First and foremost, I wanted to take a moment and say 'Thank you'. I'm glad that all of you enjoyed 'Lost' so much; particularly since it was experimental. In short, I had read something that got my brain buzzing: 'What language does a deaf person think in?' It got me thinking about what it would be like to remove one of these key elements in description; i.e. one of the character's senses. Since I could easily go either direction, deaf or blind, I felt that a blind character would be able to translate a more thrilling story for the little creature feature running around in my head.
Who knows, maybe I'll do a deaf one sometime. Need to think on that one.
However! All the same, I'm glad you guys enjoyed it. I know a few of you were requesting more and I'm debating on it. I feel it's likely that if I revisit Cecilia's world, it may be as a collection of short stories revolving around the 'creatures' and mankind's interaction with them. Yet, I'm still not sure. I was actually growing very close to Cecilia and Gordo both. Cecilia in particular was actually supposed to die at the end. My intent was to end with the same sound of her heart beat slowing down as it had sped up at the beginning of the story; specifically as she died in the vacuum of space where there is, ironically, no exterior sounds.
But I just couldn't do it.
I chewed on it and considered how to get there and I just didn't want to. As many of you pointed out, Cecilia had been desperately hurt and writing and reading her pain was actually kind of taxing on an emotional level. I wanted her safe and I wanted her to escape the 'creatures'. I wanted her to get out of there.
Also, I love Gordo. He is fat and fun. But I'm just making excuses here.
I unno, maybe I'm a bit crazy, but I have a bad tendency of creating a situation and characters and just kind of going along for the ride. It's almost like I'm finding out the story as it comes out of my fingers...at least for the good ones. Might need to get checked out for schizophrenia, but hey.
That aside, I may revisit it, but I'm not sure. The likelihood of hitting the overarching world is more likely than returning to Cecila herself, but I'll let you know. For now, I promised to return to 'Kappa in my Closet' and I feel like I owe it to all of us just because the story will be a bit more light hearted than the panic-fueled world of 'Lost'.
So, let me leave you with this question. 'Lost' was born from an experiment...a test of my own writing skills to see how well I could cover a blind character's interaction with the world without writing her as 'LOL! I can't see! 8D' My question to you is this:
Have you ever done any experimental pieces to
stretch your writing capabilities?
As always, I'd love to hear from you, the readers. Have a wonderful day and I look forward to you joining us again soon.
- RB
I wrote a contemporary piece for the magazine Area of Effect. It involved a group of guys playing D&D on Christmas Eve. Definitely a stretch and experiment outside my normal space opera.
ReplyDeleteOoo~ Sounds like my cup of tea. Might have to request that one. ;)
DeleteI'm glad she didn't die in the end of the story.
ReplyDeleteI write things to stretch myself all the time. Some are successes and a lot more are failures, but I learn a lot more from the failed attempts than the successful ones. One thing I have learned to do is to write, put it away for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes. That is where I see the gaps I didn't include but knew about because it was my story.
ReplyDeleteHaha....nope I have not done any experiments in writing cause about as close as I get to writing is my blog! You seem to have more experience then I do on writing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I've done plenty of stretching as I'm all over the place. Just finished a novel that is waaaay outside what I usually do.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you completely. I've planned character deaths (usually supporting characters) but since I work as hard to make them sympathetic as my main characters, I grow to like them and can't kill them! I sneak around the prob by making them seem to die (getting the reader upset), but having them reappear at the end. lol Good luck on your writing.
ReplyDeleteHaha. I wish my goal was as simple as upsetting a reader, but I'm more just a sadistic whacko who was going to kill someone for symmetric entries/exits. Cause I'm so 'artful'?
DeleteMakes me feel good that it wasn't just me who grew to love his own creation.
If you had killed her off I would have been ticked. So, good change. As for experimenting--it's a good thing to do. I never have. Since I'm not writing at the moment, maybe it's something I should try.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was invested in her as well. Glad she didn't die.
ReplyDeleteWriting pieces for the challenges here has definitely been experimental. And in one piece at least the story went its own way.
ReplyDeleteI think one of my stretches was for an anthology of dark retellings of nursery rhymes. I've always been into contemporary, realistic, so when my story was accepted I was surprised. They published the original long version and the shorter version in the same edition. Very interesting experience for me.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you kept her alive. It always irritates me when the author kills off my favorite characters.
ReplyDeleteHi Robert - sounds like everyone agrees ... we're glad she's still alive - it allows you to move forward and take her with you ... cheers and good luck with new writing - Hilary
ReplyDeleteJust read through all parts of "Lost." So intense!
ReplyDeleteAnd I think it's great that you experiment with pieces like this. I try to challenge myself with some of my projects, too. Helps keep writing from becoming boring!
At first I thought I hadn't done any experimental pieces- but then I remembered a short story contest I entered. It was very challenging keeping the word count down and not going over the limit. That was definitely an experiment. Glad your experiment went so well. :)
ReplyDelete~Jess
Being experimental is what writing is about, in my opinion. "Safe" writers might have the bucks and the following but every now and then comes a Zadie or Nabokov and proves that commercialism and money can also go hand in hand together :-)
ReplyDeleteGreetings from London.
Experimentation is key. If I'm not taking risks, I don't think I'm really writing. Besides, you've got to keep it fun for yourself too:)
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks for stopping by my blog the other day. It's a pleasure to know you and your work here.
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks for stopping by my blog. I wrote a 1984 George Orwell type story about an old couple and a ticking clock. The ending was so bizarre my readers couldn't figure it out. Years later I reread the piece and couldn't figure out the ending either. LOL.
ReplyDelete