h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You'd better be back.

Who do you want to be today? I was just talking to Elektra about how it is important to feel your way into the character, ask what the character knows...

We're reading Laura Hobson. Great writer, but in one scene about a 17-year-old boy who is gay, she described his chance meeting with a stranger. And she blew it.

She forgot to tell us what the boy would have noticed - a look, a gesture, his eyes - that would have put us there and understanding what passed between them.

That's what I mean by detail.

If I'm being me, I tell you what I saw. If I'm being Robert Thigpen (and no, he's NOT me), I tell you what Robert saw. Or an old lady who's murdered her husband. Or an alien in a spaceship. Or...

Oh, what interesting posts.
Willem, I think it is important to have all styles of writing. I find bad grammar inexcusable, though. I don't forgive myself if my grammar is poor, and I don't forgive others. It spoils everything for me.
OK, some people really don't know better. I can forgive them. But there are those who are just too lazy. Imo, it shows a disrespect of their readers. But maybe that's just me.

Helen, you don't change a thing in your writing. It is wonderfully original, even though can't always follow you.

hah! so he isn't you?? .. hahah ..

... I just rushed all the way back in (from Arizona) ... hahahah .. no .. from the kitchen ... to type something about characters ... that's what I realised I was talking about .. or trying to ....



but by the time I got here you had offered amazing insights into that dreaded word c-h-a-r-a-c-t-e-r ..

for me a very dreaded word ....



who do I want to be today??? ah ....... ....when you word it like that ..... could there be joy in this process of writing??? do I know this new feeling? you mean I'm not stuck in a room chewing my biro and sweating and trying to write c-h-a-r-a-c-t-e-r sketches? .. because that's what writers are supposed to do ..and everyone else seems to be able to do it so easily ... that's it .. I'm not a proper writer .. and I don't want to become hundreds of different people .. not even five different people ... I don't I don't I don't .... ....it scares me ..



.. but I do know who I want to be today .. there is one character I want to be ... today .. tomorrow .. every day .. this could get a bit weird you know ... more like a spirit guide or this curious person who keeps visiting me in dreams ....who is trying to speak to me .. well I did say I didn't want to be an entertainer .. I wanted to be a psychological writer ....is this too weird for here??



hmm .. pressure point: (run out of writing circle) .. fear ... if I'm going to learn to write then I will probably wonder from time to time if my ideas are too weird ..



but he's my character alright .. the only character I ever want ... he's the fellow through whom I will write my story .. well he'll feature in my story anyway .... what if he's an angel? ... he's also a photographer though ... so maybe he's not an angel .. do I believe in angels? he's a very charismatic angel .. looks a bit like an actor or a poet .... what???? wears a tiny gold cross on a chain round his neck ..

see what I mean? would you be me? .. hahaha ..

....

love it! and thanks again for insights .....

sheesh ... I haven't worked this hard since 1976 ...hahahah ..

laters ....back in a day or so ... its getting late .. by the time I get to Phoenix (AZ) pom pom pom ... ....

hullo Bel ... your posting just came in while I was typing frenetically about angels ... ......

back laters to say hullo and read your insights ..... as my spouse needs computer and I have to sleep .....

H

If they've survived me, they will survive you.

And some of my best friends are angels.

ah splendid DG person you are .. and thanks for sharing your knowledge .... and about some of your best friends being angels? well that's partly perhaps why I now have now lurched to this scary new part of my writing career ... hah! .. .. see ... probably not the sort of thing I could have said in some writing circles ... mixing the psychological with the practical ... and all the other things that are now forming in my head .. to create an almost-beautifully sculpted story .. part straight part cryptic ... involving a curious fellow named Angel (no .. I'm not going to change the name .. yet) ... who might be a person/ might not .. and then there's the psychological interesting middle bit ..



and it is interesting, Willem, what you are saying about your writing - and from the perspective of a painter! ... and now, of course, I am curious about what you write and what your are planning to write .. I have a friend who is a really amazing type painter like you .. and he loves to write also .. (in fact he joined h2 for a while .. wonder where he is? he'd be interested to meet you .. and join this writing circle ...) his writing is completely different to his paintings .... and yet some of his trademark themes do appear .. just in a different guise .. hmm



in fact, in time, I might just slink right back through this thread and check out what kind of writing all these wise voices here assembled have put their names to ... or not their names ... hahah .. hmm .. ..



and .. ah Bel .. .. who started this thread rolling down the hill .. a snowball of words!.... .. love it ... .. and thanks for what you said about originality ... and you can't always follow me?? ...really??? hmm.. only kidding .. ... wink wink ... we should have a coffee next time you're in London ... .. I make even less sense when drinking coffee in cafes ... ......



oh wait! its Monday ... guess where I'm heading laters... ! ....... hope you've put in more of those amazing new category titles you are all doing ... I am secretly stealing them and making title poems out of them .... which I won't include in my Life's Work .... yet .....

