>>> Item number 21822 from WRITERS LOG9312A --- (123 records) ---- <<< Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 18:00:06 JST Reply-To: WRITERS Sender: WRITERS From: Mike Barker Subject: TECH: Grinding Ideas (was: Tink! You out there?) (hi, Jan. Hold on a second while I wipe off the greasepaint, hang my rubber nose on a nail, and figure out what to do with this darn coat of many colors, ok? There now. Let me slip into a robe... Alright! Herr doctor is in, ready for the question!) - I apologize for the delay in replying to your message. no problem - I'm often much later in responding (and critiquing...) matter of fact, I am going to postpone comments on parts of your post and some of your questions for a bit while I think about them. - -Do me a favor - here's three phrases. Take a few minutes and then write - >a little explaining how they relate, what they show about each other, - >what they hide in their depths - the result, I think, will be original, - >creative, and not at all boring. - - Oh man. I look at those three phrases and I freeze. What in the world can I do - with these? I am clueless. I have not, however, given up. I have completed my - last assignment in tech writing. Maybe I will be able to break the mold and do - something fun. What a concept. sorry, didn't mean to scare you. don't worry, I can't grade you, determine your future, or anything else, nor do I want to. You don't even have to show anyone the results. This is just an exercise which I think helps to show that everyone has a depth of original, creative thoughts that they can tap by a fairly easy process. Let me walk you through the kind of process I see, then try it if you want to. Sorry, it may be a bit boring, and it isn't terribly original, but - I think it has something to do with creative writing! [in case anyone tuned in late - the list was a smooth pebble, yourself, and a cricket chirping, I think. Anyway, two fairly concrete items and a person. Go ahead and try it!] 1. Take one phrase and list at least 10 things you think about it, know about it, etc. For example, you might look at the smooth pebble and think it was ground down in a river, all the sharp edges have been knocked off, you couldn't crack it with a hammer, it's banded with colors, reminds you of an Easter egg, and so on. Simple, prosaic - what does it remind you of? where did it come from? What characteristics does it have? How is it special? How is it the same? What is it missing? 2. Do the same thing for each phrase. Try to ignore the other lists for a moment. 3. Now look at the three lists of things. Think about how these thoughts relate across the lists. Maybe you suddenly realize that you feel as if the sharp edges have been knocked off yourself, just like the stone. Whatever - whether it is the same, opposites, variations, or whatever. Don't be upset if you don't see any relationship between one of the items on the list and the other stuff - you've got 33 bits and pieces (10 each plus the original phrases), there will be plenty of places that these lists grind together in your thinking. 4. Write down those relationships, those thoughts across the lists. These don't have to be forever truths that everyone will see, these are your own personal notions today. I may not understand why the pebble revealing its true color and flash when wet seems to match your own hobby of bungee-jumping in waterfalls, but that's ok. We're not interested right now in whatever notions I have or a professor might have, we're exploring your ideas. What you have done (I believe!) is to construct a set of personal metaphors. You've taken three things and related them in terms of associations of associations. That isn't so hard, is it? Selecting, generalizing and building that set of relationships into a piece of writing is the next step. But I'll leave that for later, because this process is the one I really wanted to show you. To be real honest, I think it is the very simplicity of the process that confuses us. We expect lightning flashes, mysterious voices whispering in our ears, or magic - and when you look close, it's just the hum-drum business of patterns that we work with every day. I mean, almost everyone notices that Prof. Grump always takes his notes out, sets them on the lectern, then never looks at them during class. Exaggerate this to talk about a character taking out the same ratty set of notes that he first started teaching with over 20 years ago - edges weatherbeaten, ink fading, and unread since he first penned them. Work in the way that this "security blanket" represents his fear of change, and maybe show what happens when he loses the notes, and you're well on the way to a story. But the "metaphor" or "symbolism" building that led to it is just an extension of the hum-drum pattern handling we all do. 5. Tech writing tends to be pretty honest and straight-forward about the patterns in use. You usually expect your reader to supply their own motives for reading, so it may not be as important to tease the reader into reading. Fiction is sneakier - make the reader wonder, then hold them off a while, and then feed them an answer. By preference, the answer shouldn't be one they can guess easily - i.e., it should be unexpected. But you already know how to put things in order, right? So now what you need to practice is baiting the reader - hinting, bewildering, and the other arts of deception. More on that later, too, but here's a clue to one method - people like to complete patterns. Give them an incomplete pattern and they want to see.. well, they will read along, fussing and fuming slightly, but without a great deal of complaint, waiting patiently for you, the author, to provide them with... the pot of gold at the end of the pattern! [say - let me know what you think of this exercise, ok? you can send to me privately at barker%aegis.or.jp@ndsuvm1.bitnet] (class recessed while I straighten my academic robe... more later!) tink