Friday, January 02, 2009

The Writing Mind


fountain pen
Originally uploaded by [phil h]


Currently reading "Bullies, Bastards & Bitches: How to Write The Bad Guys of Fiction" by Jessica Page Morrell (ISBN: 978-1-58297-484-2).

This morning I happened to be talking with someone on the phone about how a writer's mind works differently sometimes. After we hung up I turned to reading another chapter from this writing craft book and these few sentences struck me.

"Every writer has his own way "in" to the story. Some plan, some dream, some piece a story together like a puzzle as bits of inspiration slip into consciousness. For most writers, plot and conflict are so entwined with characters that one cannot be known without the other."


I think I tend to start out being the puzzle piecer type of writer. I have a program I keep open called "RoughDraft" and I jot down bits and pieces of characterization and plot as they come to me.

I think we all know that each writer creates differently but sometimes validating our writing habits and the differences in the writer's mind helps to remind us.

I'm using this picture from flickr this morning because I love writing with a fountain pen. A number of years ago I purchased a box of miscellaneous stuff from an auction back in a small town near where I grew up--Richmondville, New York. Some of the contents of the auction belonged to a newspaper publisher. At the bottom of the box, crammed into a crease at the corner, was an old Parker fountain pen. I cleaned it up and I purchase the ink for it (it doesn't take cartridges) and use it often, especially in my journal writing.

There's intimate ritual to working with a fountain pen. Especially an older pen that needs to be filled and cleaned and cared for. A fountain pen holds secrets, shares secrets, tell stories. It's not a throw-away pen; it's a companion through the writing life and deserves respect.

I use Sheaffer Skrip peacock blue ink, special ordered online from Pendemonium.

Adrianna

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