Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog.
Co-hosts for the October 4 posting of the IWSG are Olga Godim, Chemist Ken, Jennifer Hawes, and Tamara Narayan!
It's My World and I'm the Boss
October 4 Question: Have you ever slipped any of your personal information into your characters, either by accident or on purpose?
In my view the writer is in charge of the story as well as the characters of that story. As the creative director of the world on paper (or wherever the story ends up), we channel ourselves into that world we have created and all inhabitants thereof. No character slips into the story unbeknownst to the writer. As a matter of logical deduction, my premise goes on to say that every character contains some part of us whether intended or not.
Sometimes writers will say that their character took over and carried the story in a different direction. Okay, that's a fun way to dramatize what happened, but let's be truthful: A writer controls story and character and that writer's mental DNA is all over the creation. Write enough of what you know then you will undoubtedly slip some private information into the mix.
In stories I've written, my characters are often modeled on composites of people I know, have observed, read about, or the actors who portray characters in movies or television shows. More than once have I inserted actual conversations I have heard or events that have been a part of my life. If someone relates something that I find interesting then there is a possibility what I've heard will be disguised and used in some future story. I've done it many times and will likely continue to do so as long as I continue to write.
The way I see it is that we are all like blenders. Life pours in the ingredients and our brains mix it all up into a ever growing mishmash of knowledge, facts, and anecdotes. A writer might not be aware that they are tapping into that mixture on a regular basis to personalize the information they use in a story, but when the personalization happens then there's that writer smack dab in the middle of the story somewhere. Or woven and blended all through it.
When you think about it, you'll probably come up with writers who write about a geographical area they know well, their occupation, or a field of special expertise. Lawyers sometimes end up writing about the law profession, doctors about doctors, and even writers about writers. And when you get so close to who you are then some information will slip into the writing by habit or instinct. Other information you will purposely use because you know it is real and that's when your story becomes more real.
We are our stories. We live and breathe them until we move on to the next one. We invest our time and energy into the writing. Even our soul and spirit. With that much of us in the story we write, we will slip in some personal information now and then, whether it be accidental or on purpose. But maybe our stories could be thought as crime scenes where leaving fingerprints isn't really all that big of a deal. Besides, having the bits and pieces of the writer scattered throughout the writer's work gives the critics and scholars more to chew on later.
Do you believe a character could actually wrest control of the story away from the writer? Do creative endeavors drain you or energize you to keep on doing more? Is writing a catharsis for you or is it an escape from your real life?
Battle of the Bands
Battle of the Bands is the blogging event started by Far Away Series and now hosted by StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands. This event happens each month on the 15th and on some there is also a Battle on the 1st of the month. My blog is one of those with a second Battle on the 1st of the month. The premise is simple: Listen to the songs presented below and then in the comments vote for your favorite and tell us why you liked it. Then visit the links listed near the bottom of this post for more Battle action.
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Almost everybody has some kind of opinion about how things should be run and what current administrations are doing wrong. "If that person can run a country, then why not me," some might be inclined to say. And I say thank goodness they are not. The United States has so much incompetence in government and we don't need any more. From my perspective I think things in our government are being run well, but the media and the liberal leftists loudmouths would have us believe otherwise. But I also think they are trying to rule the world.
The song for this Battle is in honor (and rebuke) to all of those who complain and think government is not running the way it should be. Released in 1985 by the British New Wave band Tears for Fears, this song became the group's most iconic hit. Don't vote on the original, but if you want to listen the version by the group that introduced the song then you can find the video by clicking here. Below are the two competing cover versions of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"...
Lorde "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" (2013)
Lorde's version appears on the soundtrack for Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Dark and foreboding, this version drags the rhythm to a dirge--a far cry from the original version by Tears for Fears. Appropriate for the movie as well as a dramatic rendering of this eighties classic.
Relient K "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" (2011)
This Contemporary Christian group from Ohio has delivered a number of albums since they first got together in 1998. Their version of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" comes from their 2011 album K Is For Karaoke which is a compilation of song covers. The group stays fairly faithful to the Tears for Fears original.
