Wednesday, April 28, 2010

I 8 Wednesdays—What Kind of Writer Are You?


A question for you today.

When you write do you write like you are...

*Tiptoeing through the tulips in the Netherlands? You adore sensory details, aesthetics, and the feelings evoked while you tap away at the keys. You’re likely to have the same chocolate treat and caffeinated beverage with you every time you sit to write, or a beautiful painting hanging near your computer to inspire your creative juices.

*Running with the bulls in Pamplona? It’s all action and excitement for you. The words fling on the page in a hurry, a mad dash actually. And the prose is so alive, you never know if what you’re working on is going to charge after you.

*Climbing every mountain in the Alps? You’re in this for the long haul. You’ve prepared for the trek, tucking maps in your satchel and carrying just the right weight so you won’t be burdened during your hike. You move ahead with endurance and great effort. Sentences are pieced together like premeditated plans to take the mountain.

*Splashing down Niagara Falls in a barrel? It’s a wild ride for you indeed. You aren’t only at risk for getting soaked, but you write with such abandon, you might just be taken down by your Work In Progress. Weeeeeeee.

*Geting lost in the Bermuda Triangle? Whether you’re a plotter or free-flowing writer, somehow your plot always takes unexpected turns, your scenes become muddled and you drift in and out of story lines with little recognition of when this is happening, as though in clear skies one moment and wrapped by hazy and dizzying clouds the next.

*Riding the rails hopping from train to train? Although your story stays on track, you find yourself in a dangerous flux of jumping from project to project. You’re thankful for where each one has brought you as a writer, but in order to get where you need to be your focus shifts and you engage in the dangerous leaping from one project to the next.

*Hiking the Oregon Trail? You’re required to constantly make wise decisions throughout your trip. Throw off extra weight (words) here. Use medicine for this ailment there (edits). You bounce onward in your covered wagon braving the elements, learning as you go. You are a pioneer setting out to discover new lands and to stake your claim with a bold white flag (a published book).

*Sailing the seven seas? You let the wind take you. You feel it in your hair and let it slap against your face as you concentrate on the voyage ahead. You’ve charted your course with unique characters, but this writing journey…this is one you will likely navigate for life.

So, which one did you read and think, yep that's me?
Or if you’re not a writer, which one describes how you take on a project?


*photos by Flickr

21 comments:

  1. Wendy, your brain awes me. How do you think up this stuff???

    Okay, the first one is def. me. LOL But also the in-it-for-the-long-haul one too. :-)

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  2. I think I'm hiking the Oregon Trail with a little bit of running with the bulls. Hmmm.

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  3. Oh dear. So many to chose from. I think I ride the rails hopping from Train to Train most often. Just like I read ten books at one time, I work on several projects at a time. It drives me nuts, but it works for my personality.

    Which method do you employ, Miss Oozing with Creativity?

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  4. Jeanette, As always, probably a little of all eight. It's how I thunk them up. ;) They're already in there. It's like Ragu or Prego or the pasta sauce..."It's in there." Oh never mind...you asked. :D

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  5. I love these choices!! I know from reading your WIP what one you are!!:))
    I gues I am a little of the oregon trail and climbing the ALps.
    You are so creative!

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  6. LOL! Love this. I think I'm probably more of an Alps climber. Although when I edit, it's a bit like the Oregon trail. :)

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  7. Wendy, your posts are SO FUN!!

    Hmmm. I would say all of them, but really, Sailing the Seven Seas most fits me. I love visiting exotic places via my books and the idea of a quest...

    Patti
    www.pattilacy.com/blog

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  8. I have some Bermuda Triangle in me. No matter how much I plot, new characters pop into my story and try to take over. This time it's an 83-year-old man who has a crush on the florist.

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  9. Love this post! I'm definitely Pamplona. Occasionally I will think I'm in the Bermuda Triangle, but then it all comes together and comes charging after me :D

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  10. Great choices! I'm climbing the Alps for sure. :)

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  11. I might just be climbing every mountain in the Alps. I like the methodical take down myself. :) OK now fess up are you composing a psychological profile on each of us? How am I doing? ;)

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  12. I'm hiking the Oregon Trail and climbing the Alps. Those fit my approach to writing and they fit me in other ways too. I write historicals set in the West. I lived in Germany. While there, Gwynly and I visited Switzerland a few times and actually did hike in the Alps. Talk about a high!

