Of Lunatics and Asylums.

My imagination while writing.

You know the quote:  “The lunatics have taken over the asylum!”  I hear it all the time in movies and TV, not to mention reading it in books.

For today’s post, let’s assume that my fictional characters are the lunatics, and the asylum is my mind.

Everyone on board?

Good.  

Of Camp NaNo & Self-Evaluation

Yes, I know; long time, no posting.  On with it, then!

We’re in the second week of the April edition of Camp NaNoWriMo.  Huzzah!  On the bright side, I’m loving the “create your own wordcount” idea.  Especially since I’m doing a non-fiction travel memoir on my time spent overseas, it’s helped me not be so stressed out about reaching the 50K mark.  I myself halved it down the middle:  25K.  I did it in part because I know me, and I know how I tend to write – sporadically.

Though having a psychopath holding me at gunpoint would make consistency less of a problem!

On the down side, writing about That Time is…daunting.  Most of the time, I feel like I’m just rambling on for no reason.  Then thoughts like “What’s the point in revisiting the past in such excruciating detail?” starts sneaking into my mind.

The point, Inner Critic, is to revisit where I was in reality so that it’s easier to sort out the fiction I was creating at the time.

Some of it was created long before my China days, but there was just so much that developed during that time for my fantasy world that it’s hard for me to figure out what was written when, and where I was when certain characters came into being.

In other words, if I ever have any hope of sorting out my fiction in a way that makes sense to other people, I have to sort myself out first!  And Camp NaNo is the best way I can think of to facilitate that.

What do you think?  Do you think sorting out yourself as an artist and/or writer is important for your fiction?  Or is it better to simply accept what you’ve created as-is?  Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts!