This is a blog, isn't it? Let's blog. · 2:41am Nov 27th, 2018
So, today I decided that I was going to start journaling. I needed to have a less cluttered mind, and I'm really hoping that by getting my thoughts out in some kind of ordered way, I can cut down on some of the chaos. Or, at the very least, bring some focus on the swirling thoughts. And hey, I sometimes write words here, so here seems as good a place as any to write about my writing thoughts.
Journal entry: 11/26/18
Today was a typical day, except that I started writing again. I started at my first break, taking the time to read through the first chapter of a story I started but which has been lingering in limbo. I corrected a grammatical mistake, but kept reading. I got a sense of the main character a bit more, Lyra, and felt a little more of her inner conflict come to the surface and make itself known.
I continued at lunch, taking some time between eating the most healthy lunch ever (pressed meat 'rib' sandwich and cheese curds) with rewriting some of the ideas that I had only an inkling about. First, I took the idea that there were 'voices' and gave them a little more character by giving their mental feeling in Lyra's head more indicative of their source. Not audible hallucinations, but more of a pseudo-audible inner 'voice' that I also use when I read books. I don't subvocalize them, unless I'm misinterpreting the term, but the ideas of the words flow through me like I'm remembering a conversation word for word, only I'm listening to them. I don't move my lips or my vocal cords. It's my inner voice that reads them.
Anyway, so the 'voices' in Lyra's head are derived from the books she obsessed over in her quest. They deride her or give her advice, depending on the source. Like the suave super-spy is condescending, arrogant in the privacy of Lyra's head. The heroine of the great romance is a sultry slinky voice, cunning, and desirous (typical romance novel heroine).
And now I'm watching She-Ra, the 2018 reboot. I don't mind the gender ambiguity of the characters or the obvious (to me) LGBTQ characters all over the place. Seahawk is kind of interesting. Adora is more interesting than her original incarnation, but Katra is perhaps the most interesting character there. She's got depth, but it gets a little frustrating that she keeps holding herself at a distance despite the animation giving her a clear inclination towards having feelings for Adora, at least as a friend.
Okay. That was a good She-Ra break... back to Lyra. Lyra and her step-sister Muffins (AKA, Derpy). Brief history: Lyra's mother was a guard who was always away, never had time for her or her father. Muffins' father was always away on business. Marriages drifted apart as two neighbors raised their daughters from different families as one. At a young age, Lyra's mother died while away, lost during an airship accident. Muffin's mother, Amber, became closer to Lyra's father, Silver Note. Amber drifted away from her husband, and the feelings died between them. Amber and Silver raised their daughters together, as a single family in two houses, as neighbors.
There was an affair, confessions, crying, and weariness. Amber and Cinnamon Top divorced. As a wandering pony, Cinnamon Top didn't think his lifestyle would be appropriate for Muffins, who had a problem from birth with her eye, and she needed friends. So he left Muffins with her mother, but still visited from time to time.
Perhaps Cinnamon Top and Amber Seed were a flash marriage, something barely thought through, but done and consummated before they were wise enough to understand the depth of the commitment needed on both sides. That makes some sense.
A few months passed, and Cinnamon and Amber decided to tie the knot and live together as a family under one roof. Rather than sell one home, they converted the second house into a flower eatery with music lessons and live music on the side. The other, next door, they made their home together.
Thus Lyra and Muffins are step-sisters.
I think that's a good place to end this writing journal. I will try to keep up with it more than I have in the past. I need to keep the swirling of thoughts down to a smaller amount and get them out.
I also thought the interactions and history of Katra and Adora were easily the best part of the reboot series. It gives the both of them so much depth that many other characters of the same show lack as of now.
Journaling sounds like a nifty idea. One I could probably use too to get some semblance of order in the horrid confusion of my unproductive writing of late.
I'm really starting to become curious about the new She-Ra show.
Internal voices based on literary archetypes from all the genres sounds fun as all heck. Says a lot about Lyra's past and personality, spices up any thoughtful or introspective scenes, good for dramatic ends ... and lends itself marvellously to light relief. Imagine trying to reconcile the advice from a dashing pirate king, a hardboiled private eye, and a beleaguered horror protagonist.
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It's something I used to do, but never made a habit for. I have a great tendency to get impatient and try to get things done immediately. Except writing doesn't often work like that.
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I was kinda rooting for Katra to come to the side of good. But thems the breaks. I thought Netossa and Spinarella were really cute together.
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Very much like that. Except Lyra was desperate enough to read them for advice, and stressed enough for the voices to stick around as recurrent coping devices, even when she wishes they wouldn't. And sometimes, they intrude at the most inopportune moments - when she's the most stressed, of course.