I can't help but shake my head back and forth...
Disbelief, amazement, humility, joy, sorrow... No? You aren't getting those emotions. Say it one more time, even slower. "Yesterday."
I visit my yesterdays pretty often. I reckon that most writers do--even more than people who don't write. We are a lot that is given toward reflection.
It doesn't matter what we write--historical fiction, memoirs, contemporary fiction, romance, scifi, fantasy...and so on, even when it appears that we are looking forward, we are looking behind us. We are sifting through our yesterdays, to find the bits of a memory that will inspire the words.
Everything we write comes from the past. From something we have seen, experienced, felt, tasted, touched, loved, hated, admired or loathed.
So, we set down to write our stories. The characters have been introduced--from fragments of people we have known, the world in which they live has been built--from fragments of places we have seen in real life-- or other fictional places, and then the event happens. Now, our characters must react.
We imagine them, see their faces, and hear their words being uttered as we type them onto the screen. And every word...every one of them, comes from our own pasts.
Our own morals, ethics, affections, likes, dislikes, tolerance, intolerance, preferences--positive and negative, come alive on the pages. And even characters composed of fragments that don't resemble us in any way--perhaps pulled from front page headlines, grisly news stories, the playground bully, or even an old teacher with a cruel streak, are subject to us (the writers) projecting ourselves onto them, even if we aren't cognizant of it as it happens. We temper everything with a good helping of the person we are--shaped by all of the yesterdays of our lives.
While we write, we dig through our minds, our memories, baring long forgotten tidbits of treasures. And that is what gives us our unique voices. No two are alike...just like no two yesterdays are alike.
Can you see your yesterdays in the words you write today?
It's quite a stretch sometimes, being aware of how all your characters are really all about you- but then, we can only interact with the world as we understand it. Writing does help make sense of that- if that makes sense?!
ReplyDeleteCorrect--"...but then, we can only interact with the world as we understand it." At least as I see it, Lily. Kind of like that Pink Floyd song ♫"All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be."♫
DeleteThanks for visiting! :-) One to go :-)
Your first line got me singing the Beatles song "Yesterday"! :) Some of what I write are based on past experiences. Others are based on my aspirations, or just pure imagination.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my blog! Only one more day!
J.C. Martin
A to Z Blogger
Thanks for sharing your insight, JC :-) Yes...only one more day :-)
DeleteIt's funny when I read back on some of my writing, I can pin point memories where certain scenes were inspired from.
ReplyDeleteMe too. It is humbling--being a writer and realizing how thinly veiled I am in my fictional characters. Not that I try for that. And I wonder if other writers ever think that about themselves--or other writers? Wow, that was a tongue-twister ;-) Thanks for stopping, Lynda :-)
DeleteI never thought of it that way but it makes so much sense.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Susan! :-)
DeleteThat makes a lot of sense. And, yes, I can most certainly see my yesterdays in my writing...things I've experienced, seen, read, dreamed about...
ReplyDelete:-) Thanks, Botanist! Sometimes my yesterdays jump right out of my writing--and I Didn't see them when I put them there :-) Thanks for visiting :-) One more post. :-)
Deletehave an interesting space, a great pleasure to read you.
ReplyDeleteif you like the poetry I invite you to my space.
happy day.
a greeting.
Well thank you, Ricardo. I will visit shortly! :-)
DeleteThis is a beautifully written post. I can definitely see my yesterdays in my writing. My past is what I draw upon most.
ReplyDeleteAwe, thanks, Dana! And thank you for visiting! :-)
DeleteAll the time. Great post. Nicely done. There is a bittersweet felling when reflecting on yesterday at times though.
ReplyDeleteOh my yes, Stephen. And when we need bittersweet inspiration to set our writing mood, it is there for the searching. :-) Thanks for visiting :-)
DeleteGreat posting and I agree. I often write about my own experiences. You never know when someone is searching for a few info/answers to something.
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed, Gossip Grl! Thank you for visiting :-)
DeleteI can see my yesterdays in my writings. I agree with many of you that in your writing of yesterday is shown through your writing today. Great Post!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Geeky Daddy! :-)
DeleteI guess all writing is about yesterdays and how we were shaped by them> So yes. I see a lot of what happened to me in the past pop up in my prose. It's not the way something happened, it's the after-image filtered through time and experience.
ReplyDelete"It's not the way something happened, it's the after-image filtered through time and experience." Excellent summary, Clee. Thank you for visiting :-)
DeleteYour right about that. When any of us write we bring something of ourselves and our past with us-- even when we are trying not to. Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteThanks Danette! And thank you for stopping by! :-)
DeleteOh Teresa, you are dead-on with this! Yesterday is the base for everything we are and think - even feel. Someone in a white coat (scientist) once said that the experienced significant emotions of today are tomorrow's arcs and inputs. I think it is mentioned in the book Thinking, fast and slow. What really really freaks me out about this is knowing, that every experience we have is already in the past when we become aware of it - brain needs time to process it, so there is always a delay. Strictly speaking, there is no present. Woa!!!!
ReplyDeleteOkay...wrapping my head around the concept, "...that every experience we have is already in the past when we become aware of it - brain needs time to process it, so there is always a delay. Strictly speaking, there is no present. Woa!!!! Mind boggling, but makes absolute sense, Dana! :-)
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