H

I think I approached the dilemma of what to write and how to write from a different direction from you, Cactuscafe.

I spent my career at the bottom of the UK civil service but, in this humble position, I did lots of writing. Factual writing, from minutes of meetings, through submissions to ministers, to speeches for ministers. (Is that factual? )

Writing stories, I've had to learn how to hint at things, rather than spell them out. I've discovered you can make a story more interesting by starting at the middle and filling in the earlier bits later.

So I suppose I know a bit about structure: beginnings, middles and ends. Do I now think that I'm good at writing stories? No. Because I'm always faced by that question - would this person do this thing in these circumstances?

I'm not sure how to answer this question. People say 'write from experience' but I've always thought that my experience was too dull to be of any interest to others. Then I came across Alice Munro's 'Moons of Jupiter', which starts with a woman standing by the bedside of her seriously ill father, and explores the relationships in her family. I thought 'I can write about things like that.'

I agree that this process can be scary. Which bits of experience do you let out into the public domain, bearing in mind that you can hurt other people, as well as revealing your own scars? How do you fill in those all important details if you are not writing from experience?

So, I admit that, at the advanced age of 60, I have enrolled myself for yet another creative writing class. I'll probably just confirm that I have no talent whatsoever but, if you can't be silly at 60 when can you?

>>if you can't be silly at 60 when can you?,,

Well put, MVP. Your point about deciding how to incorporate personal experience into narrative is well taken.

I've just read two novels in a row by the same author - and have been guessing at how much of the action was based on her personal experience, and which characters represented her own views.

One tip: If you change the events slightly, and create 'composite' characters, nobody will ever recognise himself. Trust me.

The details of Robert's profession were lifted from a relative by marriage. So far, no one has remarked on this...

exactly. exactly what? I agree entirely ... if we can't be silly at 60 then when can we .... think I might start now .. .. its good to remember in fact .. I have to often say to myself <ease up kid



hullo mvp! .. I was, in fact, going to get back to you on our other conversation to consider Elizabeth Barrett Browing (whom I have never read ...yet ... I know what you mean .. time! time! we need time!)



... and what a marvellous posting here ... and thankyou ...this proves my point. what point? that I love love love to talk to writers and thinkers and creative peoples and find out about their creative processes ... it helps me ...it's like an advent calendar .. windows into other worlds! ... I love that bit when you said about how reading Alice Munro's book (which I hadn't heard of)led to your moment of realisation.

Moments of realisation ... epiphanic moments ... epiphanic? is that the word for the happening of an epiphany?



And interesting insights into structure and factual writing ... also helped me 'cos I just threw my sandwich out the window ... .. well my structure for my Angel piece wasn't going the way I had it planned ... 'cos the bread kept breaking up and mixing with the filling .... but I think I'll go retrieve it now because I just realised something .....

an epiphanic moment!



and then there are composite characters .... composite characters .... composite characters ... composite characters!!!

tell you what though ... if I had just written The Green Cure I would be feeling quite alright thanks very much ... no need for the sigh .... hah! do you like having poems printed in ? do you submit poems to other magazines? I thought I liked having poems printed out in magazines ... but recently the thought started to give me itchy skin I got so nervous ... I am hoping that Angel will sort me out ... ...


H

You mean I have to wait until I'm 60 before I'm allowed to be silly? Not fair. *pouts*

Great ideas all. H, I hope you'll write your story, whatever it is going to be.

Thanks for your comments on The Green Cure.

I have tried sending poems to literary magazines but I've only managed to get one published so far. I tend to get downhearted.

If you've got ideas for your 'Angel'story but no structure you could try:

writing out a series of possible structures in a notebook and seeing which looks best;

if you're thinking of a short story, write it out how it comes to you. Then cut it up - literally, with a pair of scissors;

.. yes Bel you do have to be reeeeely serious till you're 60 . then - when you are 60 - you can dress in pink and yellow stripes and dance over the hills singing your favourite songs in unusual keys .... ... you do that already?? ... OK .... well ... in that case ....