Time to Vote!
You might not rule the world, but you are in charge of your opinion in this Battle. Do you have a preference between these two choices? Which version do you like the best? You don't have to know about music to have an opinion since it all comes down to your own personal taste.
Please vote on your favorite by letting us know your choice in the comment section and tell us why you prefer the version you chose. Then after you've finished here, please visit the other blogs listed below who may or may not be participating this time around. And if you've put up your own BOTB contest let us know that as well so we can vote on yours.
Here are some other places where you might find BOTB posts (though this round I might be the only one):
StMcC Presents Battle of the Bands
‘YOUR DAILY DOSE’
'MIKE'S RAMBLINGS'
'Curious as a Cathy'
Sound of One Hand Typing
The Doglady's Den
Angel's Bark
Jingle, Jangle, Jungle
Cherdo on the Flipside
Winner of this Battle Announced on Friday October 6th
This year is rapidly winding down to its end. Maybe I can gear up for more frequent posting. I'm going to take things as they go. But you can count on my BOTB results post coming this Friday. Hope to see you back then.
I think Lee we must to a certain extent be in charge of our own lives but of course take advice from others.
ReplyDeleteI like Relient K version of this song.
Have never heard it before and though it great.
Enjoy this new month Lee.
Yvonne.
Yvonne, good advice is usually welcomed by me. We learn from the experiences of others.
DeleteAn opening vote for Relient K.
Lee
We're blenders - perfect analogy.
ReplyDeleteWhat takes over is our imagination and we run with it.
Sorry, that's such a happy song, and the first version is just too dark. I have to go with Relient K.
And now I have this strange urge to watch Real Genius...
Alex, imagination is what distinguishes us from other creatures--at least so I would imagine.
DeleteI haven't seen Real Genius to my knowledge so I might need to watch for it.
Another vote for Relient K.
Lee
Okay, first I have to say on the songs- not sure I'm sold on the new treatment by Lorde... and not sure I'm not. But I don't hear the fire in the Ronco, er, Reliant K cover that was there in the original. So let me go with Lorde, I guess.
ReplyDeleteSecond, anytime I feel like saying trained monkeys could do a better job governing, I just rewind my last, "If I was king" mental tape and shut my mouth.
CW, I think I'm content not to rule the world or the U.S. or anywhere else. I have a tough enough time taking care of myself.
DeleteA first vote for Lorde.
Lee
I generally put things from my life into my writing and my characters. It's easier to write emotions when it's something I've been through, for starters.
ReplyDeleteBut there have been a couple short stories where the voice I slipped into was somehow instantly defined and where a lot of things I was going to make her (or him) do suddenly seemed wrong in that voice. In a couple cases, the character basically narrated the story in my head as I wrote. It's a weird experience and hasn't happened often, unfortunately.
I like the Lorde version better.
Harry, I think it would be difficult if not near impossible to completely separate ourselves from what we write. I think our own personal experiences and beliefs give our writing depth as well as voice.
DeleteA vote for Lorde.
Lee
I love the Tears For Fears version of "Everybody Wants To Rule The World," so I really liked Relient K's version a whole lot better. Lorde's picked up during the chorus, and I thought it was going to remain at the faster tempo, and was disappointed.
ReplyDeleteI've had it happen where the character takes over the story, back in my "I wannabe a fiction author!" days. Usually, the character would tell me, "John, this story really sucks, stop writing it or I quit." Ergo, I write what I write now, whatever that is.
I find that writing is more of an escape for me than a catharsis. I'm not miserable and focused on my aches and pains when I'm trying very hard to be humorous, and looking back makes that happen.
I find that the more I write, the more I want to write. I'll sit down for an afternoon and crank out blog posts like crazy. It helps.
John, good advice from a "character" to stop write when the going gets sucky. I think writing has become more cathartic for me and maybe that has taken away some of the fun. But sometimes I just want to cry out what I believe and what frustrates me. I need to get fired up with writing like you've described.
DeleteAn enthusiastic vote for Relient K.
