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Nov. 25th, 2007 02:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liptonrm_backupThe post-holiday blahs are upon us. Or, rather, they were upon me for most of Friday until I snapped out of it with an injection of fangirl straight into my veins. I blame it all on Thanksgiving recuperation and finishing The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. It's a great book but boy is it depressing. Sammy Clay pretty much tore my heart out. I might have over-identified just a tad.
Ahem, but it did start me thinking about my own Great American Novel again. I have most of it worked out, the setting, the characters, the emotional arcs, the journeys. The only problem is that I don't have a plot. There's no reason for the characters to leave point A and end up at point Zed. Though maybe I don't need a reason. Maybe the journey is the whole point. Maybe the fact that, in the end, there is no earth-shattering reason for anything is the plot. That life is enough.
Holy crap. Just, holy crap. Sometimes a dream is just a dream. And maybe I'll actually have something to show for this epiphany in a decade or whenever I have the time to sit down and write it. It's funny, I used to never think that I would ever have the patience to be a writer and now it's all I want to do.
BTW, I'm at that point where it feels like law school is never going to end. I have so many story ideas bouncing around in my head, both fic and non-fic alike, and it never seems like I have half of a chance to sit down and do anything about them. It's most frustrating.
However, there are many things that are not at all frustrating and my friends are amongst them. My dearly beloved birthday twin!Erin has tagged me to do the Seven Random Facts meme and I am nothing if not her's to command.
1. I have kissed exactly one non-related male in my entire life. One afternoon while I was browsing at Borders a random guy came up to me and after a few moments of stilted small talk asked if I wanted to kiss him. I thought what the hell and complied. He then asked me if I wanted to go somewhere and make out to which I calmly declined and walked away. Random Guy Mojo tends to be the only kind I have. =D
2. I distinctly recall writing Inspector Gadget fanfiction in my head when I was around 5 years old. I thought his niece Penny was just keen. I never actually captured any of it on paper.
2a. As a teenager I composed a whole Mary Sue, Tenth Walker epic in my head. However, my self-insert character (Miriel) never married anyone and didn't change the shape of the quest at all. She mostly tagged along and represented the Woman half of the race of Man.
3. When I was a kid I used to say that I wanted to be a veterinarian mostly because I knew I liked animals and it sounded better than the truth which was I had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up. I'm still not entirely sure what I want to be but, as Spock says, "What you want is irrelevant, what you've chosen is at hand." It's nice that Star Trek wisdom continues to be so readily applicable to everyday life.
4. My one regret from my Chicago con attendance was that I didn't get up during the Q&A and say, "You guys are great and all, but what some of us really want to know is what is it like working with Kim Manners?" I would also like the chance to say the equivalent of, "One of the things I love best about Sam&Dean, in fact, it's the thing that first caught my attention, is how realistic their sibling interactions are. It's like watching my own brothers, except the Winchesters have fewer tickle fights."
5. I started watching The X-Files because the cute guy in my freshman science class told me to. No, really, we were talking about genre tv or aliens or something and he gushed over it and convinced me that it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. He was right, of course, and I wish I could remember his name so that I could thank him properly.
6. I have contingency plans in place for the zombie apocalypse. I kind of wish I was joking.
7. I started sending Christmas cards to my extended family when I was in high school because my parents never did so and I've always enjoyed mailing cards, letters, etc. The one year that I wasn't able to do so a great-aunt of mine made a disappointed observation so I sent out Easter cards to make up for my lapse. Obviously I'm rather fond of traditions like this. ;-)
You know, I should probably go to bed. This whole staying up till 3 in the morning thing has got to end.
Ahem, but it did start me thinking about my own Great American Novel again. I have most of it worked out, the setting, the characters, the emotional arcs, the journeys. The only problem is that I don't have a plot. There's no reason for the characters to leave point A and end up at point Zed. Though maybe I don't need a reason. Maybe the journey is the whole point. Maybe the fact that, in the end, there is no earth-shattering reason for anything is the plot. That life is enough.
Holy crap. Just, holy crap. Sometimes a dream is just a dream. And maybe I'll actually have something to show for this epiphany in a decade or whenever I have the time to sit down and write it. It's funny, I used to never think that I would ever have the patience to be a writer and now it's all I want to do.
BTW, I'm at that point where it feels like law school is never going to end. I have so many story ideas bouncing around in my head, both fic and non-fic alike, and it never seems like I have half of a chance to sit down and do anything about them. It's most frustrating.
However, there are many things that are not at all frustrating and my friends are amongst them. My dearly beloved birthday twin!Erin has tagged me to do the Seven Random Facts meme and I am nothing if not her's to command.
1. I have kissed exactly one non-related male in my entire life. One afternoon while I was browsing at Borders a random guy came up to me and after a few moments of stilted small talk asked if I wanted to kiss him. I thought what the hell and complied. He then asked me if I wanted to go somewhere and make out to which I calmly declined and walked away. Random Guy Mojo tends to be the only kind I have. =D
2. I distinctly recall writing Inspector Gadget fanfiction in my head when I was around 5 years old. I thought his niece Penny was just keen. I never actually captured any of it on paper.
2a. As a teenager I composed a whole Mary Sue, Tenth Walker epic in my head. However, my self-insert character (Miriel) never married anyone and didn't change the shape of the quest at all. She mostly tagged along and represented the Woman half of the race of Man.
3. When I was a kid I used to say that I wanted to be a veterinarian mostly because I knew I liked animals and it sounded better than the truth which was I had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up. I'm still not entirely sure what I want to be but, as Spock says, "What you want is irrelevant, what you've chosen is at hand." It's nice that Star Trek wisdom continues to be so readily applicable to everyday life.
4. My one regret from my Chicago con attendance was that I didn't get up during the Q&A and say, "You guys are great and all, but what some of us really want to know is what is it like working with Kim Manners?" I would also like the chance to say the equivalent of, "One of the things I love best about Sam&Dean, in fact, it's the thing that first caught my attention, is how realistic their sibling interactions are. It's like watching my own brothers, except the Winchesters have fewer tickle fights."
5. I started watching The X-Files because the cute guy in my freshman science class told me to. No, really, we were talking about genre tv or aliens or something and he gushed over it and convinced me that it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. He was right, of course, and I wish I could remember his name so that I could thank him properly.
6. I have contingency plans in place for the zombie apocalypse. I kind of wish I was joking.
7. I started sending Christmas cards to my extended family when I was in high school because my parents never did so and I've always enjoyed mailing cards, letters, etc. The one year that I wasn't able to do so a great-aunt of mine made a disappointed observation so I sent out Easter cards to make up for my lapse. Obviously I'm rather fond of traditions like this. ;-)
You know, I should probably go to bed. This whole staying up till 3 in the morning thing has got to end.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-25 05:43 pm (UTC)Plot shmot. John Irving creates a bunch of characters as real as he can make them, puts them together in a setting, and their interactions = plot.
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Date: 2007-11-27 01:26 am (UTC)See, this is why a childhood spent reading fantasy/sci fi novels can be so detrimental. I got so caught up in trying to find a way to save the world that I forgot that my story was never about that in the first place. Family and coming of age is earth shattering enough for any piece of fiction.