I'm sick of learning!
My brain hurts!
Damn the internet and it's evil cousin Wikipedia!
Damn them!!
Damn them to hell!!!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
My Exploding Brain
These are some things I've learned about in the past week:
* plants and payoffs - from Alexandra Sokoloff
* breaking the fourth wall, a theater term - from Wikipedia
* suspension of disbelief, theories -- from Wikipedia
* villains -- from a writing class, and Alexandra Sokoloff
* character development techniques -- from many sources
* root story -- from a class
* web site making -- from experimenting
* "down time" ideas -- from P. D. James
* fantasy nodes -- from Wikipedia
I can feel the synapses in my brain sparking against each other, and new connections being made, and my brain flexing like a weight lifters arms.
Thank goodness it doesn't hurt!
What about you? Have you ever experienced this kind of mind expanding learning time? What were you learning? How long did it last? Why did it happen then?
* plants and payoffs - from Alexandra Sokoloff
* breaking the fourth wall, a theater term - from Wikipedia
* suspension of disbelief, theories -- from Wikipedia
* villains -- from a writing class, and Alexandra Sokoloff
* character development techniques -- from many sources
* root story -- from a class
* web site making -- from experimenting
* "down time" ideas -- from P. D. James
* fantasy nodes -- from Wikipedia
I can feel the synapses in my brain sparking against each other, and new connections being made, and my brain flexing like a weight lifters arms.
Thank goodness it doesn't hurt!
What about you? Have you ever experienced this kind of mind expanding learning time? What were you learning? How long did it last? Why did it happen then?
Thursday, February 12, 2009
An illusion busted
I've carried around the illusion that talent and determination are enough for achieving great success. This illusion has been lovingly petted, fed, discussed, nurtured.
The blind spot, or sleight of hand, of this illusion is the definition of "determination". For some reason, I've had the notion that this meant simply "doing". If I was doing something a lot it meant I cared about it and would magically acquire facility and ... well ... some form of great success would occur.
Look at that Tiger guy -- he plays golf every day. Isn't that a perfect example of determination?
However, I've read about Tiger Woods and I know that he does much more than "play" golf every day. He studies golf videos, other golfers, golf courses. He improves a skill by studying the parts of it and experimenting. Then he systematically applies what he's learned, sometimes re-training his body and mind for years to accomplish a small change with far-reaching results.
This picture of Tiger Woods is not of just a "determined" person. He doesn't just practice golf, he studies it. He thinks about it. He experiments with it. He researches it. The picture I'm describing is of learning. Tiger Woods is the quintessential "learner of golf". He's been learning gimmicks and tools all his life. He's been studying and experimenting. It's what he does.
Talent is probably helpful. I suspect Tiger Woods has a talent for physical ability. Sophia Hammond had a talent for visual ability. And Abe Lincoln had a talent for politics.
However, the person who excels, who achieves high quality success, is also a superior learner. They are willing to study, research and experiment in their chosen field. They are willing to fail because they just learn and go on. Their success is built on the research, study and experimentation that they're willing to acquire. When they stop learning is when they retire.
This is extremely liberating for me as I take on my storytelling career.
1) I can throw away the haunting specter of "practice". I've never been good at practicing anything. so I assumed that I could never be "good" at anything. "Practice makes perfect" meant I could never, ever achieve perfection. Now I won't worry about practicing. I don't practice anyway, and I'm thinking Tiger Woods doesn't either.
2) I am a great learner. I am very good at research, studying, and experimenting. I learn many different ways and I love the process of learning. I am already a quintessential learner.
3) If good learning, combined with some talent, can achieve great success, then I am "perfectly" positioned. :)
This was a nice revelation today: Talent + Learning = Great Success.
The blind spot, or sleight of hand, of this illusion is the definition of "determination". For some reason, I've had the notion that this meant simply "doing". If I was doing something a lot it meant I cared about it and would magically acquire facility and ... well ... some form of great success would occur.
Look at that Tiger guy -- he plays golf every day. Isn't that a perfect example of determination?
However, I've read about Tiger Woods and I know that he does much more than "play" golf every day. He studies golf videos, other golfers, golf courses. He improves a skill by studying the parts of it and experimenting. Then he systematically applies what he's learned, sometimes re-training his body and mind for years to accomplish a small change with far-reaching results.
This picture of Tiger Woods is not of just a "determined" person. He doesn't just practice golf, he studies it. He thinks about it. He experiments with it. He researches it. The picture I'm describing is of learning. Tiger Woods is the quintessential "learner of golf". He's been learning gimmicks and tools all his life. He's been studying and experimenting. It's what he does.
Talent is probably helpful. I suspect Tiger Woods has a talent for physical ability. Sophia Hammond had a talent for visual ability. And Abe Lincoln had a talent for politics.
However, the person who excels, who achieves high quality success, is also a superior learner. They are willing to study, research and experiment in their chosen field. They are willing to fail because they just learn and go on. Their success is built on the research, study and experimentation that they're willing to acquire. When they stop learning is when they retire.
This is extremely liberating for me as I take on my storytelling career.
1) I can throw away the haunting specter of "practice". I've never been good at practicing anything. so I assumed that I could never be "good" at anything. "Practice makes perfect" meant I could never, ever achieve perfection. Now I won't worry about practicing. I don't practice anyway, and I'm thinking Tiger Woods doesn't either.
2) I am a great learner. I am very good at research, studying, and experimenting. I learn many different ways and I love the process of learning. I am already a quintessential learner.
3) If good learning, combined with some talent, can achieve great success, then I am "perfectly" positioned. :)
This was a nice revelation today: Talent + Learning = Great Success.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Why history?
