making.
As a family, we prefer Wegmans mac and cheese. The generic Wegmans stuff. The spirals. NOT the white cheddar. Not the elbows.
Kraft is yummy, especially that new formula they have out now, but I won't pay their prices. If I pay that for mac and cheese in a box, I'll go with Nature's Promise Cheddar or Anne's Organic. Some of that Anne's organic stuff includes significant vegetable matter.
Even Aldi's generic mac and cheese will do in a pinch. My husband often adds a touch of cheddar to make it more appealing. But it will do.
Tonight, we tried Target's Archer Farm. First off, it was more expensive than what I would normally pay. But we wanted to see if it was worth it. Sometimes it pays to splurge as a treat, and sometimes it just proves you aren't missing anything by buying the cheap stuff.
From "Monday Update" http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/08/monday-morning-update.html
"Carbohydrates. Not including the jam for the PB&J, two of the items in this morning's meals have lots of carbs. Bread, that's obvious. And yogurt, may not seem so obvious. When I had gestational diabetes, I was allotted 3 servings of carbs with my lunch, not including one fruit, and 4 with my dinner.
That's why to this day I make half-sandwiches instead of whole. Because each slice of bread counts as 1 serving, and 13 doritoes/potato chips etc is also 1 serving. If I wanted the chips, I usually skimped on the bread. And I learned that a half-sandwich is just as filling, and depending what's on it can end up tasting really thick, as if you put double meat or cheese on it. I still don't miss that extra slice.
Compare this to yogurt. Because yogurt is made with milk and lactose is a sugar, and then our American palate likes it sweet so we add MORE sugar... A low-fat yogurt that has that thick creamy pudding-like taste had 2-3 servings of carbohydrates. That's an entire lunch worth. For a diabetic pregnant woman (who, by the way, gets more food than your everyday diabetic). And fat free yogurt sweetened with asparatame STILL has 1 full serving of carbs. With that choice, I'd rather opt for a low-fat oatmeal cookie. Probably leave me more emotionally satisfied.
So that's my rant."
And then there's the entry about shopping at Target, another about saving money on CVS.
Once again, I think my intellect is trying to hard when my soul knows the answer. Write what you love and it comes easily.
But if I find myself dull, you won't give me a second chance.
Could you be a tad more forgiving?
But, seriously, I have tried setting a thrice-weekly reminder on my iPhone. I have tried writing a blog before I commit to projects.
In the end, I failed.
In the last few days, I've noticed this blog has gone fallow, so to speak, and my recipe blog is growing. While the recipes have faltered with my lack of cooking as of late, the voice and the contemplation about what I eat, how I eat and why seems more reflective and creative.
Here are two recent samples:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/08/mac-and-cheese-taste-test.html
Mac and Cheese Taste Test
Although I would like to believe Betty Crocker taught me well the basics of mac and cheese, I do have boxed, processed macaroni and cheese two to three times a month. My husband likes it (as he does my baked mac) and more importantly, it's something he's comfortable making.
As a family, we prefer Wegmans mac and cheese. The generic Wegmans stuff. The spirals. NOT the white cheddar. Not the elbows.
Kraft is yummy, especially that new formula they have out now, but I won't pay their prices. If I pay that for mac and cheese in a box, I'll go with Nature's Promise Cheddar or Anne's Organic. Some of that Anne's organic stuff includes significant vegetable matter.
Even Aldi's generic mac and cheese will do in a pinch. My husband often adds a touch of cheddar to make it more appealing. But it will do.
Tonight, we tried Target's Archer Farm. First off, it was more expensive than what I would normally pay. But we wanted to see if it was worth it. Sometimes it pays to splurge as a treat, and sometimes it just proves you aren't missing anything by buying the cheap stuff.
From "Monday Update" http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/08/monday-morning-update.html
"Carbohydrates. Not including the jam for the PB&J, two of the items in this morning's meals have lots of carbs. Bread, that's obvious. And yogurt, may not seem so obvious. When I had gestational diabetes, I was allotted 3 servings of carbs with my lunch, not including one fruit, and 4 with my dinner.
That's why to this day I make half-sandwiches instead of whole. Because each slice of bread counts as 1 serving, and 13 doritoes/potato chips etc is also 1 serving. If I wanted the chips, I usually skimped on the bread. And I learned that a half-sandwich is just as filling, and depending what's on it can end up tasting really thick, as if you put double meat or cheese on it. I still don't miss that extra slice.