Lee
Relient K is much better version !!
ReplyDeleteA happy Oct 1st !!
Character "creating themselves" that is very "interesting"... (possibly one of the only "good" things about severe personality fragmentation disorder)... a pleasant Sunday to you and yours, good Sir Arlee...
Stacy, still no matter what, the mind creates imaginary characters as well as characters imagined. By the way, did you hear that Uncle Phil passed away last Sunday. I'd been meaning to call him for a long time, but I never got around to doing so. I guess I should call Amy.
DeleteAnother vote for Relient K.
Lee
Oh no.... we had not heard... so very Sorry... send my best to Amy and Family... Bless you good Sir Arlee...
DeleteI think we immerse ourselves into our characters because we write about what we know best.
ReplyDeleteI have always enjoyed Tears for Fears, so it's no surprise that I enjoyed Relient K's version much more than Lorde's.
~Mary
Mary, when I'm steeped in writing, my characters and I become so interwoven that I think and imagine their lives and I hear their voices as well as their thoughts. I am in control though sometimes it would seem not.
DeleteAnother vote for Relient K.
Lee
I agree with you that we put some of ourselves in our characters and sometimes more like you said, like setting or occupation. Hadn't thought about the fact that we're in control, but I like that in my uncontrollable world sometimes.
ReplyDeleteNatalie, it would be interesting for some psyche doc to analyze us based on our writings. I'd be curious.
DeleteLee
One of my very favorite classes at university was a class on William Shakespeare. I cannot remember the figure, but the prof suggested something along the lines that most writers have the ability to create at most seven different characters, while Billy had 26 (or some such number.) I'm sure you are correct that most writers get their characters from blending together those qualities that they either feel or observe. And probably the best are able to look deeply into human nature and ferret-out the little differences in basic motivations that make for distinct differences. Long-winded way of sayin': they write purty.
ReplyDeleteAs for the battle, Reliant K can be relied upon to lord it over Lorde after their victory. Their version is better. K?
Sixgun, I'd agree with that character theory and I'm sure some writers get into more heads than others. But in regard to old Will's plays I guess the sometimes proposed theory of multiple writers creating those works might change that assessment.
DeleteKlever. Got a vote down for Relient K.
Lee
>>... October 4 Question: Have you ever slipped any of your personal information into your characters, either by accident or on purpose?
ReplyDeleteOh, abbalouly! I have so many good true-life stories that it would almost be criminal if I had never slipped any of them into "fiction" I had written.
Here is just one example:
Circa 1982, I was exploring the Venice Canals (in Los Angeles) by myself one day when I encountered a goose in someone's front yard. That damned goose would NOT let me pass. He repeatedly came squawking toward me whenever I got too close.
Well, I didn't want to have to strangle that pencil-necked goose to death, so I finally walked back about half a block and crossed the canal's little bridge to the other side. (Why did the Stephen cross the bridge? Because the goose wouldn't let him cross the canal path.)
Years later, I wrote a screenplay in which I had that same goose "goose" my male protagonist who was with his new girlfriend at the Venice canals.
LEE, as you could have undoubtedly guessed, I'm not a fan of this song. (You know, it's that 1980s Pop thang again.)
However, I have a stuffed dog that I named Muddy. (He was a Christmas gift from my Sister, circa 1980). I imbued that fake dog with so much personality that I eventually wrote a manuscript for a children's book about him. And every time I heard this song on the radio, I would sing along: "Every Muddy wants to rule the world". Which was actually very much in keeping with Muddy's personality. That stuffed dog had some ego, I kid you not!
Well, the children's book never happened, but I still think of Muddy every time I hear this song.
I'm gonna go with the second recording. It doesn't sound much different from the original hit, but at least it has some life to it and doesn't seem like a funeral dirge.
~ Stephen
Stephen T. McCarthy Reviews...
STMcC, great story--I could picture that. I think many of us have great stories in us but often don't know how to get them out. Samuel Clemons wrote some great fiction inspired by his own life. So did many others.
