This ever happened to you?

by HeySal
17 replies
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Ever just been kicked back and doing nothing really productive................when all of the sudden you get smacked inside your head so hard it almost gives ya vertigo...........and suddenly, something you'd put a lot of time in that just seemed off somehow becomes clear as a bell and you know exactly how to proceed?

Know that feeling?

LOL ..............I just had it.

Kewl.
  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    Sounds cool. Well, all but the vertigo part. Are you going to tell us more?

    I've had ideas from "out of the blue" that helped me solve a problem or helped me to write something I'd been struggling with. Is that what you mean, or is it more dramatic than that?
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    • Profile picture of the author HeySal
      Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

      Sounds cool. Well, all but the vertigo part. Are you going to tell us more?

      I've had ideas from "out of the blue" that helped me solve a problem or helped me to write something I'd been struggling with. Is that what you mean, or is it more dramatic than that?
      LOL - TB said I was "in the zone" so I felt obliged to fix the grammar in the subject line before answering:rolleyes:

      Okay -- I am in the NaNoWriMo right? I have this fiction novel I worked on last year to finish...stuck it on the back burner to pursue bucks............and on a deeper level a reason that lingered was........

      because it sucks. It really does. I have this absolutely awesome story to tell, but the writing (this is the first time I tried fiction) is boring, bad, superficial. I haven't been able to get past it. Couldn't figure out what I was missing.............

      So I'm sitting here feeling very restless after losing Ricky. Don't like where I am right now at all but am chilling for a few days to get past the grief...........

      Smoking a bowl and reading facebook and the forums hurting and lacking any ambition at all...........and suddenly out of nowhere comes this thought that................
      I have to write it in first person.


      That simple. That's all there was to it. It hit me like someone was standing in my head and switched a switch. Zap - - wow. Really? Holy cow. Yes.

      It was pretty stunning for a second - a thought so clear and simple that it gave me a physical jolt when I thought it.

      I think it's just a really strong surge of intuition but it was incredible kewl!
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      Sal
      When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
      Beyond the Path

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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

        I have to write it in first person.
        I've been thinking about this a lot, recently.

        I'm interested in first-person/third-person dichotomies, and especially interested in the ways the two "perspectives" can be combined.

        I'm just re-reading John Fowles' book Daniel Martin (which I think is by far his greatest work - much better, more interesting and more compelling than all the much better-known ones like The Magus and The French Lieutenant's Woman), and he has a bizarre (but fascinating) way of alternating between third and first person, sometimes even in the same sentence, according to "how the writer is looking at himself". So you'll get a sentence something like "I realise that what Dan was actually doing was ..." ("Dan" and "I" actually being the same person!). It sounds messy and complicated, but he brings it off very well, of course, and it adds a lot to the various points he makes. He's writing "as a writer", looking at his own life, so it's all quite recursive.

        Good luck with yours, Sal - and with NaNoWriMo!
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      • Profile picture of the author travlinguy
        Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

        LOL - TB said I was "in the zone" so I felt obliged to fix the grammar in the subject line before answering:rolleyes:

        Okay -- I am in the NaNoWriMo right? I have this fiction novel I worked on last year to finish...stuck it on the back burner to pursue bucks............and on a deeper level a reason that lingered was........

        because it sucks. It really does. I have this absolutely awesome story to tell, but the writing (this is the first time I tried fiction) is boring, bad, superficial. I haven't been able to get past it. Couldn't figure out what I was missing.............

        So I'm sitting here feeling very restless after losing Ricky. Don't like where I am right now at all but am chilling for a few days to get past the grief...........

        Smoking a bowl and reading facebook and the forums hurting and lacking any ambition at all...........and suddenly out of nowhere comes this thought that................
        I have to write it in first person.


        That simple. That's all there was to it. It hit me like someone was standing in my head and switched a switch. Zap - - wow. Really? Holy cow. Yes.

        It was pretty stunning for a second - a thought so clear and simple that it gave me a physical jolt when I thought it.

        I think it's just a really strong surge of intuition but it was incredible kewl!
        There's so much in here that resonates with me it's spooky. 11 years ago this past Monday I lost a very special pet, a cat. Saying he meant a lot to me is a gross understatement. I mourned for several weeks and still often think of what he meant to me.

        Then one day something came over me. Complete clarity. I looked at the kitty I'd buried and realized he'd done everything on his terms. He was smart and wise and affectionate and as handsome as a boy cat could be. I know it sounds sappy but right then I understood he had been with me as a role model. He never forced anything, he just expected things to go his way and they did.

        I thought about this and began to sort of assume that type of behavior. Obviously it's been a work in progress but I have changed a lot in the past decade and much of that change for the better was inspired by a 10-pound creature who was both a powerful wizard and a warrior doing things his own way.

        I believe those moments of clarity come, Sal, when we stop trying so hard with all that white knuckle determination. A few years back I spent six straight weeks working 10 hours a day on a novel. I thought it was really good. It was and is actually good. But I wrote myself into a corner and didn't know where to go.

        I tried and tried to pick up the story but eventually I put that book aside. And then one day I was walking in the woods and the answer came to me. I had been really ambitious with three sub plots in this story and suddenly knew exactly what to do to tie them together and bring the story to a great climax.

        Sometimes the answers we seek come by doing the exact opposite of what we've expected or what we've learned. TAKE ACTION everyone says. Of course that's true much of the time.

        But I'm finding that more often letting go is the answer because when you're not sweating and fretting and filling your mind with static and fear the right solutions have a way of showing up out of the blue. And when you're not forcing things and actually have the right solution, the work becomes a joy.
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  • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
    You're in the zone. That is great!
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  • Profile picture of the author David Maschke
    Those moments are rare.

