Post 5--First Conflict
I once read an intro to a story by Roger Zelazny, in which he stated that characters in his stories can come alive and "live" with him for years in full detail before ever being committed to paper. I am learning that this is most definitely true.
My characters are alive. From the young boy cruelly orphaned and forced into a robot-like service, to the clone unwittingly awakened to humanity by a past regret and a chance to make it right, to the agonized father gripping the counter as he awaits news of whether his 23-year old daughter has survived the events streaming through the television screen...Ghosts they may be, but they are real. They haunt me, yes--but they also share their joys and achievements with me. I watch that father reunited with his daughter, see them both learn to forgive those who have wronged them. I cry tears of true joy as I watch a young woman swallow her fears and put her reputation in peril for the sake of a single act of kindness that will never be discovered. I revel in the sight of a young man discovering his true self--again and again. These are the scenes that I live with, my joy and my frustration.
Frustration? Well, the inspirations of an author never come the easy way, or they'd hardly leave a mark. My most recent markings have come in the form of a new development in a battle I've been waging against a seizure disorder since 2001.
I've always suffered from ADHD...but through several mind tricks I played on myself, I was able to make it through high school without raising much suspicion--but those skills have proved insufficient to handle the complicating effect of an epileptic wave across those rocky shores. At the moment, I am stuck between a rock and a hard place: After more than a month as a glorified paperweight while testing prescription anticonvulsants, I have finally found one that fixes more problems than it causes, which allows me to awaken and think clearly in the morning. The trade-off is that most afternoons are spent in a seizure and/or medication induced drowsy stupor. My hope is that this state will allow enough functionality that some of these beloved characters can come out and play in chunks of plotline that last longer than a paragraph or two (which has been about all I could manage before the whole page began swimming before).
If such is not the case, however, I may have to go seeking professional help of a different variety--namely one skilled in the art of authorship. This is, obviously, a last resort. It is a very painful thing for an author to release his "baby" into the care of another, however trustworthy he may be.
Until then, you've still only got teasers...but I'll try to get the partial outline and brief snippets up when I can find a break large enough in the demands of life.
I applaud and thank any who have managed to find this blog and follow it, and beg their forgiveness for piquing curiosity about a tale that...well...is working its way out in author's time, rather than reader's time.
--Trevor O'Dell
My characters are alive. From the young boy cruelly orphaned and forced into a robot-like service, to the clone unwittingly awakened to humanity by a past regret and a chance to make it right, to the agonized father gripping the counter as he awaits news of whether his 23-year old daughter has survived the events streaming through the television screen...Ghosts they may be, but they are real. They haunt me, yes--but they also share their joys and achievements with me. I watch that father reunited with his daughter, see them both learn to forgive those who have wronged them. I cry tears of true joy as I watch a young woman swallow her fears and put her reputation in peril for the sake of a single act of kindness that will never be discovered. I revel in the sight of a young man discovering his true self--again and again. These are the scenes that I live with, my joy and my frustration.
Frustration? Well, the inspirations of an author never come the easy way, or they'd hardly leave a mark. My most recent markings have come in the form of a new development in a battle I've been waging against a seizure disorder since 2001.
I've always suffered from ADHD...but through several mind tricks I played on myself, I was able to make it through high school without raising much suspicion--but those skills have proved insufficient to handle the complicating effect of an epileptic wave across those rocky shores. At the moment, I am stuck between a rock and a hard place: After more than a month as a glorified paperweight while testing prescription anticonvulsants, I have finally found one that fixes more problems than it causes, which allows me to awaken and think clearly in the morning. The trade-off is that most afternoons are spent in a seizure and/or medication induced drowsy stupor. My hope is that this state will allow enough functionality that some of these beloved characters can come out and play in chunks of plotline that last longer than a paragraph or two (which has been about all I could manage before the whole page began swimming before).
If such is not the case, however, I may have to go seeking professional help of a different variety--namely one skilled in the art of authorship. This is, obviously, a last resort. It is a very painful thing for an author to release his "baby" into the care of another, however trustworthy he may be.
Until then, you've still only got teasers...but I'll try to get the partial outline and brief snippets up when I can find a break large enough in the demands of life.
I applaud and thank any who have managed to find this blog and follow it, and beg their forgiveness for piquing curiosity about a tale that...well...is working its way out in author's time, rather than reader's time.
--Trevor O'Dell
posted by Trevor O'Dell at 6:13 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home