Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in. (American Beauty, 1999)
Friends, don’t you just want to get out your butterfly net, snag those incredible moments of beauty, and pin them to a piece of cardboard so you can always remember how they made you feel? Tom Lowe at Timescapes managed to do it in video and I hope you’ll take a couple minutes to view his stunning work and then join me below for a discussion about how this all relates to my most recent manuscript.
TimeScapes: Rapture from Tom Lowe @ Timescapes on Vimeo.
Back in September I read John Green's Paper Towns and loved it. The nostalgia got to me in a big, big way. Shortly after finishing PT, I traveled to the town where I grew up and visited places I hadn't in years, relived memories I’d let slip away because they were too painful/too embarrassing/too whatever, and (to my surprise) began a new manuscript on the way home. I didn’t think it would turn into anything – just a quick little writing exercise that would keep me limber.
I spent the next six weeks writing, still expecting nothing much to come of it. On Tuesday I put down my pen (literally - this is the handwritten ms. I'm talking about), and not because the exercise had run its course, but because it was finished.
I think the combination of reading PT at the time I did and the trip home stirred something in me that allowed this book to emerge. I LOVE when just the right mishmash of elements come together to create something new, when you can point to a specific moment and say, “That’s it! That’s when the idea came to me!”
I won’t know if the manuscript is viable until I get into rewrites and edits, but I do know in writing it I felt my heart cave in a little, not from the beauty of my prose (Ha! Ha! First drafts are NEVER beautiful), but because in using a pen instead of a keyboard I more clearly saw each scene, each character flaw, each moment of discovery as if I was glimpsing something rare and wonderful. That is a true find and I will always be grateful for Paper Towns, my trip home, and a notebook I threw into my bag at the last minute – my own little moments that conspired to create, for me, something beautiful.
Any moments of beauty you've experienced lately, Killer Friends? Hmmmm?? Perhaps a new torture device for one of your exceptionally villainous villains?
9 comments:
Congrats on finishing a project that sounds inspired!
(and I LOVE American Beauty btw)
Since I'm doing NaNoWriMo I don't have much beautiful going on in my writing, lol, but I did have a moment of clarity when I figured out WHY a character does what she does. It's the little moments that make it all worthwhile.
just wanted to say I write longhand too and i understand what you mean, my muse even shuts down if my first draft is not on paper.
You remember how you would write with your head so close to the paper when you get engrossed in what you are writing? that is me with my scenes now, I love it.
The video was epic! We just got back from Italy, so my creative tank is full-to-overflowing at the moment.
It is such a joy to find a great discovery resting in plain sight. And the new lense that allows you to see mundane items and events again for the first time. That is my beauty, the details.
I hope your manuscript (with the editorial love that follows the first drafts) becomes a polished piece because of your emotional investment and labor of love that crafted the piece.
And who knows, maybe your work will inspire someone to craft beauty, like Paper Towns sparked yours.
G3
*snort* we're sort of writing on two sides of the coin today! I'm talking about moments of near death that can be inspiring, you're on beauty... I like the beauty~ :o) <3
JB - American Beauty ranks in my top two all-time favorites. It never fails to make me bawl like a baby.
Joanna (awesome name! hehehe) - Absolutely understand - head down, tongue poking out the side of my mouth, hand writing furiously to keep up with the ideas and thoughts. It's wonderful. :)
E.J. - I felt like that when we returned from Hawaii this year. I've heard it called a Beautygasm. LOL
Greg - What a wonderful thought. I hope you're right.
LTM - loved your post today. ::shudder::
American Beauty made me cry, and not like pretty tears...hard, painful ones. Love that movie, and so began my love affair with Kevin Spacey.lol
Seems like I rush and rush all the time and then something will slap me in the face, stop me cold, and remind me of how beautiful the world can be.
I think the stars aligned for this project to come together. Good for you, so happy for you that were able to be so inspired!
I actually had a moment of beauty when I wrote the last scene of the current WIP. It ended well. The ending might change in revisions, but in that moment, it felt like the exact right way to finish the story.
Great post.
This is a wonderful post. So cool that you got a book done so quickly with such inspiration. Moments of beauty for me? Uh, not so much. I've had ideas here and there, but nothing worth talking about. Thing with me is I always think an idea is great, then I let it sit in my head for 2 months and think ok, that was dumb!
Reading An abundance of Katherines now by JG. Enjoying it so far. :)
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