I recently picked up a book that was first recommended to me by our pastor's wife. I don't usually read autobiographies, but this book is just lovely. It's called `Kisses from Katie' and it's about a young lady (younger than me by ten years!) who goes to Uganda and adopts over a dozen children. The book is very encouraging, both in how much she loves God and how she encourages the reader to look around and see where they can be loving and helping others where they are. She writes a blog that is very much worth checking out, and tells a lot about what she's doing to help in Uganda. I'm posting a link here.
As for my life, it has been filled recently with the best kind of busyness. I'm still spending a lot of time at play practice, and when I'm not there, I'm working on my new novel, and they are both gifts.
You know how sometimes after a really heavy rainstorm the sun comes out and every branch, every leaf, every stalk of grass or weed (in our yard there are lots of those) is shining with drops of water so dazzling you almost can't look? That's what life is like right now. Covered with shimmers.
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Saturday, March 8, 2014
In Character
I had a bit of a rough play practice last night. When I got on stage I couldn't remember my character! It wasn't like I hadn't been studying my script -I had. It was just that as soon as I stood up to practice, I blanked out. I wasn't a retired Centurion's wife, I was Grace Clay fumbling around.
Acting skills and writing skills are closely related. In both cases the characters have to stay in character, even if all they do is walk across the stage. And in both cases, you can blank out and completely forget what the character you're trying to portray is like. It's really frustrating, and humiliating. If you're on stage you go `oh no! I'm a rotten actor! Everyone is probably looking at me in a funny way!' And if you're writing you go `oh no! I'm a rotten author! Everyone will think I'm a hack who never made it through English 101!'
If I blank out on a character while writing, I find it helpful to re-read what I've written and look for establishing moments. That can often be enough to get me thinking like the character again.
Sometimes the problem is that I'm trying to be too many people at the same time. In that case, layering can help- that is, writing out the basic scene between two or more characters, then layering in another character (remembering to have the previous characters react to them) and keep doing it until all the characters are in the scene.
And of course, there are always those days where I've just had a busy week and didn't get enough sleep. The nice thing about that is, as soon as I rest up, the problem goes away.
As for my acting, hopefully sleep and practice will solve the problem. If not, I can always smack myself with the script a few times and hope something sinks in.
So how about you all? Any favorite tricks for when a character just... isn't themselves?
Acting skills and writing skills are closely related. In both cases the characters have to stay in character, even if all they do is walk across the stage. And in both cases, you can blank out and completely forget what the character you're trying to portray is like. It's really frustrating, and humiliating. If you're on stage you go `oh no! I'm a rotten actor! Everyone is probably looking at me in a funny way!' And if you're writing you go `oh no! I'm a rotten author! Everyone will think I'm a hack who never made it through English 101!'
If I blank out on a character while writing, I find it helpful to re-read what I've written and look for establishing moments. That can often be enough to get me thinking like the character again.
Sometimes the problem is that I'm trying to be too many people at the same time. In that case, layering can help- that is, writing out the basic scene between two or more characters, then layering in another character (remembering to have the previous characters react to them) and keep doing it until all the characters are in the scene.
And of course, there are always those days where I've just had a busy week and didn't get enough sleep. The nice thing about that is, as soon as I rest up, the problem goes away.
As for my acting, hopefully sleep and practice will solve the problem. If not, I can always smack myself with the script a few times and hope something sinks in.
So how about you all? Any favorite tricks for when a character just... isn't themselves?
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Ripples
Those of you who have been following my blog are aware that I have a soft spot for plays. I'm actually involved in one now. (As in, I have a lovely role that I should be off memorizing.) The play is about Jesus' ministry and will be performed this spring at the Nazarene Church in Frederick.
There, I managed to sound all announcer-y, which wasn't my intent. What I really wanted to talk about was ripples- the way you'll sometimes realize that the stone you tossed into the pool years ago brushed ripples against all these other lives.
Back when I was young some friends and I did a fair bit of backyard theater for our parents and whoever else we could grab and force to watch. One of those friends is now directing this church play (which is how I heard about it, incidentally). I like to think that back when we were hanging sheets in the garage, God was watching us work but also looking at the moment I've just now reached in linear time, and planning, way back then, how one would affect the other. Maybe also looking to moments I haven't reached yet.
It's not that often I get to look back on a piece of my life and see God's foreshadowing. Life is so messy the patterns aren't always obvious while you're in the middle of them. But when that happens, it's just an amazing thing.
There, I managed to sound all announcer-y, which wasn't my intent. What I really wanted to talk about was ripples- the way you'll sometimes realize that the stone you tossed into the pool years ago brushed ripples against all these other lives.
Back when I was young some friends and I did a fair bit of backyard theater for our parents and whoever else we could grab and force to watch. One of those friends is now directing this church play (which is how I heard about it, incidentally). I like to think that back when we were hanging sheets in the garage, God was watching us work but also looking at the moment I've just now reached in linear time, and planning, way back then, how one would affect the other. Maybe also looking to moments I haven't reached yet.
