Suddenly, at the age of 50, I woke up in an office with no windows, and said, "what the %$&#!!! am I doing here?" and quit. Got a job house/dog/(and occasionally kid) sitting at a place deep in the woods to pay the bills, and commenced my True Vocation as a writer. Five years later, I am still turning out (insert your favorite word for useless, smelly stuff here). If I was typing on paper, instead of word processing, at least a hundred trees would have given their lives in vain by now. After beating my head against a wall reading a couple of thousand books by experts on how to write, I finally decided to read something FUN for a change, and picked up an old anthology of Ray's stories.

Bang.

There it was. How to be a writer.

Writing for the sheer joy of the thing, letting the muse within haul you this way and that, one thought word-associating its way to the next with no pause for critical analysis. Asking "what if" and grabbing whatever answer comes popping up and shaking all its secrets loose until its teeth rattle.
No fabricating a story to pontificate an Important Message - if the story is true to itself, it will have an important message of its own, and probably one you never even thought of until it told you.

I forgot that.

Thanks, Ray. You're the best! Glee

Fun post! I think it is the "aliveness" that Bradbury brings to the table that is part of what makes him so unique.

It sounds like a break-through to me. Keep going!!

Breathe deep the wind, my friend. Enjoyed your post.

Glee,

Writing allows you to express your feelings and vent your frustrations without getting...messy. Keep up your will to write and never give up that hope.

Writing is the main thing that preserves our true selves. The rest is all guesswork.

Thank you for the encouragement! I am going crazy! The past few days massive layers of plot development are suddenly materializing in mighty explosions inside my little head. I have no clue where this stuff is coming from and it is scaring me.

I've forgotten which library the piles of books on my floor are from (is there any such thing as too much background information?) and when they are (were) due.

Minor characters are growing sweaty flesh by the ton and clamoring to take over center stage - at this rate, the little novel I had planned is going to run 14 volumes.

I can't sleep -the story keeps poking and kicking and jumping up and down on my eyelids and I am so grumpy I think my husband will divorce me before it is through.

Writers out there - HELP! How do you stand it? Glee

[This message has been edited by Glee (edited 10-22-2004).]

Hey, can you send me some character and plot development for my novel?

ROFL! How many truckloads ya want? Trade ya for an hour's shuteye? Please? Glee

Yeah...I know how it is when inspiration kicks in. When my novel reaches what I term the "point of momentum" I'm sure I'll be making the same "complaints."

Well, this is a brand spankin' new experience for me! Been doing music/story programs for kids as a sideline for many years - thought that was going to be the direction of my writing.

Then a few weeks ago, this quasi-historical-mythological character who's always intrigued me poked her face into my mind and tossed a "what if?" at me, and the next thing I know I'm researching her era, that led to researching her belief system, that led to exploring the philosopy/religious rituals there and elsewhere at the time, that led to trying to understand quantum mechanics and how the universe really works, that led to getting some really heretical, if not downright blasphemous ideas that will get me lynched if they get published, and all of this building into a monster ghost story that made my own hair stand on end!


So, I decided to take a break and read some of Ray's stuff, because nobody does strange, spooky and DEEP better than he does. And suddenly some door I didn't even know was there unlocked itself and blew itself open inside my head and all this STUFF just started rushing out at me and ...... is this NORMAL for writers? Do you get ever get overpowered and possessed by your own creations? Glee

Glee--I can not answer from my own experience, but I've read many interviews of Ray about his writing process, and he reports some of the same things you are experiencing--waking up with characters "talking" to him, ideas taking hold of him with a fury, etc. To this nonwriter, it sounds fascinating, and I even envy you. Keep up the good work!!

Glee,

Just from seeing the conversation you and dandelion are having, I'd say you're bursting with new ideas all the time!!

What kind of books interest you? You should make your books based on that subject (be it horror, sci-fi, fantasy...see?) and you'll make millions! (of books )

By the way, could you help me out with MY stories? I've got a thousand and one ideas and not enough time to put them all down!! Could you give me a list of characters for any type of story?

And, yes, I'll trade TWO hours of shuteye.

Thanks! Having too many ideas has always been my problem - I am pulled in so many directions I've never been able to focus on actually getting anywhere! Been blessed with ability as an artist, musician, and writer, but not enough natural talent to put me above garden-variety-run-of-the-mill status. Been a local celebrity as a small market radio and cable TV talk show host, played local nightclubs doing solo guitar/vocal gigs, been a storyteller at malls and county fairs and schools and libraries, done sign painting and murals all over the area - and all the time have had to do a boring office job somewhere to pay the bills and get health benefits. Maybe I what I lacked was not enough talent, but enough courage. It is so scary putting yourself out there, I've always clung to a mundane life line, rather than flinging myself out into space and trust that God gave me a big enough parachute to survive........... Glee