DeleteThanks for the memories. You should write a book. I should write a book
I didn't expect you to much like this song, but still I thought there could be a chance. I mostly wanted to use it as a tie-in between my writer's post as well as all the crap that continues every day.
Lee
And another vote for Relient K.
DeleteLee
Early on I inserted myself quite a bit into my stories, but alas, a figure of dullness I did make. So I modified the personal info to simply inserting scenes from my immediate world into my stories. Made things that much brighter.
ReplyDeleteOriginally when I'd started writing, it was as a catharsis. Now it's more of an escape from the nonsensical realities of this life.
GB, I doubt many of us want to hear about the lives of writers as they actually are, but embellished and elaborated upon seems acceptable.
DeleteLee
Lee,
ReplyDeleteI like to pretend that I am the main character which allows me to be or do anything that's totally not me, you know? You're right, we all entwine pieces of who we are into our characters. How can we not? I think this is why some authors are convinced the characters take over the writing because they succumbed mentally to their creation that they lost track temporarily. Good answer to last week's question. I really need to get back to this meme!
Great lead in to your BoTB and as you know I'm participating in this round, too. :) If you hadn't told me Lorde is the first artist I would not have guessed it in a million years. Her rendition was too slow and as Alex said, "too-dark" to suit taste. She definitely turned the bubbly song into something different but different good? Well...I'm not sold on being just that. I liked that Reliant K kept to uptempo, original style. The leader singer has nice vocals, too. I may have to listen to more of their mewsic. Please give my vote to Reliant K! Thanks for stopping in & voting. Have a good day, my friend!
Cathy, whether I'm reading or writing I put myself into the characters places as much as I can. Isn't that partially what fiction is about?
DeleteLorde did her version for a dark movie so I think it worked well in that respect.
A vote for Relient K.
Lee
Lee,
DeleteThrowing oneself into one's writer as the main character is part of the fun and allows us to be whoever we want whenever we want without actually being that person. The imagination is a wonderful place to visit.
Okay, I get the dark sense of Lorde's cover for The Hunger Games and although I haven't watched this film series, I think the style she used is a purrfect match up. I am interested in seeing these movies. Lorde's video is kinda cool, though.
Thanks for reminding the reason, even though I clearly read it above, I must have blanked it out when I got to writing my comment. *smack forehead* My brain doesn't work right sometimes. Hey, I don't have a human brain. My once 2-year old told her daddy (they were looking at a human brain in the encyclopedia) after he explained what the picture is, she said, "Mommy has a brain but it's not human". lol Out of the mouth of babes fall nuggets so precious and funny you think your insides will explode! :D
Gotta love kids!
DeleteLee
The visuals were great in the first one Lee but I don't like the song, the second was not so jangly. Maybe I'll check out the original ..
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your piece on writing - undeniably parts of ourselves and our experiences are contained within our own writing. And, writing can bring those parts of ourselves that are there, yet unknown or unexpressed which is one of the great values or gifts of writing. Reading, the other great gift, can help us to see universalities among all in this strange thing called life - and we experience a twang of recognition -
Susan S., I don't know how anyone can write fiction or character studies without inserting themselves to some extent. Without that it seems that the writing would be more like news reporting or bland objective accounts of things that happen. Without identifying with characters to some degree how can we even attempt to write about what people are thinking or feeling?
DeleteLee
Is writing a catharsis for you or is it an escape from your real life?
ReplyDeleteYour last question is one a friend asked me not long ago, though we were talking about journaling. I've been journaling in one form or another since junior high. I've always felt it was very cathartic. But he asked me if I was sure I wasn't hiding behind those words, using them as an excuse not to deal with stuff in my life that needed taken care of. It really gave me food for thought.
As to your first question, in Glencara's Bane (which I have yet to edit) one of he characters I thought would be in the background of the story kind of stepped right up and I became fascinated with him. He took on a more important role. It DIDN'T feel like something I did. But nor did it feel like he took over. Creativity is hard for me to come by at the moment... Sadly.
