Every time I start a new writing project (WIP), I always create a mood music playlist in Spotify/YouTube to set the tone for that specific writing project. That way when I hear that playlist or specific songs from that playlist, I can immediately fall into the world of that specific project, no matter what I’ve been doing before then. The music playlist is my gateway into my story’s world…
Tag: WIP
Secret WIP 2019 Soundtrack | Track 4
Every time I start a new writing project (WIP), I always create a mood music playlist in Spotify/YouTube to set the tone for that specific writing project. That way when I hear that playlist or specific songs from that playlist, I can immediately fall into the world of that specific project, no matter what I’ve been doing before then. The music playlist is my gateway into my story’s world.
This is one of the Inspiration tracks for The Dark Fairytales.
Walk Through The Fire | Zayde Wolf ft Ruelle
I’m always wondering
If it’s ever gonna end
I can feel it in my bones
I can feel it in my bones
Standing in the dust
Of what’s left of us
(I can see you in my soul)
(I can see you in my soul)
(Woah oh oh oh)
Did we take too many chances
Did we let too many pass us
Did we throw it all away
Did we throw it all away
Did we light too many matches
Turn ourselves into these ashes
Did we throw it all away
Did we throw it all away
We walk through the fire
Is there a way out
Is there a way out
We walk through the fire
Is there a way out
Is there a way out
I try to understand
How we’re here again
(In the middle of the storm
In the middle of the storm)
There’s no way to go, no way to go
But straight through the smoke, straight through the smoke
And the fight is all we know
(The fight is all we know)
Did we take too many chances
Did we let too many pass us
Did we throw it all away
Did we throw it all away
Did we light too many matches
Turn ourselves into these ashes
Did we throw it all away
Did we throw it all away
We walk through the fire
Is there a way out
Is there a way out
We walk through the fire
Is there a way out
Is there a way out…
Of the fire
I wanna know is there a way out
Is there a way out
Show me the way out
Is there a way out
We walk through the fire
Is there a way out
Is there a way out
Secret WIP 2019 Soundtrack | Track 3
Every time I start a new writing project (WIP), I always create a mood music playlist in Spotify/YouTube to set the tone for that specific writing project. That way when I hear that playlist or specific songs from that playlist, I can immediately fall into the world of that specific project, no matter what I’ve been doing before then. The music playlist is my gateway into my story’s world…
This is one of the Inspiration tracks for The Dark Fairytales.
Love and War | Fleurie
I’m next in line and my supply is running out
It’s time to leave, the clouds are hanging low
The truth begins to show
Lover, hunter, friend and enemy
You will always be every one of these
Lover, hunter, friend and enemy
You will always be every one of these
Nothing’s fair in love and war
In life, in love, this time I can’t afford to lose
For one, for all, I’ll do what I have to do
You can’t understand, it’s all part of the plan
Broken pieces of the night
Sing like hollow lullabies
You and I, always in disguises
Lover, hunter, friend and enemy
You will always be every one of these
Lover, hunter, friend and enemy
You will always be every one of these
Nothing’s fair in love and war
Secret WIP Soundtrack | Track 2
Every time I start a new writing project (WIP), I always create a mood music playlist in Spotify/YouTube to set the tone for that specific writing project. That way when I hear that playlist or specific songs from that playlist, I can immediately fall into the world of that specific project, no matter what I’ve been doing before then. The music playlist is my gateway into my story’s world…
This is one of the inspiration tracks for The Dark Fairytales.
The Sound Of Silence | Disturbed
Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
“Fools, ” said I, “You do not know
Silence, like a cancer, grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you”
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells, of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, “The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls”
And whispered in the sounds of silence
Secret WIP 2019 Theme Soundtrack | Track 1
There are five things I do before beginning any new writing project.
- I choose a new notebook specifically for that project. (All a new binder/cover.)
- I set up a visual aesthetic mood board for the WIP. (Both digital – Pinterest, and analogue – binder + wall.)
- I choose a working title for my WIP.
- I set up the Scrivener documents.
- I create a Mood Music Playlist in Spotify/YouTube.
