Sep. 27, 2009 - Musings on Writing. . .
I find it amusing how lately my mind has been filled to the brim with things to write about. Blogging, I mean, not noveling, which has crumbled into the dust since I am re-editing The Prophecy. Editing KILLS. I grow ill just thinking about it. *slight grin*
I was thinking about my writing yesterday during the long car ride home from the horribly busy and jam-packed San Francisco. Side note: SF is WEIRD. The roads are steep, traffic is awful, there are people laying homeless on the street who dig through the trash to find food. There are a bunch of lights everywhere, and then there are alleyways where it is dark and pumpkin lights from the street lamps cast eerie shadows about dumpsters. The Golden Gate Bridge is actually a burnt orange color, the ocean is beautiful to be seen from Fisherman's Warf, taking the trolly is DEFINITELY not worth the hour long wait to get on (no idea what that was about), and being surrounded by a gagillion French tourists is very, very scary. They like to push and shove you around, no joke. *le sigh* So there you have a taste of yesterday and what I did. Another side note, if you are in Berkley NEVER just randomly pick out a resturaunt and go there. We did because we were starving, and they were like this eco-friendly place? Trout with the head still on it, chicken liver, some sort of tongue, etc etc. We took forever just trying to find a decent meal! *laugh*
Moving on. My writing. Ah yes.
I found I write the way I do, Psychoquantum, because it is fulfilling and inspiring to me. I guess I should begin by explaining what my genre is. A dear friend made up the description: A name given to writing dealing in the crossing of parallel realities, the invasion of supernatural influences, the motives behind sin-nature occurrences and the psychological existence of the individual. Basically, I get indepth into what I write. I use tons of parallels from everyday happenings (sometimes without even knowing it), there is supernatural influences above what we all can see (not bad ones; like...hm, it's hard to explain. Angels, crossed realities, things the own human mind can create without really realizing it (and I'm thinking Dekker's 'Thr3e' here), I get into the motives of why Evil beings do what they do, because villains always have a reason, and I delve into the though-process of every main character and side character: the psychological existence. Simple, right? *grins* I guess not really. I find it indeed fascinting, though. Maybe I should explain it more.
When I write, it's not all rainbows and ponies. It's not fluff and cotton candy. Not romance or adventures of pirates and fair damsels in need of rescuing. When I write, I get under the surface, I go deep. The Evil in my books is TRUELY Evil. It is very Evil, simply because there must be no graying lines between Good and Evil like in, say, Harry Potter. You read about the villain and you fear him, you fear what he represents, you are aware of how Evil he/she is because Evil cannot be ignored or hidden, covered by other things. Evil is out there: every day we fight temptation, fight the urge to rebel against our Creator. People are out there who are bad, who do not listen to God, and to turn a blind eye to them and to Satan is not a good idea. Ignoring it is not going to make it go away. Sin covers the world like a blanket; there is no escaping it. We are all sinful, but it is the choices we make that define who we are and what we stand for. I get into those choices in my writing; i.e. the motivation of Evil and why. Why does this villain want to kill that hero? Why is he Evil, why does he insist upon rejecting God?
Once you see the Evil is not to be liked (in some books, you like the villain, and that is not okay with me), there are those in my books who fight for Good, for the Light, for God. I get into that, once again delving deep, and the reader sees just how far the heroes are willing to go to stand up for what is Right. For their morals and convicitons. How far would someone go to stand up for what they believe in, is what I am getting at. Would they suffer pain and agony and not back down? Would they be willing to die for their faith? When you are cornered and your faith is brought out into the open, when you are told to throw it away, would you listen to save your skin? Or would you cling to the very, bloody death? THIS is what I am getting at. At the last moments of life, when your very existance is threatened, the true person underneath the every day facade comes out into the open, and your beliefs are shown to both yourself and others, all depending on what choice you make. This happened back when people were burned at the stake for their beliefs. It wasn't pretty and it certainly was horrible, but it happened. People died because they would not reject Christianity. They embraced God instead of embracing their sinful natures. Indeed, they died painfully and suffering, but we are all called to Fight for what we believe in and cling to our convicitons to the end, no matter what we may be put through. This is what I write, this is what I make pains to show. It is very important. Instead of being complacent and going through life ignoring everything, we should build up our faith and convictions, pursue the gift God has given us, and use it to glorify Him. I believe I am doing that by writing. And no, my writing may not always be pretty and happy, but since when is life always beautiful and happy?
That's just it. It's not. Life is hard. It is ugly at times, filled with distress and despair, filled with grief and anguish and fear. Isn't that what molds a person? We are not just made by all the good times we have in life, but also made by all the times we are filled with pain and confusion and utter despair. It all changes and molds us, and this is what I wish to show in my writing. *nods* My heroes go through a lot of hard things, a lot of deep things that touch upon their true nature, touch upon who they really are and what they REALLY want underneath the mask they constantly wear. It makes them human, because we all are tested at one point or another. We all come to a point where we must make that decision of who we are and what we truly believe in throwing off our careful complacency.
I hope you all will understand that. *grins* I sort of just rambled my ranting all the way through. Hehe.
Not sure what we're doing today. I leave Tuesday morning at 6 though. Hm... Soon I'll be back in Minnesota. Mom says it's 50 during the day at 30 at night, a far cry from the 85 degree weather here. *shudder* I'll be needing my olive jacket and heather gray hoodie more often now, I think. *wild grin* How exciting. I love the Fall.
May God bless and guide your day.
~Onna Chareth