It's not that often I get to look back on a piece of my life and see God's foreshadowing. Life is so messy the patterns aren't always obvious while you're in the middle of them. But when that happens, it's just an amazing thing.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Back
Hi, I'm back, after some computer problems and now a nasty cold (that is fortunately not keeping me down). I've been working on a new story. I'm mostly mapping out conversations and emotions, ignoring descriptions and inconsistent world building in favor of get-the-idea-down-quick!
It has been several years since I've been so excited about a project. I'd run out of ideas so I got caught up trying to fix an old story, making everything perfect and bleeding the life out of the poor thing. I was trying to gloss over the less pretty pieces of my life, too. All the bits I couldn't fix.
The thing is, you can't make good art if you're lying to yourself. It doesn't work. Art comes from dredging your emotions, even the ones you don't want to feel -especially the ones you don't want to feel. Once you start hiding, all that fire just... it damps down. You're left writing is meaningless gloss, so you polish you adjectives and hope all that gloss shines.
I already knew that, but sometimes I forget. So now I am writing about a loveable coward, wincing at my own cowardice, and wishing I didn't relate quite so well.
Life is good.
It has been several years since I've been so excited about a project. I'd run out of ideas so I got caught up trying to fix an old story, making everything perfect and bleeding the life out of the poor thing. I was trying to gloss over the less pretty pieces of my life, too. All the bits I couldn't fix.
The thing is, you can't make good art if you're lying to yourself. It doesn't work. Art comes from dredging your emotions, even the ones you don't want to feel -especially the ones you don't want to feel. Once you start hiding, all that fire just... it damps down. You're left writing is meaningless gloss, so you polish you adjectives and hope all that gloss shines.
I already knew that, but sometimes I forget. So now I am writing about a loveable coward, wincing at my own cowardice, and wishing I didn't relate quite so well.
Life is good.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Some thoughts on Endings and the Rescuers movies
The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under are both fun movies, but Down Under is a little more re-watchable. I think this is partly because the mood is more up-beat. Lots of bright sunshine as opposed to the swamps of The Rescuers, but the biggest thing, I think, is the endings.
The Rescuers ending is (in my opinion) flawed. We have this incredibly tense scene in the underground treasure trove with skeletons for atmosphere, a ticking clock provided by the rising water, and the villains showing exactly how evil they can get. It feels like the climax -but it isn't. The story moves into the actual end involving fireworks and fuzzy animals running every which way. The general high-jinx feels anti-climatic.
The Rescuers Down Under is smart enough to keep the ending streamline. Once Marahute is captured, everything narrows down to keeping Cody from getting killed now that he's no longer useful to the villain. There is no lengthy scene after the climax at the waterfall. In fact, the comic relief (Wilber) is stuck on baby-sitting duty and out for the count.
Endings are, in my opinion, the toughest things to write. Everything is supposed to come together, but often there's a few bits poking out higgly-piggly, that just don't want to be braided in. And then there are all those minor characters, and what happened to them? Sometimes you need an aftermath. `Watership Down,' for example, wouldn't be nearly as awesome to read if it didn't go on to explain how the events of the story shaped the future. But Richard Adams didn't kill his tension with it. His climax is still the most suspenseful part of the book -and that's what the climax should be.
The Rescuers ending is (in my opinion) flawed. We have this incredibly tense scene in the underground treasure trove with skeletons for atmosphere, a ticking clock provided by the rising water, and the villains showing exactly how evil they can get. It feels like the climax -but it isn't. The story moves into the actual end involving fireworks and fuzzy animals running every which way. The general high-jinx feels anti-climatic.
The Rescuers Down Under is smart enough to keep the ending streamline. Once Marahute is captured, everything narrows down to keeping Cody from getting killed now that he's no longer useful to the villain. There is no lengthy scene after the climax at the waterfall. In fact, the comic relief (Wilber) is stuck on baby-sitting duty and out for the count.
Endings are, in my opinion, the toughest things to write. Everything is supposed to come together, but often there's a few bits poking out higgly-piggly, that just don't want to be braided in. And then there are all those minor characters, and what happened to them? Sometimes you need an aftermath. `Watership Down,' for example, wouldn't be nearly as awesome to read if it didn't go on to explain how the events of the story shaped the future. But Richard Adams didn't kill his tension with it. His climax is still the most suspenseful part of the book -and that's what the climax should be.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year everyone! Welcome to 2014. It's a good day to pause and reflect over the past year (or groan and try to get over the `I stayed up way too late last night' headache). So I thought I'd post a passage from Matthew I came across recently, since it got me reflecting.
Matthew 25:31-46
New International Version (NIV)
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
I was just struck by how incredibly similar the two situations are. I can think of a time or two when I walked right by someone outside the mall holding a Will Work for Food sign. And I can think of a time or two when I stopped and helped someone even when I didn't feel like going out of my way.
I suspect that both the condemnation and the praise could be said to just about any of us and be perfectly true. The only difference is that those who accept Jesus forgiveness, well He forgives everything, even the sins of omission. That's why the times you did the right thing stand out. They're just there over the white background of forgiveness, instead of lost in the black and red, like a picture too messy with paint and scribbles to see clearly.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Merry Christmas Everyone!
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David ad Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at these things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
Luke 2:8-20
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David ad Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at these things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
Luke 2:8-20
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