Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Where I Go #1: Everywhere

by: Gracie

I went for a bike ride the other day.

As I rode down the streets behind my dad and brother, tires whizzing along the pavement, I soaked in my surroundings (along with the raindrops that had just begun to fall from the sky). We rode on the winding path next to the creek in the area near my house. I marvelled at the large cattails that grew in large patches in the mud next to the creek. They were beautiful stalks, bending gently as one in the wind. We rode past a once completely flooded field, now dried up to a large puddle and dead, yellow grass. I breathed in deeply the distinctly swampy scent that the field gave off. It reminded me of the marsh at the lake I went to for a week each summer.

I took note of all these thoughts, feelings and senses as I pedaled, soaking wet, up the driveway to my house.

Out in the world. That is where I write.

I know that, technically, I’m not continuously scribbling endless paragraphs of stories everywhere I go. But I am gathering scenes, characters, bits and pieces of stories, everywhere I go. And that’s the important stuff, anyway, the stuff that is the clay I mold my writing out of.

I’ll be sitting in the car, waiting for my mom, and across the parking lot I’ll spot a man in an old, pale yellow truck. My imagination starts up and my brain is filled with questions: Is he waiting for someone? His wife, maybe? What’s his wife like? Why is the hood of his car up? Is it broken? Later, this scene will be incorporated into the actual words I type out on my computer.

For me, where I go to do the physical act of writing (or, typing, really) doesn’t matter as much. Usually I’m just on my bed or at my cluttered desk in the basement (or “dungeon” as I like to call it).

The magic really happens when I’m out in the world, living life. Taking people, events and places and then, from that, creating my own, unique story. With just a little bit of complete imagination thrown in too, of
course. ;)

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Gracie is a 17-year-old writer, reader and blogger who likes using pennames on the internet. ;) She's dreamed of becoming an author ever since she can remember, and has been writing since then along with trying to get published in teen writers' mags and win writing contests. (She has been successful twice so far). She lives in Canada with her quirky family and two cats.

To read more from Gracie visit her blog at I Am Writer...Hear Me Roar

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For more info on this guest submissions series, visit the "Where I Go" Submissions page.

6 comments:

  1. I love the picture you picked, Brittany. :D It fits perfectly.

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  2. ahh, such a great post. isn't gracie totally awesome? :D

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  3. I agree, Gracie is awesome. Nice guest post. I get ideas for writing from people and things in the real world, too. It's great picking bits and pieces and putting them in my stories. I love that photo, too. It goes perfectly with Gracie's words.

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  4. Great post, Gracie! I steal a lot of settings from real life, like basing my MC's town off of my town or having my MC's backyard look just like my backyard. :)

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  5. Thanks everyone!! I love how much your actual life ends up in your stories. :)

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  6. That was amazing. I do that, but usually I come up with the craziest reasons for things––the fantasy-love showing itself, I guess. Like, that old man? His legs are gone, so he can't walk; he's trying to fix his truck telekinetically.

    And that picture is crazy awesome; I got dizzy looking at it, like it was actually moving. xD

    You are awesome, Gracie.

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