Compare this to yogurt. Because yogurt is made with milk and lactose is a sugar, and then our American palate likes it sweet so we add MORE sugar... A low-fat yogurt that has that thick creamy pudding-like taste had 2-3 servings of carbohydrates. That's an entire lunch worth. For a diabetic pregnant woman (who, by the way, gets more food than your everyday diabetic). And fat free yogurt sweetened with asparatame STILL has 1 full serving of carbs. With that choice, I'd rather opt for a low-fat oatmeal cookie. Probably leave me more emotionally satisfied.
So that's my rant."
And then there's the entry about shopping at Target, another about saving money on CVS.
Once again, I think my intellect is trying to hard when my soul knows the answer. Write what you love and it comes easily.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Try Smarter Not Harder
Almost a week. That's how long it's been since I've touched this blog.
This disappoints me more than a reader can know.
I have no problem with deadlines, proficiency or finding something to write. This summer, even in its early stages, has taught me much about myself and my art. (Neither myself nor my art can survive well with iron-deficient anemia.) The universe has told me to bring my life to a standstill and rebuild my red blood cells.
So while I have been writing, while I have thought of this blog, my body has not cooperated. C'est la vie.
No need to bore you with my symptoms, instead I'll tell you my lesson learned:
No matter how much that project burns within you and feels urgent. It does not HAVE to be done now. Sometimes you want to do it, but life or yourself gets in the way.
In some situations, time management can cure the problem. Sometimes this can help you balance work, school, kids, home, and volunteer commitments and still have time for writing. Sometimes it's better when we slow down and let go of activities or even a self-imposed expectation of how well something will be done. I sometimes do this with the kitchen floor or cleaning the bathroom.
I suppose we can use this in writing, but only on a first draft, because really... in today's marketplace we need to do our best and remain innovative all the time.
In times of illness or family emergency, sometimes we cannot pursue what we want to do. This hurts. The frustration of falling asleep at my keyboard because of anemia is real. So is the super frustration of finally being awake, and then my hands going numb and feeling beyond my control... But frustration merely produces stress.
When this happens, I do something else. Read. Daydream about my characters in a quasi-nap state. Listen to music. Follow the World Cup.
Because we're all in a hurry to "finish," to "publish," to "query," but we must remember... that provides neither happiness nor success.
You can defeat many obstacles by thinking in a new way, persistence, strategy, etc., but stubbornness against certain obstacles wastes time.
I don't remember where I heard it, but it's a lesson I took to heart:
"Try Smarter, Not Harder."
The insect caught inside your car flings himself against the window again and again. He's trying hard. But how many times must he bang himself against the glass before he realizes he has to try a different spot? That eventually he can find the open window if he doesn't keep stubbornly flying into the windshield?
This disappoints me more than a reader can know.
I have no problem with deadlines, proficiency or finding something to write. This summer, even in its early stages, has taught me much about myself and my art. (Neither myself nor my art can survive well with iron-deficient anemia.) The universe has told me to bring my life to a standstill and rebuild my red blood cells.
So while I have been writing, while I have thought of this blog, my body has not cooperated. C'est la vie.
No need to bore you with my symptoms, instead I'll tell you my lesson learned:
No matter how much that project burns within you and feels urgent. It does not HAVE to be done now. Sometimes you want to do it, but life or yourself gets in the way.
In some situations, time management can cure the problem. Sometimes this can help you balance work, school, kids, home, and volunteer commitments and still have time for writing. Sometimes it's better when we slow down and let go of activities or even a self-imposed expectation of how well something will be done. I sometimes do this with the kitchen floor or cleaning the bathroom.
I suppose we can use this in writing, but only on a first draft, because really... in today's marketplace we need to do our best and remain innovative all the time.
In times of illness or family emergency, sometimes we cannot pursue what we want to do. This hurts. The frustration of falling asleep at my keyboard because of anemia is real. So is the super frustration of finally being awake, and then my hands going numb and feeling beyond my control... But frustration merely produces stress.
When this happens, I do something else. Read. Daydream about my characters in a quasi-nap state. Listen to music. Follow the World Cup.
Because we're all in a hurry to "finish," to "publish," to "query," but we must remember... that provides neither happiness nor success.
You can defeat many obstacles by thinking in a new way, persistence, strategy, etc., but stubbornness against certain obstacles wastes time.
I don't remember where I heard it, but it's a lesson I took to heart:
"Try Smarter, Not Harder."
The insect caught inside your car flings himself against the window again and again. He's trying hard. But how many times must he bang himself against the glass before he realizes he has to try a different spot? That eventually he can find the open window if he doesn't keep stubbornly flying into the windshield?
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