Post by Old Dragon (Al) on Oct 24, 2005 12:22:12 GMT 1
Developing Originality
Broadly speaking we think of books as being either entertaining, educational or to some degree a combination of both. In this age of growing self-awareness we are also witnessing the emergence of volumes written specifically to appeal to readers seeking some form of spiritual lift. No, I don’t necessarily mean religious publications, or those non-fiction titles along the lines of ‘How to Know Yourself, Your Mate and Get Inside Your Relative’s Heads’!
We have only to look at the success of The Celestine Prophesy to begin to grasp an idea of the potential market for spiritually uplifting fiction or stories based upon aspects of alternate living. Already there are many new non-fiction titles appearing regularly on the pages of book club catalogues and in shops catering for followers of every conceivable alternate path – but have you yet come across a recent fictional work based around a heroine who is a homeopath? What about one with a heroic, modern day and realistic warlock as its central character and which isn’t a horror story?
Reader’s are, as always, keen to explore the unknown from the safety of their armchairs, and there is a growing level of open-mindedness developing within society today that provides writers with a wealth of potential for creating original fictional material. Okay, so perhaps the essential plot details might evolve along tried and tested lines but who knows what new twists and turns might occur as the story unfolds through hitherto fresh and uncharted fictional paths?
Once we may have laughed at the old lady who talked to her plants and claimed that to be the reason why they always bloomed so well at the local horticultural show, treating such a story as light, comic entertainment. However, scientific studies would now appear to endorse the theory that plants can respond positively to such stimulation – but what if plants can also think? Has anyone ever written a story from the plant’s point of view?
Look for new angles and try writing something from an unusual perspective, perhaps try an experimental piece with an unconventional slant.
I recently read a piece of work entitled Baby Blues, and based upon the observations of a baby whilst looking at its world through the bars of its cot. That ‘world’ being nothing more than ‘…a very large space with an opening (door) leading into the unknown. That’s where the aliens appear from at regular intervals and armed with bottles of choking white liquid. Force-fed on it, and whilst trapped within their giant grasping limbs, it curdles into vile stinking blodges of yukky stuff. That’s when it makes the best ammunition to belch over the aliens, though. They don’t like that at all and soon put me down, back behind the bars of my cage. But they don’t learn, do they? Soon they’ll be here again and the whole smelly, disgusting cycle will repeat itself once more – and they think I’m stupid!’
Okay, so that’s unlikely to become a literary great, nor is it necessarily spiritually uplifting but I’m sure you get my drift, and besides, humour and the ability to laugh at oneself through identification with an aspect of the bizarre does have the capacity to lift the spirits.
As a point of interest, the author of that piece does not consider herself a writer at all. She is a young, single mother, who was struggling to overcome post-natal depression. She wrote Baby Blues as a therapeutic exercise and found the exercise to be cathartic; helping her to develop a bond with her baby that she previously felt did not exist.
As an exercise, why not try writing a couple of short monologues from unusual points of view and then select one to develop into a longer piece of work?
Another way in which to practice gaining a measure of originality can be achieved through adopting an unusual voice or style. Here you need to ensure that your work does not lose its readability. One example that springs to mind is a story entitled Only After Noon, and written by one of the Triune Writers group members entirely in dialogue form. It’s about an elderly central character who constantly talks to herself, or appears to do so. It is only revealed at the very end of the story that the body of her husband is slumped in his favourite chair. The old lady knows he is dead but cannot understand what is delaying the doctor. Finally she recalls the notice in his surgery – ‘Patients cannot be seen without an appointment – Home visits only after noon’ and, of course, she’s confessed to the receptionist that her husband’s condition can’t be described as ‘urgent’, knowing him to be past help.
It is a poignant story that endeavours to make a very thought provoking social statement. A sad acknowledgement of what many feel to be lacking in this modern age – thoughtfulness and unambiguous communication.
Perhaps you might care to try a similar exercise piece that highlights an issue close to your own heart? If so, please feel free to post below for other group members to read and critique.
