Beyond the Mere Words

My goodness has it really been four months since I last posted… eesh. Well, let’s fix that.

A while back, I posted an entry about fantasy and why I believe I have an affinity for it. Of course, fantasy isn’t the sole genre I read. In truth I read a rather wide variety of things, some of which I enjoy, some of which I really don’t, but I’ll give most things a shot.

I could probably go on for quite some time about a whole bunch of different genres, but I’ll save thoughts on others for another time, mostly to conserve space for the time being. Instead I’d like to focus on just two this time around. Fantasy is often lumped with science fiction, and so I feel obligated to say something there, and along with that, I’ve taken on another favorite genre – historical fiction.

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I’ve long seen the sense in finding a ‘writing consultant’ of source. Someone to bounce ideas off of, someone to glance over your work and offer suggestions, someone to pretty much talk shop to about your own work who will be both honest and willing to shove you to your fullest potential. Though it’s possible to do such things on one’s own, it helps to have a second set of eyes that isn’t quite as attached to the work as you yourself are. They catch things you overlook, are able to tell you whether what you’re trying to accomplish actually worked, whether all that you wanted to say actually got said. Finding a good writing consultant can be tricky in and of itself – someone who knows your style, your views, understands how you write and your thought process while writing. I’ve been lucky enough to find an excellent one myself – and she’s an English major to boot, which helps with all the grammatical slips I make on occasion.

Writing something with her rather than getting her help improving my own writing, however, is a different matter.

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So I’ve been doing a fair amount of thinking considering my writing these days… which isn’t really all that surprising. Honestly, it’s like my brain doesn’t have an ‘off’ position… but that’s neither here or there at the moment. I digress.

Anyway, so I’ve been busy trying to construct a convincing world/setting for the trilogy I’m working on. There’s a lot more to consider than I first expected. It’s taken me several months to finally settle on a solid backstory for it… which could fill a novel or two of its own, really. There may be need for a old, lost language for this story, and I’ve got a whole realm to attempt to write convincingly, which I can’t do if I don’t even know it myself…

In short, I’ve come to discover that a writer must be more than a writer. He (or she, again, stupid English and its lack of a gender-neutral third person pronoun for such things) must be much more versatile than that. (more…)

No no no, not the global warming, save-the-trees kind of environment. I’m talking about writing environment.

This past Friday I found myself extremely restless. I had a thing or two I had to get done that day anyway, so I went out to do it.

My intended half hour errand running turned into a three-hour exploration of a part of campus I don’t frequent, and the lands beyond it.

Came back with a nice hankering to write.

Long story short, I realized that day just what an influence a writer’s environment has on him. (Or her… darn English with its lack of a gender neutral singular pronoun!!) By exploring a part of campus I’m not usually around, I got to see a slightly different perspective of the campus and the surrounding area, and in doing so found inspiration.

That’s part of what I love about being a writer on a college campus. There’s no lack of environments. I can write outside under cherry trees, I can write inside in nearly any atmosphere you can think of. There’s such a variety of places to write here, and each of them suits a different purpose. Of course, it’s hard to consistently write outside in a part of the country where it’s wet 67% of the time and threatening to be wet another 20% or so… but hey, that’s life.

That’s also the advantage of notebooks, I’ve found. They’re a lot easier to carry around than a computer, and can be reliably used in a bunch more places than a computer can.

So if I can offer some advice, amateur that I am, let it be this: if you’re struggling with writer’s block, change your environment. Get up and move someplace different. Move from a bright open space to a dimly lit room, from a spot with a rainy, gloomy view to a warm crackling fireplace. Switch on some music – or turn it off. Move someplace busier, or someplace quieter. Give yourself a different set of factors to work with, and find what works best for what sort of writing you want to do.

It really makes a difference.

Well, it’s a new year, and lots of writing for me to explore… both from my own pen and the pens of others. Which, I suppose, is what’s leading me to this post.

I love fantasy. I think it’s my favorite genre, though I like several and read from many more. From what I see, though, fantasy seems to be either a hit or miss with people – either they really like it, or they don’t care for it at all. In varying degrees on both sides, too – some are obsessed with it and take it perhaps more seriously than they should, whereas others simply enjoy reading it. On the other hand, some simply don’t care for it, and others vehemently express their dislike for it.

Of course, what such opinions boil down to is why.