Calensariel, if the journaling is not intended to be read by others then I don't see how a writer can be accused of hiding behind any words. The words are a record, but also a means of release and sometimes an escape. Those words should also be accompanied or at least instigate action for change when necessary, but even the absence of that does not mean one is hiding or avoiding. Writing is recognition.
DeleteI can see how a character might step forward out of the background, but I think that comes from the writer's instinct or realization of new light the story sheds. The character is in the mind, but it is also a powerful force that begins to feel like a real entity with a life of it's own.
Lee
Gotta be Relient K for me. I've seen the Hunger Games but don't remember them using this song, probably because it was so different from the original.
ReplyDeleteJanet, apparently the Lorde version of the song did not stand out for me either since I don't remember it in the film.
DeleteA vote for Relient K.
Lee
I far prefer the Relient K version. It feels like more of a song than the Lorde version.
ReplyDeleteSometimes characters have hijacked what I planned for them. My character Imre Goldmark, for example, was first totally unplanned and then only intended as a minor character, but then he began laying out his case for why he and not some as-yet-unwritten character should marry Csilla Bergman. He told me their entire love story and its long, twisted, stop-and-start road to happily ever after, including his wounding in Israel's 1948 War of Independence while trying to prove his worth. I became convinced they're a perfect match, and abandoned the idea of Csilla marrying that unwritten other guy. The name Imre also just popped into my head. I didn't have to look at any lists of Hungarian names to decide on it.
Carrie-Anne, but if something had happened like you had died while writing this, would the character had lived on channeling through some other writer? Like a ghost or spirit? In writing a book the writer has to invest heavily into the story in order to carry it off well. But then I guess some writers might have things down so well they just crank out their stories.
DeleteA vote for Relient K.
Lee
Hi Lee,
ReplyDeleteI like your description of our lives pouring story ingredients into a blender. Nice!
I definitely agree with you on the premise that writers insert bits and pieces of themselves into their stories. I think it's unavoidable actually. Good presentation of your point of view...and very valid, in my opinion.
As for your battle: I love the original Tears for Fears song. And Reliant K's cover being so close to the original earns my vote. I thought Lorde's version was interesting for sure but it just felt too dark for me today. There's enough darkness today...
Michele at Angels Bark
Michele, no writer can convince me that they put nothing of themselves in their stories. It's illogical.
DeleteA vote for Relient K.
Lee
Hi Lee,
ReplyDeleteI had to smile when I read your take on the IWSG question because I so agree with you. I cannot separate myself from my books. I'm the author and I breathe life into what I write because it is a part of me. Excellent take on the question.
BOTB - I listened to both of these songs and I love the lyrics. The song that hits me the most was the take by Lorde. Yes, it's dark but it brings out the dramatics in the song. The drama appeals to me because it is very descriptive of some of the things going on in the U.S. today. Besides that, I love the keyboards or piano parts. It herald in the drama and introduces the tension.
My vote is for LORDE.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G
Pat, you and I are in sync on this concept. I think there is an official name for the idea of inserting oneself into fiction whether writing it, reading it, or watching it in a movie, but I can't think of what they call it.
DeleteGood reasoning on your vote for Lorde.
Lee
I can't see how a writer would not have Part of their personality or a personality of someone they know in their characters. As for the BOTB...I give it to Lorde because it was very inventive, dark, scary, brooding. It's so scary since we have that orange buffoon in the office...oops, did I write that out loud:) sorry but I am a leftist loudmouth and proud of it. I know you are proud of your thinking and damm well should be as this is what makes us human.
ReplyDeleteBirgit, thank you! I think it would be difficult if not impossible to write something in which you could not connect or relate with. Using imagination means becoming a part of that which is imagined.
DeleteI've got no shame in supporting our president. The U.S. (and the world) would likely go to a very positive realm if everyone would start thinking positive. Oh goodness, there I go inserting myself into a fantasy. But it's a nice fantasy. Better than John Lennon's.
A vote for Lorde.
Lee
Hmmm, hard choice on the song. I'm going to vote for Lorde, though I probably wouldn't listen to it on my own. For me, I tend to channel my characters in my real life, rather than channel me into them. Is that odd?
