names, Na and No ~

[lookingland]

26,186 / 50,000 (52.4%)

i wrote 1,831 words this last hour just because i realized i haven't really worked on the book since tuesday. still struggling to bother with it. but today i found some small interesting things that might be worth salvaging: some pecked-over chickens in the hayloft, a lost glove in the street on the way to hazlitt's, an' learning that it's safe to fall down on the ice because there's going to be someone there to pick you up. small things/moments but hopefully i can use them as tiny analogies for the world in which this kids lives: a world of instability, uncertainty, shattered trust, loss, and a yearning for faith.

i've also finally (at long last) changed William Fletcher's name to Gwilym. but i think everyone still calls him William (and he's adopted that formally). i was reminded, writing to someone else about names and places and cultures and whatnot that this family is of Welsh-English extraction and that Lewis was named for his great uncle Llewelyn. i have considered changing Lewis's name formally for a long time, but the jury is still out. i think, no matter what, he will always be Charles Lewis and Lewis for short (he signs his name C. Lewis), but i am tempted to make his birth certificate read Charles Llewelyn Fletcher.

decisions, decisions.

i don't think it actually matters much in the great scheme of things. it will make it easier for people to find him after the war if he were to actually enlist as Llewelyn (that's my main consideration). i feel compelled to make a final decision, but have been endlessly putting it off (and i do mean endlessly ~ this has been turning in my head since i created the character nearly 18 years ago!)

i know: we'll have a poll ~ !

: D[Poll #864729]

Comments

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

I love Welsh names, and happen to be going through an all-things-Welsh stage. And Llewelyn, besides sounding like music, also is such an interesting name to look at. (And I love Gwilyn!)

Question - you wrote that you created Lewis 18 years ago...how long did it take until you felt ready to write about him? And, has he changed much as you've changed?

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

i love welsh names too ~ if i get another lifetime to write another series of books, it will be about welsh puritans in the colonial era ~ hahahahaha.

the sad thing about Lewis is that i have been writing about him for 18 years ~ we're very close ~ hahahahaha. problem is, i haven't "landed" in terms of getting the rest of the world around him up to speed with how well i know him.

and he's always been my "steady" ~ possibly the only character i have ever created who leapt fully-formed from my head. he's changed very very little in 18 years, but only because i have watched him grow up ~ if that makes any sense. i guess i mean: he's changed exactly the way i created him to change.

i find him a puzzling character sometimes ~ while we share a few emotional traits, he's otherwise not like me at all. i've never had a moment's worry about him being a mary-sue, for which i am immensely grateful.

: D

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

You know, after I read this this morning, I emailed my brother with a non-fiction idea - he's been working there for the past two years and having all sorts of strange and interesting adventures....

I'm really intrigued by the idea of working with a particular character so long. I wonder if that's why I struggle with my characters so much - I don't really know them as well as I probably should. I'm going to have to ponder that.....

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

working in non-fiction? what was the idea? tell tell tell!

: D

i don't know if there's a "right" formula for knowing your characters. a lot of people fill out questionnaire things to learn details ~ i just live with them inside my head as much as i can ~ and even all these 18 years and all the questionnaires in the world have yet to help me figure out Mr. Morse, so it's not an across-the-board charm, that's for sure.

one of the things that i find helpful in order to learn about my characters is that i always try to see them not as I see them, but as the people they live with see them. a lot of workshop people have had real problems with Lewis, for example, because his actions and his words are often racist, brutal, and full of very wrathful judgments. because it's easy to assess him by our 21st century standards. it's what other people usually notice about him (that he's cautious, gentle, faithful, and righteous) that help soften and round him out. these aren't things i necessarily wrote into the character consciously. it's just who he is underneath the anger when anyone bothers to look.

anyway, i find all this character building stuff fascinating because i don't consciously character build too much. i try to let people just happen....

: D

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

Finally catching up!

working in non-fiction? what was the idea?

Well, I've got two, both involving my brother. My bro picked up and moved to the Isle of Lewis to work on his masters dissertation, and ending up doing all sorts of weird things, like digging peat, living in a farmhouse without electricity, singing Gordon Lightfoot at a gathering, learning dry masonry, shearing sheep....on and on. He made a really strong connection with the people there, many who still live the traditional way (which is something that always interests me) and I figured it might be an interesting thing to write about...

He's now in Wales, working with rehabbing teens that have been in the prison system for reintroduction to regular life, and he just has strange and interesting things happen to him...like getting a part time job working in a ski shop simply because "He's from Canada. He must know about snow."...And, I come from a family of story tellers - one day I'm going to write a book of my dad's stories.....:)

because it's easy to assess him by our 21st century standards.

I had to think about this, because it's something I struggle with - sometimes, I feel my writing reflects my own belief system too much, and I know that I've veered away from taboo topics because of worrying about how others will react. Guess it's time to tackle that...

Just for the record, I think Lewis is a fascinating character - I like him a lot :)

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

wow ~ your brother's experiences sound wonderful (and great fodder for stories indeed!). if ever there was a "road not taken" for me personally, it would be to do the sorts of things that he is doing. i am much too rooted for my own good. i need constants in my life or i get fussy, so as much as i like traveling, i languish without a home base, dogs, and my own bed waiting for me at the end of the day.

but there are many days i'd give anything to run amuck in wales and shear sheep ~ hahahahaha.

I feel my writing reflects my own belief system too much

i don't think there's anything wrong with that, per se. lots of writers write about things they feel strongly about ~ and so do i. i just tend to approach it from the opposite side of the coin in order to better understand the root of those problems/conflicts/etc.

i think there's two dangers any way you go about it: you might wind up preaching to the converted in your own work (and even falling into mary-sueisms), or, more frightening, you wind up converting yourself to the other side and winding up with the same problem of inserting too much of yourself into the mix. ultimately, i think we can't afford to identify too strongly with our characters or we run the risk of watering them down due to our own squickiness over our personally issues, etc. (if all that makes sense).

i think, in all cases, the easy and safe choice is never the "right" choice. be bold. write dangerously.

Just for the record, I think Lewis is a fascinating character - I like him a lot

thanks! i like him a lot too ~ and i think he's a good person underneath it all ~ in spite of himself sometimes.

: D

[bachsoprano.livejournal.com]

I come from a family of wanderers, though I tend to be more home-body-ish than the rest (when I was 3, my dad came home from work one day and announced we were moving to Iran. In a month.)

Sounds like the bro is up for the idea...I'm posting a snippet of his email to me on my LJ - I think it'll make you laugh :)

i think, in all cases, the easy and safe choice is never the "right" choice. be bold. write dangerously.

It's funny how scary that is - but, it needs to be done. Down the rabbit hole, right? :D

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

it's very telling, but as a child, i was always horrified by the fact that Alice so easily would follow the instructions on a mysterious bottle that said "drink me".

we can spend our whole lives undoing certain things we've learned that have no application except as a hindrance to our creative process.

: D

gonna go check out your post now ~ !

[utter-scoundrel.livejournal.com]

Charles Loincloth Fletcher! There ya go...

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

oooo ~ and wouldn't that have all manner of metaphoric value ~ ! hahahahahaha

: o p

nothing useful to contribute

[(Anonymous)]

I find I have no preference poll-wise.

I tried to comment on one of your earlier posts (what type of things make you say "no" to a book) got myself all confuddled in that one, and backed silently out.

But silence feels unfriendly so I wanted to come by and babble a little.

mission accomplished. heh

babbling moo

Re: nothing useful to contribute

[lookingland.livejournal.com]

behold the babbling moo.

: D