Every time I start a new writing project (WIP), I always create a mood music playlist in Spotify/YouTube to set the tone for that specific writing project. That way when I hear that playlist or specific songs from that playlist, I can immediately fall into the world of that specific project, no matter what I’ve been doing before then. The music playlist is my gateway into my story’s world.
This is the Main Theme Track for The Dark Fairytales.
Dead Of Night | Ruelle
Don’t know what to expect
My mind is racing, I can barely feel my breath
Like a dream I can’t escape
I wanna run, but I’m still here when I awake
In a pitch black world, anything goes
No telling where the wind will blow
In a pitch black world, anything goes
In the dead of night strange things happen
In the dead of night the world goes cold
When the lights go out all around, whispers fill the air
In the dead of night, better hold on tight
You can shout or you can scream
But it won’t save you from the midnight trickery
When the daylight disappears, you’ll find no shelter in this tangled web of fear
In a pitch black world, anything goes
No telling where the wind will blow
In a pitch black world, anything goes
In the dead of night strange things happen
In the dead of night the world goes cold
When the lights go out all around, whispers fill the air
In the dead of night, better hold on tight
Better hold on tight
In the dead of night
Come take a breath
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t say another word
Don’t let the darkness find you
Holding still, don’t break inside
Don’t say another word
Don’t let the darkness find you
In the dead of night strange things happen
In the dead of night the world goes cold
When the lights go out all around, whispers fill the air
In the dead of night, better hold on tight
Better hold on tight
In the dead of night
Better hold on tight
Tell me, Do you create playlists of inspirational/motivational music?
Requiem at the Death Masquerade Ball
This is the Poem that was the first true seed for my new Secret Passion Project,
The imagery in this poem was so visceral to me that the images haunted both my waking and my sleeping hours. It was the first seed for this world that I have fallen in love with and occupies most of my imagination…
Requiem At The Death Masquerade Ball
The time has come to bid adieu
Creatures remove their masks
The sirens sing a terrible requiem
The banshees shriek with unearthly delight
The werewolves howl into the night
The spirits moan with grief
–
Nasnus rattles his cage of bones and flesh trapped in rage and Grief
Ravens cackle and caw, taking wing bid their dark mistress Morrigan Adieu
Spirits wrathful, Spirits vengeful retreat into Van Gogh’s endless Night
She rises in fire born in Dragons’ breath, Leaving a trail of singed Masks
The fae dance a dirge as the night unmasks decay hidden in dead Delight
A keening claws at the air as the banshees sing their final Requiem
–
Ghostly queens, haunted kings dance to their madness in sweet Requiem
The sand walker drowns his prey in the immortal sands of Grief
Silvery sidhe spin the bewitched across the starburnt night in Delight
Spirits murdered long ago, kiss their beloved a hallowed Adieu
Samhain’s moon rises in skies of blood, the wild hunt tear away your masks
The gods cursed by pride flee into the murderous Night
–
Iridescent masks of silver stardust fall away revealing monsters of Night
Feasting on canapés of terror, feasting on nightmares in Hypnos’ Requiem
The blood moon rises, terrible creatures shed their faceless masks
Bones break, spines twist unmasking wolves driven mad by their Grief
Bound by their curse, madness is both their solace and Adieu
Only the forest and fog hide their bloodthirsty Delight
–
The forgotten gods revel in the music dancing in sinful Delight
Faceless Chaos in mask of anthracite, Nyx feared Queen of the Night
Beautiful Mesperyian cloaked in robes bloodied by those long bid Adieu
All creatures pale to the searing power of their King and Queen’s Requiem
Hades’ dark cruelty masked tonight, His lover’s torment his only Grief,
Persephone, a vision in liquid mercury, glides in his arms watched by Masks
–
Creatures remove their Masks
The banshees shriek with unearthly delight
The spirits moan with grief
The werewolves howl into the night
The sirens sing a terrible requiem
The time has come to bid adieu
–
All seekers of night and masks,
Spirits of All Hallows’ eve bid you Adieu
Those graveyards are emptied as the dead rise with delight,
to this Requiem
Forgotten is the grief,
hush as the Spirits dance you into the Night
© All Rights Reserved Kim Koning
Ssshhh… Secret Passion Project |Following Dark Story-Squirrel Trails #CampNanowrimo
