Wednesday, November 21, 2007

They're coming to take me away, ha ha

Some years ago, I was hanging out with a group of family and friends, and a number of us were playing music. One of the onlookers mentioned the fact that most of us make odd faces while playing -- me in particular. I was astounded. I had no idea. I had to play in front of a mirror to confirm that, yes, I do contort my mouth and otherwise do odd things with my face whilst playing.

I'm afraid when writing fiction, it gets much, much worse. I gesture. My face reflects the emotions of the scene I'm writing and whatever the character is going through. I pose, trying to get a sense of how to describe how a character was sitting or standing, reaching or touching. I get pulled into the scene and end up crying over the sad parts, realize it, and laugh at myself for being emotional.

In other words, I look pretty much insane.

Maybe it's a good thing the typewriter is keeping me pretty close to home in my writing process this year.

1 comment:

Duffy Moon said...

That's totally appropriate. I believe typewriting is to writing what American Sign Language is to speaking. It's a medium that encourages a certain amount of expressiveness.

So, have at it. Just close the blinds first.