I should have known in High School when I convinced a kid,
that a guy in my neighborhood had Reindeer that he kept in his backyard because
he trained them to fly for Santa Claus that I would someday end up as a writer. I never had a clue! My BS meter has always been stuck in
overdrive as being able to spot it and never missing an opportunity to mess
with somebody with some wild tall tale.
I remember being told all the time to pay attention and quit
day dreaming, and I am so glad I never listened to them or stopped fantasizing about
crazy what if scenarios. Looking back I
am sure I was paying attention, probably more so than most people. I think that is one of the premier traits of
a writer and storyteller, is paying attention to those little details which are
not noticed by most. It is our hyper curiosity
and attention to detail that makes us ask questions.
The answers to those questions lies at the heart of the
plots we twist, motivations for our characters and the attention to detail
allows us to tie it all together in a way the reader or listener to our tale
didn’t see coming. The result is the
magical moment when it all comes together, or that the writer steps past
reality and makes the unbelievable possible and tickles the reader’s
imagination and wonder in the process.
Fiction Writers turn bullshit into reality every day. It’s our job.
We have to be the most open minded flexible thinkers on the planet. We routinely research facets of all kinds of
silly stuff to avoid coming off as maroons to our following of readers. Most fiction writers read as much if not more
than our reading fans. We spend way too
much time checking the tiny little details about products, events, train time
schedules, maps, travel guides, and millions of other tidbits of useless
information. If other fiction writers
are like I am in many cases we take notes on all this stuff so we can refer
back to our notes while we are writing. We
know tidbits about useless crap that Wikipedia and Google would have to look
up! Again, it’s our job! So don’t try and BS a Fiction Writer. Most of our friends already know that nobody
plays trivia games with us for the very same reason. You will lose!
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1 comments:
So true! Your school years sound like mine! I once convinced a friend that they recessed lights in the movie theater were actually sun lamps and they were left over from the 50's when they used to show those beach movies!
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