So, it’s been a while since I’ve taken part in a Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) event. I had intentions of doing the official Nanowrimo in November last year but my schedule just didn’t allow for it. But this year I am taking part in Nanowrimo events. The first event, Camp Nanowrimo, starts 1 April. I have signed up. To make things even more fun, I’ve corralled my CP, Darcy, (Writing Critique Partner aka Story Sister aka Keeper of My Manuscript when I want to trash it) into joining in the writing madness with me this year. Actually we’ve decided to make the April Camp Nanowrimo (Camp Nanowrimo runs in April, July, September and Nanowrimo runs in November) an annual tradition for us. Our birthdays fall in the last week of March, they’re one day apart from each other, a few days before Camp Nanowrimo begins. So we thought it would actually be a lovely annual tradition to do the April Camp Nanowrimo together annually…
2019 April Camp Nanowrimo Project
This year I’m finally going to start drafting Book #1 of my new Secret WIP Series. I’m really excited to get started with this draft. This is a passion project. It is very different to my main WIP series The Tattooist. But it is still very much a ME project. It is deep, dark and deliciously twisted. But it is not a thriller nor is it crime. It fits into quite a few literary genres. But if I had to sum it up, it is a grimdark mythological dystopian fantasy. I did warm you, it’s not an easy story to peg into just one genre.
It is full of dark gods, monsters, creatures and humans. My main characters are all anti-heroes and villains. It is hard to tell the protagonists from the antagonists because in this story everyone is touched with a vein of darkness, only the degrees of darkness separate the characters.
I wanted to write a huge epic world-building story that just allows me to play on the page/screen. My favourite tv series, The Originals, ended its run and I wanted more of the same. I wanted to immerse myself in a world of ruthlessness and deep story threads set in a fantastical setting. In fact, my beloved Niklaus aka Klaus Mikaelson (main big bad in The Originals) and his ruthless siblings is very much an inspiration for many of my characters.
I wanted to have a project that I escape into, in breaks from rewrites/edits of The Tattooist. I had an epiphany that I work better when I am at work on two projects simultaneously. It is the way I read as well, I never have fewer than 4 books on the go simultaneously. Part of this is because I enjoy switching genres, whether it be in writing or in reading, often two or three completely different genres to match differing moods I might be in. I also find that in my writing, working on two wholly different projects set in two completely different genres feed off each other in inspiration and motivation.
This Passion Project has actually been germinating quietly for the last three years, ever since I got back from Europe. A seed was planted and I have been slowly watering it, waiting for the right time to work on it. I feel it is ready to be written now.
The working title for this series: The Dark Fairytales
That is not the real title, I’m keeping the actual title secret for now. This is a deliciously dark, decadent tale that I want to keep to myself for a while.
I’m going to blogging throughout April giving you snippets of my inspiration behind this series. So keep your eye posted for new posts.
Certain dark things are only meant to be loved in secret…..
I leave you with some visual aesthetics from my series inspiration board (it’s a private board) I’ve set up on Pinterest.
Writers: Tell me, are you taking part in Camp Nanowrimo?
Non-Writers: Tell me, what stories are you reading or watching that has you in their grip?
Related
Camp Nanowrimo
Nanowrimo
The Originals (Netflix)
What is GrimDark?
Focus
FOCUS is the catch word for my 2014
Taking a New Road
I interrupt your day with some news. Although I have been quiet online I have been very busy doing that thing writers are supposed to do…writing.
I have a double dose of news to share with you all.
Summer-Spiration & Showing Up
The Winter of discontent is over and Summer-Spiration has officially begun…at least in my corner of the world.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a Winter person. Winter constipates and depresses me mentally, emotionally and creatively. I need the warmth and vibrancy that summer brings to feel truly in tune. This winter has definitely been a winter of discontent and hibernation. On Sunday morning our clocks changed to Daylights Savings and my Creativity Savings kicked into high gear.