    A recent one I had was when I realized it's more important to establish a mood in a reader, rather than specific emotion.

    It's rather annoying when you're in the mood for pizza, or something sweet, and you can't have it. Moods last longer.

    Another one I had was if you have your price go down when people purchase, it will become a game of "chicken" between buyers if the offer ends at a certain point.
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  • This usually happens to me at night.

    And that is the reason why some nights I don't get any sleep.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Sal - I know what you mean about the fiction. The stories are in my head but they don't fit well into words. That's not the case at all when it comes to non-fiction writing.

      Maybe it's more difficult to trust the emotional aspect of writing fiction to a second party fictional character?
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    You guys always make me look things up - lol:
    National Novel Writing Month
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    It is often recommended to "go into the silence", walk in the woods,
    or get a good nights rest and sometimes the solution pops into your head
    in a dream or early morning.

    Dan
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    Thanks Sal. Those "lightning strikes" moments are cool. I had a moment like that recently. I've been creating a traffic generation product in a series of volumes, with each volume dedicated to a different traffic generation method. It hadn't been selling as well as I'd hoped for. Then it hit me ... show of video of me logging into my website's traffic stats and show the volume of traffic it's getting. Once I did that, BOOM - sales took off.

    I almost felt stupid for not thinking of it sooner. Previously to the video, I made the rather stunning (yet not uncommon) mistake of assuming my newsletter readers knew more about me/my site than they actually did. Once they saw my real monthly traffic numbers the orders poured in. D-oh!

    Good luck with NaNoWriMo.
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    • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
      Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

      Thanks Sal. Those "lightning strikes" moments are cool. I had a moment like that recently. I've been creating a traffic generation product in a series of volumes, with each volume dedicated to a different traffic generation method. It hadn't been selling as well as I'd hoped for. Then it hit me ... show of video of me logging into my website's traffic stats and show the volume of traffic it's getting. Once I did that, BOOM - sales took off.

      I almost felt stupid for not thinking of it sooner. Previously to the video, I made the rather stunning (yet not uncommon) mistake of assuming my newsletter readers knew more about me/my site than they actually did. Once they saw my real monthly traffic numbers the orders poured in. D-oh!

      Good luck with NaNoWriMo.
      Can you PM me a link to your traffic product sales page?
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  • Profile picture of the author Jacqueline Smith
    Ricky is smiling somewhere right now.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Maschke
    I don't know anything about writing a novel.

    But in the situation you describe, if you write down the "why" you must write it in the first person, it'll shed even more light on the "how."

    At least it worked for me in my two instances. Hope it works for you.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Damn - thanks button has taken its tole again already, so here's a thanks to everyone.

    Alexa - I might have to alternate between third, as well, but it will be in sections that only the other characters are present.

    Since my revelation last night I'm thinking that I might be able to leave this intact with just an opener in the first person. The problem is I need an opener - the text seems to be winding and leading nowhere in particular without going anachronistic at the beginning of the story. That will take first person writing. I'm thinking I might be able to get the rest out as is with just the opening in first person. If I have to do a whole rewrite it's going to take to long - I've got close to 50,000 words on it already.

    I'm going to do the first person intro, then go on as is and just get the story all down and look at it and see if if will fly or not in 3rd with the first person intro if I infuse the intro sub-theme throughout the book a little bit. If not the general story will be down and I can rework it from there - probably a little easier than doing it totally first from the get.

    Kay - I've never written fiction either and have been working on this one well over a year off and on. It's a totally different creature than informational writing. I like where it puts my head when I'm writing it, though - it pulls you right into the story. Pretty kewl.

    Dan -- I do one hella lot of nature immersion. I depend on my time out there for clarity and creativity. My mind roams free out there. This was different. My mind wasn't really "wandering" -- it was just numb. Blank as you get get and still be conscious.
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    Sal
    When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
    Beyond the Path

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    • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post


      Dan -- I do one hella lot of nature immersion. I depend on my time out there for clarity and creativity. My mind roams free out there. This was different. My mind wasn't really "wandering" -- it was just numb. Blank as you get get and still be conscious.
      This sounds like the "go into the silence" thing? Not really napping or dozing off or meditating. Maybe sitting in your car in a park. Just not really doing anything at all
      except having quiet - at least in your brain. Not being aware of sound. Kind of letting
      go.
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      • Profile picture of the author HeySal
        Originally Posted by bizgrower View Post

        This sounds like the "go into the silence" thing? Not really napping or dozing off or meditating. Maybe sitting in your car in a park. Just not really doing anything at all
        except having quiet - at least in your brain. Not being aware of sound. Kind of letting
        go.
        Yes. That's what it was. It wasn't something I did with volition, though. It just happened. I've been in turmoil on the home front and the financial front...........and losing Ricky was a final straw. I just wen numb. I was browsing over things on the computer, but nothing was registering at all. My body was going through familiar motions, but I was gone. Suddenly I got a thought out of nowhere that was accompanied by some form of electrical shock.

        I've felt a bit different since then, too, mentally anyway. Still a little physically ragged, but have a whole new outlook after a long time of veritable stagnation. Ricky was my anchor. I was able to handle just about anything with him around. When things got disgusting, I'd just close myself off with him or we'd go out somewhere and just be together and it made all sorts of things bearable that I find I am no longer able or willing to tolerate. I just lost the last thing I really gave a damn about. He was my buffer from a hostile environment. That buffer just dissolved. Good clear head to move forward again.
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        Sal
        When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
        Beyond the Path

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