ReplyDeleteLoni, no I wouldn't say your tendency is odd at all. I kind of think it's the same thing in a way. I think there is a sort of symbiosis between the writer and the characters.
DeleteAnother vote for Lorde.
Lee
I tend to agree, Arlee. We write what we know and we are influenced by what is happening around us whether it's people, places or things, it's bound to show up in our work.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the rest of your week!
Elsie
Elsie, I'm glad to see that I'm getting agreement on my point. It seems the most logical way to see this in my view.
DeleteLee
Of course we the writer, are in charge of the story and our characters, but I often find that I have them say or do something that takes me in a direction completely different from the one I had planned. I know that ultimately the decision is mine, but sometimes it feels as though the characters are taking over. Or, that could just be me.
ReplyDeleteFAE, I do understand what you're saying, but I think I'm just describing it from a different perspective or using different terminology. I have sensed what you describe in some of my writing.
DeleteLee
I know what you said is true. And if my characters run amok, I blame my subconscious. Which I also blame for my creative side. hehehe
ReplyDeleteAnna from elements of emaginette
Anna, I'd agree that the subconscious is the culprit if it seems external force is put into an imagined character. But it might also for some writers to allow this for whatever purpose they might have in doing so.
DeleteLee
A very articulate post. My characters do sometimes take over though because just like real people, they are unpredictable. Having been created on the page, they do have a real life in some meta sense. By the way, I love this song and I'll vote for Lorde because I appreciate when a cover version does something different with a song.
ReplyDeleteNick, thanks for those words of encouragement. I can see an interesting story that could be developed from your premise. Maybe it's already been used, but I think it's an idea that can be developed in a number of ways.
DeleteA vote for Lorde.
Lee
I do believe the writer drives the bus, writes the words, feels the pain and joy. Perhaps the suggestion of mutinous characters commandeering a story is an unconscious admission of insecurity as to whether too much of the writer has seeped into - or out of - the characters in question. Love the blender analogy ;-) If I couldn’t create, couldn’t write, I’d have no purpose. So no, I never tire of it.
ReplyDeleteDark and foreboding is right – I don’t know why anyone would sing that particular song the way Lorde did (haven’t seen the Hunger Games). Relient K. for me!
Diedre, that's some interesting analysis of the writer and it does make sense. I wish I were more creative these days.
DeleteHunger Games has a rather dark and foreboding premise so the song does fit the movie's theme.
A vote for Relient K.
Lee
Most of the places in my books I've at least visited, and in the case of ABQ, I lived there for 4 years. Add a little help from Google Earth and I could recreate those ares accurately.
ReplyDeleteDo not like the first version. It sounds evil. The second one is much better.
L.Diane, the internet is such a great help in allowing us to know more about places we haven't been as well as places where we haven't gone in a long time. So many wonderful uses!.
ReplyDeleteA vote for the "Good" Relient K.
Lee
That is very well-worded about the way writers write. I like the blender analogy. Our own experiences, locations, friends, family, and acquaintances can make appearances in our stories, whether we are aware of it or not. That is what makes each person's story unique even if they are writing about a popular or familiar topic.
ReplyDeleteI vote for the Reliant K version.
Elizabeth, yes, that's how I see it and I think it's correct for the most part. There might be exceptions, but I'd have to be convinced.
DeleteA vote for Relient K.
Lee
If cleaning your garage is a prerequisite for ruling the world, then I'm not even getting out of my driveway. Literally. Because my garage is such a mess.
ReplyDeleteC.D., most of us have petty concerns compared to those with truly big responsibilities. Someday I hope my garage is much more empty than it is now. Maybe I could even park at least one vehicle without too much hassle.
DeleteLee
"Okay, that's a fun way to dramatize what happened..." Love this; made me laugh. Your post has made me feel all powerful. Yes, I absolutely am in charge of my characters' lives.
ReplyDeleteRaimey, always glad to bring some laughter. By all means, feel the power. Take control because you are in control.
DeleteLee