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  13. Probably a combination of the last two, but mostly Sailing the Seven Seas. I like the idea that though I've charted the course, it's a journey that I'll navigate through life, checking my compass, adjusting my sails, altering the route, learning the seas of possibility as I go.

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  14. Oh, man, I'm in the barrel and we're about to go over the falls. I just start going for it, and it's the wildest ride ever. Then I fall, have to delete a ton and start over. I'm a pro at those falls by now. *wink*

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  15. Oh, boy! I'm trying to translate these into artist parallels. Depending on my mood or what project I'm doing, I'm pretty sure I am a little of all of these.

    When I'm inspired and patient, I love intimate detailed work. When I have tons of energy built up, I just want to get it out of me on paper, vigorously whipping out large abstract compositions with a stick of charcoal or conte. My energy is usually evident on paper during those times. Other times I plan out everything before I start. Thumbnails, sketches, final sketches, color comps, crit, alterations, final piece, more crit... Those are my long haul projects. And still other times I bounce from one thing to the next as I'm constantly coming up with new ideas. And sometimes one project inspires the next.

    I must be crazy! :)

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  16. Great post! I'm going to combine a few and say I'm riding a train straight into the Bermuda Triangle. LOL.

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  17. Love this post! Oh my, I'm more like Running with the Bulls, no, wait, like the Bermuda Triangle with the Seven Seas along side. Did I say, my writing is weird, sometimes??? :P

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  18. Jessica, I can relate a lot to the first one and about my brain...I can't quite say where the stuff comes from, only that it's fun to witness when it flies out.

    Heather, An odd pair indeed. Makes this whole thing fun.

    Jeanette, I already got you covered, but I love knowing that someone other than me reads a ton of books at once.

    Terri, Thanks and thanks for the message on FB clarifying it wasn't the bermuda triangle one. Whew! :D

    Jennifer, I love it. You write in one. Edit in another. I'd say that holds true for me as well.

    Patti, I can see that as I read your posts. I was particularly drawn to that one.

    Julie, Oh I've just got to know what happens with that. I've always thought it would be fun to be a florist. (Not for attracting 80+year-old men though.)

    Georgiana, I love the idea of a story poking at you and charging. Makes me laugh to think there could be times we actually run from the stories too.

    Erica, The cool thing about reading your blog is that I can see this too.

    T.Anne, Not quite done with yours. It's taking a little longer than the others and yep, all done. In my book you are empirically sane, which means by society standards, you're probably cra-zy! ;)

    Keli, I lived in Germany when I was younger. My mom tells me I used to go in the elevator (she was trapped--I'm sure that's why she includes this part) and pretend I knew German to other adults and spit Gibberish out at them. Ah, to be my mother...my hero.

    Joanne, You are full of beautiful analogies...that's for certain.

    Elana, Oh I sooooo can relate. I can almost hear myself scream out the Weeee on the first draft and during all the edits I'm yelping, examining my hundreds of bruises.

    Alyssa, In regards to your last comment...well, good then, you've come to the right place. I enjoy learning more about art through you.

    Kristin, Clever. Never thought of a train headed that way before...but would make an intriguing concept.

    Karen, You crack me up. So glad you visit like you do and make me laugh the way you do.

    Thanks people, for letting me spill my ideas out on you (or as T.Anne mentioned, conduct involved psychological testing on you). So far I've come out the most healthy-minded. But of course. ;) Not sure in whose world!

    I'm so thankful that any thought I've ever had enough creativity to think, God's realm of creativity stretches millions of miles wider and bursts forth in incredible rays of light in colors we don't even have names for.

    Ah.

    Sleep
    well.

    Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
    ~ Wendy

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  19. I definitely tiptoe through the tulips in the Netherlands. However, I don't have a painting I sit down to for inspiration, although I'd love one. I should at least frame one of my favorite photographs and put it on my desk at work. That would help. :) I'm definitely slow at writing. I like to take my time and sift through the words, then go back over them time and again to really dig myself into the atmosphere of the scene.

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  20. I think I'm simultaneously climbing the alps and sailing the seven seas. The laws of physics mean nothing to my writing. ;-)

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