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” – Jack London
A few weeks ago I shared a post about this discontent and my creative constipation. I am usually not one to whine, complain or moan. Quite the opposite I tend to always forge through and look for the sunshine behind the cloud. But this winter things fell in on top of me and I swallowed my pride and told you all about it. You see it wasn’t that my well had run dry or the ideas had abandoned me. Rather I curled up in a fetal ball and hid from the dreck, muck & mire of my real life. As soon as I posted this messy confession, I was twisted into a contradiction cook-sister. *another analogy would be pretzel* One part of me felt “damn Kim you scraped off your protective tough outer layer and let them see the fragile messy parts.”… But once the comments and the emails started rolling in from all who read the post, there was a cathartic healing; that feeling that I was not alone in my discontent. These were some of the comments/responses that helped me uncurl myself from that fetal position to a sitting position…
I read this post and felt a deep recognition: I could have written this…I’ve been so stuck this year, and every time I un-stick… bam: another storm to weather, another day to survive. It is making me realize I need other sources of stability beyond just my writing. Putting so much pressure on my writing to be The One Thing that Makes Sense and Always Helps is putting too much strain on my creativity. As much as this year has been difficult, it is one that is teaching me how to Be. It will be worth it – for both of us…
I feel like not writing is a form of self abuse…
Well said, darlin’. It’s been that kind of year for me, too, and I’m only just starting to get out from under it. Write on…
I have been here, Kim. I have been shut up behind the dam. The put it bluntly, it f-ing sucks. You pound and pound and pound and yet nothing will come out. Nothing did for me, anyway, until I took the advice of a friend and started writing a journal about writing. It helped a lot. Perhaps give it a try. It is where I found my honesty with myself when it came to dealing with the stuff that was preventing me from actually getting my work done. Sometimes I still do it, though I am no longer dammed. I hope you find the fissure through which to burst…
Write whatever you need to. They don’t have to see the light of day but may help you, both in getting through the difficult time and getting back in touch with the writer in you
Honey, I’m with you. I make you look perfectly normal. If writers struggle to get past the “why isn’t this sounding like I’d envisioned it” stage, it’s because they’re still amateur. When a writer hits this point, however–like you and me–it’s a show that we’ve hit another level of knowledge between life and writing. Because dealing with difficult emotional memories in life is the coloured picture, and writing it into a fictional story is the black sheet with little peepholes the writer carves out so the reader can glimpse into what’s being told…
When your dam breaks, I’m sure beauty will spring forth. If a little on the dark side…
The fact is, writer’s block is not funny.
When the words elude me, I start to feel desperate. I have a harder time dealing with the crap in my real life because there is no escape. The absent words haunt me, and wound me. I feel this vague sense of constant irritation, an emptiness where words used to be.
Right now, I’m making myself write. Every day. Even if it’s only one word. It seems to be helping, though I may be 90 by the time this ms gets finished…
Just get up everyday and keep going. You will prevail over this. Go for a long walk and just keep being you. We all sadly have something that tries to beat us down. Keep going please…
You are fighting your demons, but you are also dancing with them. This takes the greatest courage of all…
I loved your quote : “Life should not be about surviving. It should be about LIVING.” I’ve been avoiding an essay I started about a childhood trauma and you have inspired me to get back to it.
Thank you so much for sharing your struggle…
Wow! Talk about “Knowing it, Feeling it, Living it.” These comments were my inspiration that uncurled me into a sitting position again. That post was written a month ago. That was the first step into a sitting position. September was all about uncurling myself from a sitting position into a standing position. Now I stand here in the “standing position” and I am ready to put one foot in front of the other into a walking position. Because life is now about “not, not getting knocked down or not, not getting knocked back, but it is about getting knocked down or knocked back and standing up again. Once you start moving, walking forward you start taking a step to dancing with your dreams, your goals, your aims, your aspirations, your joys.
So to each and every person who inspired me to uncurl myself into that sitting position…
So this Summer is all about getting from that “Standing” position to the “Walking Forward” position. I am really excited about what I have in store writing-wise.
- I am in the middle of writing “The Tattooist – Liquid Ink” *more about this WIP here*
- I am working on a short story that will be included in an exciting anthology *watch this space for more* with some awesome authors later this year.
