tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post2115843043914166772..comments2024-03-29T09:16:30.082-04:00Comments on Writers Who Kill: Story FodderJim Jacksonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15090252530437277145noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-67336345896365873672016-10-17T13:52:56.592-04:002016-10-17T13:52:56.592-04:00:-)
And see, it's funny. Your story is nothin...:-)<br /><br />And see, it's funny. Your story is nothing like any of the stories it started for me. The miracles of imagination.Linda Rodriguezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-59370844404110021282016-10-17T13:05:02.782-04:002016-10-17T13:05:02.782-04:00They call the wind Mariah..
and that's the na...They call the wind Mariah..<br /><br />and that's the name of this girl, Mariah, who lives in a remote area with a grandparent and her best friends, a raccoon and a crow. The bear comes along for the ride.<br /><br />Very Flavia de Luce meets Heidi.<br /><br />I'm always spinning stories in my head and I've trained myself to write them down in a notebook where I'll find them again.Margaret S. Hamiltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07979191318652199350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-36776214890532273482016-10-17T12:15:11.699-04:002016-10-17T12:15:11.699-04:00Linda, maybe not, but it's nice to be able to ...Linda, maybe not, but it's nice to be able to have those ideas waiting for us.Gloria Aldenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581719606924364447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-14687520243427341482016-10-17T11:35:59.333-04:002016-10-17T11:35:59.333-04:00Gloria, yes, that's the way it works. Not a ne...Gloria, yes, that's the way it works. Not a neat or pretty process.Linda Rodriguezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-72168022137933503902016-10-17T11:18:28.406-04:002016-10-17T11:18:28.406-04:00Linda, I'm always collecting ideas from variou...Linda, I'm always collecting ideas from various places. I have an image of an older woman from a a newspaper picture sitting on the edge of a sidewalk as a parade goes by half-hearted waving a small flag with an unhappy look on her face. Originally, I was going to use it in a painting, but I don't paint anymore. Why did she look unhappy. Was she in pain<br />from sitting there? Did the parade bring back memories that were unhappy ones? Did she never want to come in the first place, but someone insisted she be there?<br /><br />Once years ago I was at one of the Kent State Folk festivals which had different events during the day leading up to the concert.I went in to a large room where there was a square dance going on and noticed a young woman with two small children looking longingly around<br />the room between sets when guys approached different women and asked them to dance. She was never asked. I'm going to use that in a short story or maybe in one of my books someday.<br /><br />It can be something as simple as a conversation in a restaurant, as you mentioned. One day while I was waiting for my sister, I heard the woman in the next booth say, "She raises pugs." The other woman asked "What are they?" and the conversation was included in my next book for no other reason than to introduce a character who raises pugs in the book. <br /><br />The suicide I found hanging in the woods one morning on my walk, ended up in a short story where the dead man was really murdered and made to look like a suicide.<br /><br />I have so many of these little bits and pieces waiting to be put down on paper. Some are photos of people, some are bits and pieces taken from the newspaper that I can work into a story, and some are just memories of what I've seen or heard.<br /><br />Gloria Aldenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13581719606924364447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-49479516132641614492016-10-17T10:23:48.684-04:002016-10-17T10:23:48.684-04:00Jim, you're so right. I spent a lot of my grow...Jim, you're so right. I spent a lot of my growing-up years in Oklahoma with my grandmother and other relatives who lived with a strong living relationship to the wild world. Now, I live in a city and am always noticing the wild creatures living there with us. It amazes me that most city dwellers including my husband, just don't see the golden eagles circling above, the redtail hawks, the many songbirds, the foxes, raccoons, possums, even the coyotes that show at night scavenging the garbage of the day in parking lots and unsecured trash cans. It's what we've been taught or trained ourselves to notice.Linda Rodriguezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11913741596693442469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-993649290245605005.post-22753204265346374832016-10-17T06:56:11.794-04:002016-10-17T06:56:11.794-04:00We can argue nature/nurture when it comes to creat...We can argue nature/nurture when it comes to creativity, but I suggest much of what we react to is determined by our training. I'll use birds as an example. I've been watching birds as an amateur for forty years, and I notice them. While watching TV, I'll notice yellow-rumped warblers picking small bugs off the lilac bush (as I did yesterday during the Packers' game). I'll notice birds overhead while I am driving. I'll notice bird song when I walk or jog. By years of paying attention to birds I automatically notice them much more than "normal" people.<br /><br />So too with stories. Those, like you, who tell them, who learn to shape them into compelling yarns, are aware of them no matter where you are. As you say, the tough part is determining which stories to tell.<br /><br />~ JimJim Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15090252530437277145noreply@blogger.com