© T.R.P.D. - 2000
Broadly speaking we think of books as being either entertaining, educational or to some degree a combination of both. In this age of growing self-awareness we are also witnessing the emergence of volumes written specifically to appeal to readers seeking some form of spiritual lift. No, I don’t necessarily mean religious publications, or those non-fiction titles along the lines of ‘How to Know Yourself, Your Mate and Get Inside Your Relative’s Heads’!
We have only to look at the success of The Celestine Prophesy to begin to grasp an idea of the potential market for spiritually uplifting fiction or stories based upon aspects of alternate living. Already there are many new non-fiction titles appearing regularly on the pages of book club catalogues and in shops catering for followers of every conceivable alternate path – but have you yet come across a recent fictional work based around a heroine who is a homeopath? What about one with a heroic, modern day and realistic warlock as its central character and which isn’t a horror story?
Reader’s are, as always, keen to explore the unknown from the safety of their armchairs, and there is a growing level of open-mindedness developing within society today that provides writers with a wealth of potential for creating original fictional material. Okay, so perhaps the essential plot details might evolve along tried and tested lines but who knows what new twists and turns might occur as the story unfolds through hitherto fresh and uncharted fictional paths?
Once we may have laughed at the old lady who talked to her plants and claimed that to be the reason why they always bloomed so well at the local horticultural show, treating such a story as light, comic entertainment. However, scientific studies would now appear to endorse the theory that plants can respond positively to such stimulation – but what if plants can also think? Has anyone ever written a story from the plant’s point of view?
Look for new angles and try writing something from an unusual perspective, perhaps try an experimental piece with an unconventional slant.
I recently read a piece of work entitled Baby Blues, and based upon the observations of a baby whilst looking at its world through the bars of its cot. That ‘world’ being nothing more than ‘…a very large space with an opening (door) leading into the unknown. That’s where the aliens appear from at regular intervals and armed with bottles of choking white liquid. Force-fed on it, and whilst trapped within their giant grasping limbs, it curdles into vile stinking blodges of yukky stuff. That’s when it makes the best ammunition to belch over the aliens, though. They don’t like that at all and soon put me down, back behind the bars of my cage. But they don’t learn, do they? Soon they’ll be here again and the whole smelly, disgusting cycle will repeat itself once more – and they think I’m stupid!’
Okay, so that’s unlikely to become a literary great, nor is it necessarily spiritually uplifting but I’m sure you get my drift, and besides, humour and the ability to laugh at oneself through identification with an aspect of the bizarre does have the capacity to lift the spirits.
As a point of interest, the author of that piece does not consider herself a writer at all. She is a young, single mother, who was struggling to overcome post-natal depression. She wrote Baby Blues as a therapeutic exercise and found the exercise to be cathartic; helping her to develop a bond with her baby that she previously felt did not exist.
As an exercise, why not try writing a couple of short monologues from unusual points of view and then select one to develop into a longer piece of work?
Another way in which to practice gaining a measure of originality can be achieved through adopting an unusual voice or style. Here you need to ensure that your work does not lose its readability. One example that springs to mind is a story entitled Only After Noon, and written by one of the Triune Writers group members entirely in dialogue form. It’s about an elderly central character who constantly talks to herself, or appears to do so. It is only revealed at the very end of the story that the body of her husband is slumped in his favourite chair. The old lady knows he is dead but cannot understand what is delaying the doctor. Finally she recalls the notice in his surgery – ‘Patients cannot be seen without an appointment – Home visits only after noon’ and, of course, she’s confessed to the receptionist that her husband’s condition can’t be described as ‘urgent’, knowing him to be past help.
It is a poignant story that endeavours to make a very thought provoking social statement. A sad acknowledgement of what many feel to be lacking in this modern age – thoughtfulness and unambiguous communication.
Perhaps you might care to try a similar exercise piece that highlights an issue close to your own heart? If so, please feel free to post below for other group members to read and critique.
© T.R.P.D. - 2000