- I am also working on a six-book *so far* series of stand-alone novellas that will be published next year. Series working name: The Red Gates Secrets *The series is paranormal horror and one I have been itching to write for a while now-Based on fact*
Life should not be about surviving. It should be about LIVING and that means the dark shades are as important to colour in as the light shades are. Perhaps the darkest shades are the ones we need the most because if there is no dark there need be no light. I am ready to un-dam those waters and let the dark words out so the spark of a match will lead me back to my creativity and back to my place of sanity: writing. I have to remind myself that even the rubbish words are still words. As scary as it is, it is time to un-dam the words. Otherwise I may as well just give up now. I am too stubborn to give up yet.
I’ll leave you with my new favourite motivation song…
Pink says it best > “Where there is desire
There is gonna be a flame
Where there is a flame
Someone’s bound to get burned
But just because it burns
Doesn’t mean you’re gonna die
You’ve gotta get up and try try try!
What gets You up to Try-Try-Try?
What do you desire enough to take a Risk of getting burned?
Related articles
- Get A New Story: The Voice of Doubt Is Not Truth (scriptmag.com)
- First drafts and caring less (cherylfassett.wordpress.com)
- A Writer Has Guts (stephanieromero.wordpress.com)
- Insecurities of a Creative {guest post by Jessica} (whatemilydidnext.com)
- The Writer’s Strength (bardicblogger.wordpress.com)
- So you want to be a writer… (girlsheartbooks.com)
- Push the Creativity Reset Button Every Day (stranglingmymuse.wordpress.com)
- Writing Tips for Different Types of Writers (nocturnalwalks.wordpress.com)
- The True Value of the Dangerous Dream (thedailycreativewriter.wordpress.com)
- What Would Hemingway Do? (xenogirl.com)
The Next Big Thing #11 | Blood & Ink
I have been tagged in The Next Big Thing by Judith Van Praag @ Hope Filled Jars. So in this game of “Tag, You’re it” my current Work in Progress gets to be tagged and then I have to tag 5 other writers’ WIPs. When Judith tagged me in this post and emailed me the idea behind it, I was thrilled to be in and to be tagged. This blog-tag post is perfect for writers as most writers I know, including myself, hate talking about ourselves but ask us about our stories and our characters and we can wax lyrical. Look for the five writers I have tagged at the bottom of this post – their “Next Big Thing” posts will be posted between the 11th and the 17th of September so make sure you keep your eyes peeled for those.
What is the working title of your book?
The Tattooist – Blood & Ink #1
Where did the idea come from for the book?
I was reading an article about tattooing and how intimate an art form it can be and it sparked an idea. A few nights after reading this article I dreamed the first scene of the story. I woke up at 4am and started jotting down the dream and within a couple of hours I had the first draft’s main plot-points drafted out.
What genre does your book fall under?
Paranormal Psychological Thriller
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Heroine = Sasha RouletteKeira Knightley is the perfect actress to play my main character in The Tattooist. She has that rare quality of being believable as a bad girl turned good but also has this raw vulnerability that gives her depth. Keira IS Sasha in The Tattooist.
Hero = Shane PatrickColin Farrell IS my bad boy hero. He is the perfect flawed character, the bad boy who you want to reform. He IS Shane Patrick, my bad boy hero.
Villain = Michael DaliFor my villain I needed to cast someone intense, charming, seductive but chilling – who better to fit this role than Viggo Mortensen. My villain is known by many names but the one he chooses to call himself is Michael Dali. Killing is not just an occupation but it is a calling and an art form to this ice-cold killer. Viggo IS Michael Dali.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
A paranormal psychological thriller about a tattooist who bonds psychically with the people she tattoos who realizes that she can now read a sadistic serial killer’s mind and is the only one who can stop him but if she can read his mind, can he read hers?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I will be submitting it to agents.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I am still in the process of the first draft but typically a first draft takes me 4-6 weeks to write.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
I have long been fascinated with tattoos and I have been designing my “dream” tattoos for years now. I have not yet found the perfect tattoo that I would want inked on me permanently yet so the search continues. But a tattoo is so much more than a symbol or a fashion accessory, in many cultures it is an integral part of the culture’s history and spiritual practices. Tattooing is a bizarrely intimate ritual: a ritual where a person literally carves a symbol, words or an image into your skin with permanent ink. As a writer alone this bizarre ritual where blood and ink are fused together into a permanent “stain” sparks my imagination. This long-held personal fascination with tattoos and the desire to seek out their history in different cultures + the article I read sparked the idea for The Tattooist.
