Nikki Bradley

Memorable quote:

None.

I’m not here today. I got home from dinner with my parents to find our internet is out, the earliest we can get it fixed is Wednesday morning, and then after going through the process of tech support and scheduling a tech to come out to the house, my husband asked me, “Have you tried unplugging it and plugging it back in?” If it were possible to reach through the phone and strangle someone, I would have.

We were summoning demons today! Crazy, right? Only not when he actually got into it. He read two excerpts from The Screwtape Letters and wanted us to write based on that premise. I actually enjoyed it, even though it was a weird exercise and I’m mentally twelve miles away standing on sand and doing nothing but watching the water. It was an interesting exercise that I wish I had done yesterday. I would have been in a much better mindset to do so.

Photo by Matt Heaton on Unsplash.

Memorable quote:

“Just because something isn’t real, per se, doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

He’s speaking to other writers. I’ve known this, I’ve accepted this, I’ve let it glide over me, but man, it was harder to get past it today. I throw out something I wrote quickly and to me, it’s rough and unedited and just the start. But that doesn’t mean it or the potential it has isn’t good.

Tim is speaking to writers who won’t let them even throw the words on the page, who expect perfection on the first draft, who are so cooped up in their own fears and expectations, they don’t even give themselves a chance. Writer Friend is like this. I’ve known that for a while. The further I get into this boot camp, the more I know Writer Friend will benefit from it.

And it’s not a bad thing! These exercises are good for me even if I’ve already leapt over that particular mental block. Thing is, while he’s trying to break through that block for other people, I’m stuck with a ridiculous amount of ideas swirling in my notebook and the knowledge that I don’t have the time or energy to flesh them out into stories.

Considering this is my only complaint, I’m not bothered at all. It’s not even a real complaint, more a mild irritation that my brain doesn’t want to deal with. I just know I’ll have three dozen more ideas by the time this eight weeks is over.

Photo by Tom Rumble on Unsplash.

Memorable quote:

“It can be fun and useful to appropriate some of the paradigms surrounding the beliefs and put them to work in your writing.”

Tim confirmed all of my suspicions from yesterday’s podcast. He wasn’t actively advocating for the summoning of spirits, he was helping people create a character. I don’t necessary agree with the way he did it yesterday (because he referenced an author who truly believed she contacted the dead and wrote her novel through use of a ouija board translation), but I can see where he was coming from.

Probably not a good thing to put on here, but I’m going to write it anyway: I have to remember that Tim is operating in the real world, not the tumblr world, and his intentions aren’t malicious. I can see the purpose behind what he did now, whether I agree with it or not. I’m grateful my instincts were right and I was able to modify the exercise correctly and accomplished what he intended.

From what I can tell today, this week isn’t necessarily about ghosts, it’s about character development. Should be an interesting week.

Photo by Janko Ferlič on Unsplash.

Memorable quote:

“These aren’t our words, we just wrote them down.”

I have utterly mixed feelings on today’s podcast. He (from what I took of it) focused on the fact that we as authors often feel that the characters control the story and we are simply the translators of what happens. While I get this – Lord knows how many times I’ve bitched about Rosina because she refuses to freaking cooperate – I am automatically put off because of how he brought it about.

This week is aimed at channeling the dead and letting their voices take over. I am not a spiritual person, I’m a religious one. I was so thrown off by what he was asking us to do that I still don’t know if I understand the point of this exercise and I’m left scrambling to find a way to relate it to something I can use.

I don’t know. My characters have minds of their own and make their own decisions, but relating that to dead people who have left this earth leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Not believing something or putting faith in a different thing doesn’t give me the right to ‘play around’ in someone else’s belief. Speaking to the dead? Yeah, that’s both dangerous in my belief and disrespectful to others.

Maybe I’m being far too sensitive to this or overthinking what could be a simple exercise, but I’ve been taught from a very young age that you don’t make a joke of what people believe. Not if you want them to offer you the same respect for yours. 

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash.

Memorable quote:

“Your imagination is both silly and holy.”

I think my lack of enthusiasm this week is more than just the loss of motivation. The first week, I did something out of my norm and learned new things. This week, he’s focusing on a different technique intended to turn off the inner critic that keeps words from coming out. 

Thing is, I use this technique all the time. It’s actually how I write most things – just get the words on the page and make them good later. So I’ve come to realize that I am not the intended audience of this week’s focus. Of course I’m not going to feel as motivated or as engaged; I’m not doing anything new.

Today was easier because he gave direction and had me do something I almost never do. And now, I have the potential plot idea for a completely different novel. I’m digging it, but I’m also realizing that my drive isn’t gone, it’s just stagnating because I’m not doing anything new.

It’ll get there again, I’m certain of it. He’ll probably focus on something different next week and if he doesn’t, then I’ll just get more time to write over all these other ideas.

Photo by Alisa Anton on Unsplash.