Try Something New
I have already taught my 2-year-old how to be a peace activist.
So when he is all grown up, he will have had this experience. My kids have also eaten raw eel; tried playing drums, electric guitar, violin, piano, and horn; practiced nonviolent protest; taken art lessons; prayed at different houses of worship; helped with a food drive; wrapped gifts and organized toy drives for foster children each Christmas; broken bread with AIDS victims; hugged and kissed people with HIV; had friends every color of the rainbow; visited the projects; listened to heartfelt stories from friends of mine about everything from AIDS to being gay to Vietnam. In short, they have packed a lot of experience into their short years. They have inquisitive minds.
This post isn't about politics or war or anything other than--TRY SOMETHING NEW! The worst thing any writer can do is get stuck in a rut. Hence, I have viewed autopsy tapes, asked all sorts of professional people zillions of questions, signed up for interesting classes, and more than anything, have been open to new things.
Every January, I figure out some new things I want to try that year--and then set out to do so. And I think the best education for a novelist is a life lived fully, passionately, deeply. LOVE more, TRY more, DO more, READ more.
So . . . anyone trying anything new in the name of a book? And do you feel it's part of the writer's experience to EXPERIENCE!?
Peace,
E
posted by Erica Orloff at 5:04 PM
10 Comments:
I think it's crucial for an author to have a wide range of experiences.
Everything you do is fodder for the work; everything adds texture.
And sometimes, of course, it's fun to just imagine and make stuff up.
Is learning to touch type in the name of producing more words faster included in trying something new?
I agree that experiences are a great way to broaden your point of view and to help not only your writing but your life as well.
Living outside the box is exciting and mindblowing :)
Jude:
But even when you make something up, there is a kernel somewhere of something . . . a sight, sound, scent.
E
Ewoh:
Definitely. I think life is best experienced being open. And writing is enhanced by being colored and tinted by realities you've witnessed.
E
Very true, Erica.
I can still hear the sound of a penny plopping into a fountain, for example.
Jude:
I ALWAYS wish in fountains. Can't pass one without putting in a penny.
If I don't have a penny, I wish five times more and put in a nickel.
E
I definitely agree that stepping out of your comfort zone--to learn a new skill, mix with a different set of people etc. can only help you grow as a writer and a person.
But I'm not necessarily convinced you have to experience extremes to be a writer. Often the cleverest things are written using the perception of the simplest experiences. The coin in the fountain for example. Almost everyone has done it, but perhaps not for years. To convey it in a way that uses all the senses and brings back a memory of the time--place--day--weather conditions--person you were with...is the skill of experiencing things FULLY. Not searching out the grand event or dramatic action, but making an event out of the mundane.
I am not managing to say this as well as I'd like. But in a nutshell, yes, it is part of the writers experience to EXPERIENCE everything to the fullest extent. And that is what I'm working on as a writer.
Apparently this was an exercise in how to experience cramming the word 'experience' into a paragraph as many times as possible :(
Lainey:
You bring up a GREAT point. I mean, that's why we MAKE STUFF UP. I don't have any desire toskydive, nor do I imagine I might need to write about (you never know), but I think I could talk to skydivers and do a decent job of describing it. I don't have a penis and manage to write from the male perspective during sex scenes. LOL.
That goes to empathy--something we have all talked about here on the blog. We can be empathetic and describe things. And some of the mundane experiences are in the writer's realm to make them come to life.
But I definitely think trying new things--doesn't have to be daring--but being open . . . is important to intellectual curiosity. And writers, I think, should have that in a healthy dose.
THIS, above all else, is why I love and admire you so much. I have a motto:
Try everything once. Do it twice if you like it; three times if it hurts.
;-)
karm:
LOL! That is great. I'll have to remember it next time I am nursing a sore back from trying something like a cartwheel (which I have never been able to master!).
E
Post a Comment
<< Home