I often ask myself: why is history my venue of choice for stories rather than, say, the future, or Manhattan, or even my hometown suburb of Wheatridge, Colorado? I know about those places (well, maybe not Manhattan so much ... maybe ...)
Writing about history, if one wants to be accurate, requires a great deal of research, almost enough to get a degree! History ain't easy!
Also, History ain't pretty.
People lived in absolute squalor compared to us, surrounded by their garbage and using the outdoors for bodily functions. They had very limited diets, succumbed easily to infection, started families at the age of 12, shared beds with multiple family members or strangers -- if they even had beds, and rarely washed themselves or their clothes. Our past is filled with filth, massacre, rape, disease, extortion, manipulation, and thievery. And that's just the small town stuff!
It is indeed, as my Dad would say, the story of man's inhumanity to man. And more precisely, man's inhumanity to women, children, slaves, and everyone who is "different".
Viorel Culiciuc, a Romanian philosophy professor, said, "There should be one more fundamental right: the right to be different."
Most folks today would agree with Mr. Culiciuc, yet all folks today share the same messy, icky, inhumane history. Most people in the past have wanted to erase differences and make everyone the same -- or else wipe them off the planet.
So why write fiction that takes place in that dreadful back story, that smelly garbage heap of invading armies and mass executions for religious beliefs?
Because I am fascinated that any good at all has occurred.
Other people study evil: what it looks like, why it exists. When I look at the horrors of history, I want to study good: what it looks like, why it exists.
For me, this is the most intriguing mystery of all.
How about you -- what intrigues you about history? If anything?!?
Writing about history, if one wants to be accurate, requires a great deal of research, almost enough to get a degree! History ain't easy!
Also, History ain't pretty.
People lived in absolute squalor compared to us, surrounded by their garbage and using the outdoors for bodily functions. They had very limited diets, succumbed easily to infection, started families at the age of 12, shared beds with multiple family members or strangers -- if they even had beds, and rarely washed themselves or their clothes. Our past is filled with filth, massacre, rape, disease, extortion, manipulation, and thievery. And that's just the small town stuff!
It is indeed, as my Dad would say, the story of man's inhumanity to man. And more precisely, man's inhumanity to women, children, slaves, and everyone who is "different".
Viorel Culiciuc, a Romanian philosophy professor, said, "There should be one more fundamental right: the right to be different."
Most folks today would agree with Mr. Culiciuc, yet all folks today share the same messy, icky, inhumane history. Most people in the past have wanted to erase differences and make everyone the same -- or else wipe them off the planet.
So why write fiction that takes place in that dreadful back story, that smelly garbage heap of invading armies and mass executions for religious beliefs?
Because I am fascinated that any good at all has occurred.
Other people study evil: what it looks like, why it exists. When I look at the horrors of history, I want to study good: what it looks like, why it exists.
For me, this is the most intriguing mystery of all.
How about you -- what intrigues you about history? If anything?!?
Monday, February 2, 2009
The Thing
Okay. Here’s the thing.
The thing is that I spend a lot of time, I mean an AWFUL lot of time, inside my own head. It’s pleasant there and I know everything because, after all, it’s my own thoughts banging around.
But it does get lonely.
It also gets warped. I’ve learned over the years that I learn a lot from other people, especially when I share my o-so-precious inner thoughts and the other person says, “Hm. I don’t agree.” Or “Where did you get that weird idea?” or “No Sir! You’re just plain crazy!”
Okay. I’m not crazy about the “You’re just plain crazy!” remarks, but they always make me think. Always, darn it!
They shake up my inner dialogue and tilt my world a bit differently.
As I write in this blog, I realize that I really want some discussion. I’m perfectly willing to toss out ideas, even be quite firm about how correct they are. But I am also willing to listen to other ideas, to facilitate discussion, to give and take and give away and take away.
With all this in mind – my mind, of course! – I’m going to shift the focus of this blog.
I want to write about writing. But I also want to compare fiction writing to other creative and interesting endeavors. I’m just as interested in the process for other people as in my own. That’s why, I think, I’ve written here about the lady chess player, the man who wants to invent time travel, Tiger Woods, and the lady who developed a new kind of space suit.
And you, dear reader. I’m interested in your creative and interesting endeavors. Please take a few moments to share your process, the stuff banging around inside your head, the cool lessons you’ve learned from others.
What, pray tell, are your creative and challenging endeavors?
The thing is that I spend a lot of time, I mean an AWFUL lot of time, inside my own head. It’s pleasant there and I know everything because, after all, it’s my own thoughts banging around.
But it does get lonely.
It also gets warped. I’ve learned over the years that I learn a lot from other people, especially when I share my o-so-precious inner thoughts and the other person says, “Hm. I don’t agree.” Or “Where did you get that weird idea?” or “No Sir! You’re just plain crazy!”
Okay. I’m not crazy about the “You’re just plain crazy!” remarks, but they always make me think. Always, darn it!
They shake up my inner dialogue and tilt my world a bit differently.
As I write in this blog, I realize that I really want some discussion. I’m perfectly willing to toss out ideas, even be quite firm about how correct they are. But I am also willing to listen to other ideas, to facilitate discussion, to give and take and give away and take away.
With all this in mind – my mind, of course! – I’m going to shift the focus of this blog.
I want to write about writing. But I also want to compare fiction writing to other creative and interesting endeavors. I’m just as interested in the process for other people as in my own. That’s why, I think, I’ve written here about the lady chess player, the man who wants to invent time travel, Tiger Woods, and the lady who developed a new kind of space suit.
And you, dear reader. I’m interested in your creative and interesting endeavors. Please take a few moments to share your process, the stuff banging around inside your head, the cool lessons you’ve learned from others.
What, pray tell, are your creative and challenging endeavors?
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