By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
Fiction writing addicts tend to have common set of traits, and these are personal and professional. It’s who we are, how we think, and how we process information. For the Christian, writing is not just how we are wired but it is our calling.
Fiction writers are wired to juggle character, plot, emotion, dialogue, setting, and thoughts like priceless pieces of art.
Sometimes I look at the world as though I’m standing on my head.
From there, I often find an advantageous point, like exploring where a character has been and working my way backward. The experience affects sensory perception and results in metaphors and similes unique to a character and my voice. Experiment by placing your character in different scenarios. See what you learn new about your character and story.
One of the reasons writers enjoy coffeehouses is eavesdropping.
Wait! You say. I thought the coffee and solitude paved the way for meaningful prose. And it does, but overhearing bits of juicy dialogue and noting body language improves our craft. Savvy writers jot down what is said and how it’s said to use in current or future stories.
Stories are everywhere, from crowded grocery store lines to front-page news stories.
Zoos, museums, and high school sports offer incredible ideas. Every breath we experience can become an element in a potential story. A novelist’s job is to slip stress, tension, and conflict into the lives of three-dimensional characters.
Busy crowds show motivation.
If you have doubts, watch people elbow through a mass of young and old. They have a place to go and nothing will stop them. Take the time to count how many women with strollers don’t have a baby inside but are using them to push through others. What about people with pets? Tugging along kids? Escorting an elderly person? The novelist knows the inner person is revealed by what is shown to others.
Caffeine wires most of us.
While some rely on tea or soft drinks, I’m a coffee drinker and behave as though caffeine is directly wired to my creativity.
Family and friends call us quirky or eccentric because we tend to live in our own worlds.
And we like it. We are tied to God as our creator, uniquely designed, and created for a sacred purpose. God rarely calls us to blend in.
Viewing movies and TV shows can be frustrating to those around us.
We can’t help editing dialogue and plot—even giving away the ending.
Eating habits can be peculiar.
When we’re zoned into writing, food holds little interest. Other times, we’re ravenous.
To sleep or not to sleep.
Rarely do writers observe decent bedtimes or appropriate hours to rise. Instead, we create in the stillness of late night after others are asleep or we’re up long before the rooster crows to get a head start on our work.
Leisure time and vacations may be nonexistent because our minds refuse to shut down.
Relaxing, unless we’re exhausted, means another way to approach creativity. Our imaginations take over, and we don’t mind.
No task or time is ever wasted.
Our best ideas may come in the shower, cleaning, pulling weeds, pumping gas, taking out the trash—prayer and Bible study are never a waste.
Are you a fiction writer? Do you have any bizarre traits that make others laugh or shake their heads at the absurdity? If so, comment below your peculiarities.
When my kids were teenagers I used to walk through the mall parking lot singing, “Boom! Boom! Ain’t it great to be crazy?” Sometimes it seems like it is still.applicable.
I talk to animals. Animals talk back to me. I write children’s picture books.
Wow! Who knew- now we know. Thank you for sharing this incredible insight.
Bless you and all writers who think in a way I hadn’t even thought about. Love it!!
In the middle of a sermon, a long drive, a TV show, newscast, conversation, or a walk in the neighborhood an idea will flash across my mind. Even as I’m falling asleep or waking up. I grab the bulletin, a piece of paper, the notes app on my phone, a napkin. Anything handy to write on or dictate into and I capture my thoughts. I’m fooling myself to think I will remember it later. I’ve been known to hold my hand up to stop my husband in the middle of his sentence so I can write the idea and details while they are fresh in my mind.
Great post, DiAnn. Great!
One peculiarity I have is thinking my first (self-published) novel is done, and then ordering an author proof. After it comes (or even before), I find things to fix, often waking up in the wee hours because the problems bother me. So I fire up the computer, mark the fixes in that nice clean proof, note the fixed pages on the end-papers, and update the manuscript. After doing this for a month or two with dozens–sometimes hundreds–of fixes, I again think it’s done. Sometimes the changes are to the cover. which I enjoy doing.
Each fixed book is one inch thick (350 pages). I am 6 feet 2 inches tall. The stack of finished versions is noticeably taller than I am. I’ll post a comparison photo on my website sometime soon.
Viewing TV and movies! That is a big one. My husband and I can’t get through a show without me making him stop so I can confirm the middle along with the first and second plot point. And yes, I have to give my guess of the ending or a character’s motive and plan. I’m usually 95% right. I can’t watch a movie without analyzing it. Just can’t.
I write non-fiction but I identify with much of what you talk about. Not just in writing, but when I’m on any project. My sweet husband used to ask me to tell him when to schedule his fasts because it’s hard to stop something when you’re in the middle of it.
Love this! So true!