'scuse me folks .. me and mvp .. or I should say mvp and I ... are just off to the Beat Hotel in Paris with scissors in our suitcases .. to commune with the spirit of Brion Gysin and Bill Burroughs who said they invented all those weird cut-up style writings ... ... but maybe they didn't ... we will find out .. .

grrrrr ... will you let me forget my Angel story?? ... course you won't ... I got the first draft already for the first story already .... you want to see it? after all this hard work it has turned out to be the most technically flawed piece of writing I ever did .. but I am in love with it ... and intend to write Angel stories for the rest of my life .. .... goodbye world ... ...



you want to see the first draft for the first story? nah .. surely not .. .. do I want show it to you ... erm .. 'fraid I do ...from me to you .. to thank you for this lovely writing circle ... .. then I will send it to my therapist for assessment .. .. and what about the technical flaws then? I don't know .. I'd better ask a writer ...



...will I go over to the grown-up spaces and make it into a proper AWW guide entry? ... no! because I will get itchy nervous skin ... so here it is as a postcard .. miss out the next posting if me or angels .. if angels and I ... are not your thing .. ... .. (or even if they are )

lament! lament! all ye readers ... ..

The Story of Angel

/notes/first draft

This is the story of Angel. Angel is a friend of mine. I have known him my for entire life. I cannot remember a moment when Angel did not exist.

Angel lives in my mind. He is a creation of my imagination. Although sometimes I wonder if this is true as yesterday I saw him in the flower-shop buying a cyclamen. Another time I thought I saw him in the laundromat, but it turned out to be one of the actors from the theatre company who were performing in town that night.

Angel himself is a very adept actor. He has many guises.

I named him Angel long ago - way back in childhood - because I secretly thought he was an angel. These days I keep an open mind about the existence of angels, the same way I do about the existence of ghosts.

He loves the name. In fact he thinks it is the perfect name because it covers all options. Good morning lady Angel! Ah here is Angel in the flickering light effect or in the guise of a blue-black shiny beetle! Ah here is Angel in that curious atmosphere that haunts my nerves and my senses - in the fragrance of jasmine-memories or in that electrical fizzing sound of ideas forming in the brain. And here is Angel whispering to me through my piano. Hullo soundwave-Angel!

Once I thought that he pulled at my sleeve when I was hovering on the verge of a blood and bruises type argument. Thankyou Angel. Blood and bruises make me nervous. Was that you in the guise of my voice of reason? I wonder.

I always wonder about Angel.

Of course Angel is not the only angel. I pass angels all the time - on the train or in the crowd or everywhere and anywhere. Everyday I smile at passing angels. One time I was standing on a bridge howling louder than a wounded dog. A passing angel handed me a tissue and we went for a coffee and talked about scars and wounds and the world.

Sometimes I think that Angel was around before consciousness became a word - although he knows how to spell it. Consciousness. Angel loves the soul and the sound of words. He sees himself as a poet. In one of my more offbeat moments I would tell you that he is, in fact, writing this story.

A good beginning.

You have a gift many prose writers do not have. You can hear the rhythm of the sentences. Keep this up - that's what makes it work.

Now - when you're ready, put this in a separate entry, so we can all wonder and ask and talk about your character and his doings.

(I have things to say about this, but will wait. )

What Dmitri said. Love the story.
I once had an interesting conversation with my sister about guardian angels. We were driving back to her home after having done the shopping.

that's fascinating Bel ... 'bout the conversation with your sister and guardian angels .. tell me more? .. I'm really really really curious ?? will you talk to me 'bout guardian angels ... I need one right now .. ...

OK OK OK .. deal? .. . if I risk my soul and sanity and nerve endings for you and DG and go over to the Other Side .. that scary grown up place of AWW entries .. ... provided that it can still be fun like it is here and I don't have to pass exams or anything .. shiver shiver nerve nerve ... .. and sheesh! where do writers find the juice for all this ...

ah well ... all in the name of inspiration .. or risk .. or idiocy ..

You certainly have a feel for language.

I love "Ah here is Angel in that curious atmosphere that haunts my nerves and my senses - in the fragrance of jasmine-memories or in that electrical fizzing sound of ideas forming in the brain."

I'll go and read the piece on the AWW.