Late Night Perspectives

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Many of you know that I’m a night-owl. That seems to be the time my inspiration and ideas come to me. A lot of writers find their best time to write is early in the morning. Their brain has rested for 6-8 hours and it’s raring to go when that alarm goes off. For me, it works a little different. Late at night, my brain seems to feel as if it’s going to explode with everything it has been flooded with throughout the day, and it needs to release the valve. The best way for me to do that is to either pray, write or work on a jig saw puzzle until my eyes glaze over and I get a little perspective.

Enough about my late night episodes…I’m just setting the background for right now. It’s late at night and anyone with an ounce of smarts would be passed out in sweet slumber-land right now. I should be, but I have a few things I want to say.

It was another rainy, cold day in Arizona. While I was watched the rain fall, I was reminded of something someone said.

“Every story varies, depending whose telling it.”

Three different people could stand in three different spots and watch a scene unfold in front of them, and they would all come back with a different story. They each saw just a portion, or a piece of the puzzle. It may not have made a lick of sense to them. Each person would walk away thinking they understood what had just happened, or shake their head thinking it was all really weird. They would never know the entire story, unless they came together and shared. Then they would still have parts. Three parts of the whole.

I never understood how someone could gossip about something they saw or even heard, when they were standing across a room or weren’t involved in the scene at all. They caught bits and pieces and decided to put what they had garnered into a story of their own. So much bad drama has taken place because of that. It certainly makes for popular fiction or tv shows and movies. But it makes terrible sense in socialization and relationships. My thought has always been that unless you hear it from the horses mouth and hear ALL sides, stay out of it. Lord knows we each have our own issues to deal with. How does anyone have time to immerse themselves in places they aren’t even wanted or needed.

Stay in your own lane people. Use smiles, hugs and prayer instead of your opinion. I don’t mean to rant. It just seems we’d all be better off. Now if your opinion is invited and asked for, then by all means follow the next step and PAUSE before speaking. Just because you’ve been asked for your thoughts, doesn’t mean you SHOULD give them. My mom and dad always tried to teach us kids to think before we spoke. I didn’t always apply that good piece of wisdom and got myself into a whole lot of trouble growing up.

I’ve always said there is a reason God gave us one mouth and two ears. Me thinks He’d rather us listen more and speak less.

We all talk too much and think too much (preachin to the choir). Maybe that’s why we fail so much. I think failure is just a part of life. In fact, its probably the most important part. Why? Because it tends to be the part that teaches us a lesson and on the flip side and in the same breath, it hurts. No pain, no gain!

In the writing community, there are a few sayings that we live by.

1. Show, don’t tell.

2. The road to hell is paved with adverbs.

3. No tears in the writer – No tears in the reader!

4. Tell the truth; whether fiction or non-fiction.

These four statements can also be things to live by as a Christian. Take “show, don’t tell” for instance… as a writer, a good example would be

“John is tired.” (that’s telling your reader what John is)

Rather than telling your reader that John is tired, you need to show them that he’s tired.

“John yawned.” or “John’s shoulders slumped.”

I think God wants us as Christians to show others love and kindness, compassion and concern, rather than just saying the words. Showing means action. It gets the reader involved in the story. It also gets the Christian invested in others by putting their words into action.

The second one is probably not a great example, but its a great one for writer. Some writers believe that adverbs should be banned from stories. I personally find that a bit harsh. Adverbs are like one of the founding fathers of grammar…right along verbs, adjectives and nouns. You can usually pick the adverb out because most will end in “ly” but not all.  The reason I don’t like adverbs when it comes to fictional story writing, is they tend to be redundant.

Example: “He stuttered haltingly.” Honestly? How else would you stutter?

Another example: “The little boy screamed loudly.” The only way to scream is loudly.

I am certain most of you are yawning about now. So am I…not from boredom, but from tiredness. I’m wrapping this random posting up soon. Never fear.

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. If I don’t feel passionate about what I’m writing, how can I expect my readers to feel passionate, empathy, victorious or heartbreak?

God wrote a story (the Bible) that is filled to the brim of experiences and events that bring tears to our eyes and cause our heart to race and our face to blush…(come on, have any of you read the book of Solomon?)  Those truths are told in such a way that keep us coming back for more. I want to write like that!

The last one is “tell the truth, whether fiction or non-fiction.”

For a writer, most would say that makes no sense. Fiction is a story that’s imagined. That doesn’t mean that the writer shouldn’t be truthful. It may be a made up or imagined story, but it still deals with human nature. I think what this statement is saying to the writer, is that a good writer is truthful and honest with their audience. Give your readers credit. They aren’t stupid. Now-days even more so. With the internet and Google, people can check things out much quicker. If you’re writing a science fiction story, you better have the science part right. If you’re writing a historical romance, you better be knowledgeable about the era and country that it’s set in.

For a Christian, I think it’s pretty obvious…be truthful. To yourself, to others and to God. If you find that you haven’t been, then make a change. It’s never too late to do better.

Well my lovely fans, thanks for listening to my ramblings tonight (or this morning). Sweet dreams.