The Tattooist is the first book in a Series: The Blood & Ink Series. The what if’s started piling up in my imagination and before I knew it I had a plot.
Next the characters themselves inspired me to write their story. All three main characters, the heroine, the hero and the villain have a very strong voice. I also wanted to write a story where the heroine is not your typical girl next door or perfect heroine. I love flawed characters and characters that have to fight their way through life. All three of my main characters are deeply flawed and in this story the truth is never just black and white. Nobody is all good or all bad in this story.
The story’s theme is about facing the fact that we all have darkness within us and that we could all be pushed to give in to that darkness if the stakes are high enough. All three main characters, the two protagonists and the antagonists fight this inner darkness as their own demons threaten to overwhelm them. At the end of the day whether they choose the darkness or the light is what will be both the making and the breaking of them.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
- Tattooing
- Samoa
- New Orleans
- Crime
- Criminal Profiling
- Serial Killers
- Evil vs Good
- Darkness vs Light
- Psychic powers
- Clairvoyance
- Precognition
- Telepathy
Tag, your WIP is “The Next Big Thing”
Message for the tagged authors and interested others:
Rules of The Next Big Thing
***Use this format for your post
***Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress)
***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.
Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:
What is the working title of your book?
Where did the idea come from for the book?
What genre does your book fall under?
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Include the link of who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged.
*****
Writers: What is your Next Big Thing keeping you awake at night?
Readers: What Next Big Novel are you biting your nails for in anticipation?
Related articles
- Patti Larsen takes a walk into my dark mind for #Creepfest (kimkoningink.com)
- The Next Big Thing – Week 10 | Love & Art in post WWII Amsterdam (Judith van Praag @ hopefilledjars.com)
- The Next Big Thing – Week 9 (Zoe Brooks Books & More)
- The Next Big Thing – Week 8 (A.K. Taylor @ backwoods author.com)
- Week 7 of The Next Big Thing (Jonathan Gould @ daglit.blogspot.com.au)
- Week 6 of The Next Big Thing (Coral Russell @ alchemyofscrawl.com)
- Week #5 of The Next Big Thing (Gail Baugniet @ gail-baugniet.blogspot.com)
- Week #4 The Next Big Thing (Laurie Hanan @ westoftheequator.wordpress.com)
A Tendency to Obsess…
“I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent; curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my ideas.” – Albert Einstein
Is obsession a bad thing? Sometimes it can be especially if your obsession is a person. But for most careers and most dreams obsession *in a particular field/set of skills* is not only healthy but necessary for success. I – like so much of the world – have been caught up in the Olympics over the last few weeks. With 9 dedicated channels to 24/7 Olympic coverage on the television, there is always some event to watch or some interview with an athlete. These Olympian athletes are prime examples of Obsession being a necessary boost to fulfilling their ultimate dream of besting their personal best times and ultimately standing on the podium accepting a medal.
Growing up I was fascinated by the law, science and journalism. I chose my high school subjects with that focus in mind. It was a toss-up between being a criminal prosecutor, a pathologist, a criminal psychologist or a National Geographic journalist or a war journalist. I was also enamoured *and still am* with the FBI and MI6. Unfortunately though geography did not favour me here.
