04-12-2018, 09:39 AM
Actually that was a great post abu (if I can call you that for short?) To be honest you just about touched on a nice bit of prose. I would take that and keep going, I got quite a nice image while reading.
You're exactly right. There is even more to your experience than you can fit into the writing (probably endless details). You just have to share the important parts - the parts that matter most and also help bring in everything else without trying. It won't be exactly true to the experience, whether real or imagined experience, but I think that's not the goal. The goal is to capture the essence of the experience, or perhaps, the spiritual side of the experience. Details can either help or hinder that. Natalie Goldberg said "Don't marry the fly," meaning don't go so far into detail that it gets in the way.
The great thing about poetry (and prose) is it has the ability to show you more than what is directly said. If you ever studied any psychology, the mind relentlessly wants to fill in the blanks. It's the dreaming side of the mind, and it's amazing. Take a minute and imagine:
Distant piers barely visible through the fog,
she walks along the shore,
the sun falling in narrow shafts
alongside pillars of rain, far out
over the mercury sea.
I just made that up, it's probably rough, but hopefully I can make a point with it. I bet you saw more than I directly spoke of. You might have imagined sand. You saw waves? Seagulls? Perhaps you saw bare feet. Did you see anyone else on the beach? I never said if there was or wasn't anyone else, so perhaps you saw it as empty stretches of sand, but I never said. Windy or calm? You saw a whole scene and I never gave you a whole scene. So the mind does a lot we don't ask it. As writers we take advantage of that - make the most important parts clear, creating the essence, and leave the rest to imagination.
Now I have done my share of rambling. Feel like this should be a separate thread, lol. Only so others can chip in, I don't mind if it's in this thread though.
I can see you have a good way with writing. I might poke around and find some of your work.
You're exactly right. There is even more to your experience than you can fit into the writing (probably endless details). You just have to share the important parts - the parts that matter most and also help bring in everything else without trying. It won't be exactly true to the experience, whether real or imagined experience, but I think that's not the goal. The goal is to capture the essence of the experience, or perhaps, the spiritual side of the experience. Details can either help or hinder that. Natalie Goldberg said "Don't marry the fly," meaning don't go so far into detail that it gets in the way.
The great thing about poetry (and prose) is it has the ability to show you more than what is directly said. If you ever studied any psychology, the mind relentlessly wants to fill in the blanks. It's the dreaming side of the mind, and it's amazing. Take a minute and imagine:
Distant piers barely visible through the fog,
she walks along the shore,
the sun falling in narrow shafts
alongside pillars of rain, far out
over the mercury sea.
I just made that up, it's probably rough, but hopefully I can make a point with it. I bet you saw more than I directly spoke of. You might have imagined sand. You saw waves? Seagulls? Perhaps you saw bare feet. Did you see anyone else on the beach? I never said if there was or wasn't anyone else, so perhaps you saw it as empty stretches of sand, but I never said. Windy or calm? You saw a whole scene and I never gave you a whole scene. So the mind does a lot we don't ask it. As writers we take advantage of that - make the most important parts clear, creating the essence, and leave the rest to imagination.
Now I have done my share of rambling. Feel like this should be a separate thread, lol. Only so others can chip in, I don't mind if it's in this thread though.
I can see you have a good way with writing. I might poke around and find some of your work.
"The best way out is always through."-Robert Frost
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