I think what it really boils down to is the other world aspect of it. Some world that isn’t our own, whether it’s connected or not, that exists somewhere and holds its own history, culture, etc., etc., etc… everything that I’m struggling to build for my own work. I think this is what turns people off to fantasy, though – they find it too fantastic (gah, bad word choice there), too far-fetched, simply unrealistic.

I, on the other hand, and several others I’m sure, see it the exact opposite way. For me, it’s a tangible reminder that there IS another world out there just beyond me reach – God’s Kingdom. Perhaps it touches ours at times, at others not. But fantasy tends to put me in touch with the fact that I am in this world, but not of it. That I am as an alien here, that I am a foreigner.

There’s always the pang of longing whenever I read fantasy. Just how awesome would it be to open a door and have an adventure in a realm where things only imagined are realities? To turn a corner and suddenly find yourself in the midst of something great that you never even knew existed? In my mind, these pangs are reminiscent of the things I think I’d feel in Heaven. Of course, I’ll never know until that day comes, but I think that’s what draws me to fantasy – it helps me remember there is something more than just what I can see on the surface, and when the time is right, I’ll catch a glimpse of it myself.

C. S. Lewis once wrote that if we have a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, then the only logical conclusion is that we are made for another. I don’t have the quote handy, else I’d quote it directly (and I’ll be sure to once I can), but I can’t help but think of it every time I read fantasy. Exploring other worlds reminds me of both the reminder that there is something beyond this world, and the pang of longing to see another world. No fictional world I’ve encountered, though, ever comes close to fulfilling that pang – because I always must return here, and this world doesn’t fully satisfy either. One day, though, one day… one day I’ll truly see a New World, and be able to stay there.

And oh, what a Story that will be.

November is over, and with it, NaNoWriMo. My final word count for the month? 61,045. Not bad, if I do say so myself… except my story is nowhere near finished. Ah well, I’ll keep plodding along with it.

I have noticed my characters take on minds of their own. I’ve been told repeatedly that my strength when it comes to writing is character – that they feel real and believable. I suppose, then, that it’s only expected that they run away with me in tow.

For example, I was busily typing up a heated, somewhat tense scene when I discovered the next word my character was going to say was one word I wouldn’t use myself, let alone type in a novel.

Apparently one of my characters has a big swearing problem when he’s worked up enough. It’s become interesting trying to deal with such.

And then my main female protagonist did something earlier than I expected her to, which gave me MASSIVE writer’s block for a while, because I had to figure out how everybody would react to it. It took some messing with to get things back on track.

It’s a good thing in some ways, as it means my characters are really defined people and not just flat, two-dimensional representations on paper… but it’s so ANNOYING when they don’t work the way I want them to!

Hello and welcome, whoever you are. You’ve stumbled across my humble blog.

Who am I? I’m simply another college student clawing his way through school in an attempt to make a name for himself in this world. I’m a linguistics major, a student, a writer, and a Christian – and proud of all of those.

Why in the world am I doing this? Partly as a way to organize my thoughts. And partly to get a perspective on the world of reading and writing. See, this month (November 2008, for future reference) I’m taking part in National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo for short. The basic idea is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month – at least the draft of one. I managed to pass 50,000 only 14 days into the month, and I’m still going. My plot idea turned itself into a trilogy, one that I think might have some potential down the road as far as possibly getting published goes. So I started this up to keep track of my thoughts as I journey down the road of writing, editing, maybe publishing, and everything that goes along with it.

Why the name ‘Beyond the Mere Words?’ Because there’s so much more to expression than plain ol’ words. I’m a musician as well as a writer, and there are some things that I feel music can express better than words. In fact, I believe there’s things out there words simply can’t convey. I think it’s part of an author’s job and craft to express things in a medium that is both limitless and limited. The challenge of describing ideas words can’t do justice to using words anyway is both difficult and rewarding, and it’s that idea that fascinates me. But there is much more to meaning than the mere words – we need to look beyond them, because words aren’t always enough.

And why RoaringLion? Well, why not? More seriously, sometimes sound and music can put things better than words can, and the feelings I get from the roar of a lion (at least when I’m assured said lion roaring isn’t coming to get me) are just awesome. I’m rather a big fan of C. S. Lewis, and if you’re in any way familiar with his work, you might just know what I’m talking about.

So, that’s me and the blog in a nutshell. Poke around, and I hope you find at least something interesting and thought provoking amidst my wandering blatherings.