“A writer is someone who writes, that’s all. You can’t stop it; you can’t make yourself do anything else but that.” Gore Vidal (Writer)
Life had another route for me though, one that would lead me to the truest path for me and that is writing. If I had pursued any of those adolescent dream careers I might have come to the writing path much later. I am certain no matter what route I chose it would have eventually lead me to writing. But for now I am really glad that due to life circumstances I did not pursue any of those careers.
obsession |əbˈseSHən| noun the state of being obsessed with someone or something: she cared for him with a devotion bordering on obsession.• an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind: he was in the grip of an obsession he was powerless to resist. DERIVATIVES obsessional |-SHənl|adjective,obsessionally |-SHənl-ē|adverbORIGIN early 16th cent. (in the sense ‘siege’): from Latin obsessio(n-), from the verb obsidere (see obsess) .*Dictionary Definition*
I am a 100% all or nothing type of person. When I put my mind to something I put it in 100% effort and everything else falls to the wayside. I also have a perfectionist gene inherited from my German mother that won’t allow me to be anything than the best or put any less than 100% effort in. Which is why I am glad I did not pursue those early dream careers. I would have thrown myself headfirst into them and writing would have fallen to the side.
“The creative habit is like a drug. The particular obsession changes, but the excitement, the thrill of your creation lasts.” – Henry Moore (Sculptor)
But my dogged determination, my stubborn perfectionism and a tendency to obsess serve me perfectly in Writing. As a writer my characters have their own careers, their own obsessions that have to come across as authentic. So here is where my leaning towards the law, justice, science and journalism can be played out on the page.
“I’ve been called many names like perfectionist, difficult and obsessive. I think it takes obsession, takes searching for the details for any artist to be good.” – Barbara Streisand (Actress)
One of my favourite parts of a new story, any story, is the research. To come off as authentic your plot, your setting and your characters have to be obsessively researched. Once you have come up with the idea then the FUN part begins. You get to throw yourself into a hunt for information of all kinds.
“If you don’t have obsessions, don’t write. My characters are obsessed.” – Marguerite Young
My current WIP deals with serial killers, psychics, tattooists and the FBI. So to get my facts correct I must study up on everything I can to get the characters right and to come up with an authentic plot. The internet is fantastic for the modern-day writer. Now with a tap of a button I can research millions of articles related to the subjects contained in my WIP. I can connect with experts in these fields through their online presence by following their blogs, emailing them pertinent questions and picking their brains on likely hypotheticals.
“What moves those of genius, what inspires their work is not new ideas, but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough.” – Eugene Delacroix (Painter)
Even though I am writing fiction, I still have to get the facts straight. If I don’t, the errors will be picked up by readers. The worst thing for a writer is to come across as inauthentic. So for this WIP a tendency to obsess combined with an adolescent fascination of criminal law and justice gets to play out in my research. This means I am in my element. For the time that I write in the Voice of my characters I get to see the world and the story through their POV. I get to “be” a criminal profiler much like the actors on shows like CRIMINAL MINDS (One of my television obsessions.) have to step into the shoes of criminal profilers. I also get to understand the alternative world of the tattooists and psychics.
“The trade of authorship is a violent, and indestructible obsession.” – George Sand (Writer)
So even though I did not become a criminal prosecutor, a criminal psychologist, a pathologist, a National Geographic journalist or a war journalist…I get to “be” all these for a time period in my stories and through my characters. I get to write about people in these fields and for as long as I crank out the words in the drafts I get to “be” these people. I get to rub shoulders with the experts who are willing to assist me.
“You’ve got to get obsessed and stay obsessed.” – John Irving (Novelist)
Yes, a tendency to obsess over the details and the facts and to walk in your characters’ shoes/inhabit their lives is necessary to write authentic fiction. I know I am a writer because even in life’s worst circumstances in real life I am spinning these seeds into story ideas. I hear things, see things, experience things and my itch to get it into a story is nothing if obsessive. It is true what they say, be careful what you tell a writer…you may read about it in one of their stories. Writers are the obsessive magpies of the world always on the hunt for that shiny new idea.
What are your obsessions?
If you could have your life over, what dream career would you have?
As a reader, have you come across glaring errors in stories that have had you questioning the author?
As a writer, what has been your favourite subject to research and obsess over?
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- Perfection is so hard to acheive… (7evildwarves.wordpress.com)
- 3 Lies Writers Tell Ourselves (melindamcguirewrites.wordpress.com)
- When fantasy becomes reality (fantasycollective.wordpress.com)
- Split Personalities: A Brief Introduction to the Light & Dark Elements of Creativity (dreamupwords.wordpress.com)
- 700 Cats: Why I Write (themillions.com)
Kim Koning 