MOMENTS

Current Project: Books
Status: changing Wyoming to Montana -- maybe

I am writing today about why we read books ten times. Why we watch movies more than once. Why we watch TV series shows over and over again. If you do none of these things, I guess this isn't your blog. But if you do these things, you know what I'm talking about.

I figured this out tonight while I was watching a StarTrek TNG rerun and it all came to life when several characters got together to recreate a situation. I suddenly understood that I loved that show for that moment. And then it occurred to me that's how it is with almost everything I reread or re-watch. I'm waiting for a moment. Maybe two or three. It doesn't matter, I'm repeating this situation for this particular moment(s).

So, what does this say about me -- or you? I thought about this one instance tonight. The characters were all together, pooling information, sharing, figuring out what they'd seen and remembered and putting it together to reach a conclusion -- aha. A puzzle. That's the real attraction for me in this situation -- puzzles.

So, extrapolate. I like puzzles. I put them in my books. They are not exactly second nature for me, but I dearly love them.

How about other situations? Why in the world do I re-watch Sweethome Alabama, for instance? What moment is the aha moment for me? It's the beach. It's when she finally figures out what she wants and goes to the beach and stands there in a thunderstorm in her wedding gown to tell him it's him she loves. It's so romantic! Puzzles and romance...

Lord of the Rings? Not the movies, the books? It's the adventure. It's the sense of going...somewhere...traveling...adventure...

And so it goes. And if I understand or strive to understand, what it is I covet about the the fiction moments I love, then isn't that a key for my own work? Something to trigger my own imagination or to alert me to what I need to work on? Or want to include? Can I (or you) interpret the moments we covet, the moments we anticipate and remember forever and yearn to revisit, into our own work?

To the point that when we plot a book, we can recall those situations that attract us and re-create them IN SPIRIT within our own stories. Love a puzzle? Then incorporate puzzles (mysteries, intrigue, unsolved emotional issues). Adore deep, dark secrets? There you go, fit them in. Lust after adventure? Send your characters on a quest. One aspect of romance appeals to you more than any other? Identify it (use the Momentsyou've earmarked from other medias or books you reread multiple times, and figure out what about that moment triggers your emotions. You can trust if it triggered your emotions, it triggers other people's emotions as well and hello, that's what this is all about, eliciting responses.

No, I am not suggesting anyone steal or plagiarize or compromise their own story or vision. I'm suggesting you identify what attracts you and internalize it into your own work.

Have you done this? Does it make sense to you?