Hope And Humanity

Hope!  Hope is such an integral part of humanity that it resonates within each of us.  Either there is the tingle of hope which entices us to believe things that our minds tell us we should not ("he/she really cares for me"), or we feel there is no hope in some cases.  As readers, we cling to the hope that our hero or heroine will save the day.  We hope that they won't die in the process. We hope sometimes, that our characters find the love which has been sitting right under their noses.

Hope is what keeps us going both in reality as well as in our reading.  Perhaps, in an arduous reading assignment our only hope is to get to the end unscathed.  Still, it's hope or a distinct lack thereof (which basically just preps us for the introduction of hope).  If the reader isn't hoping, what is to bring them into the story as if they were old acquaintances?  Hope is recognizable on many different levels and creates common ground for the reader regardless of the exact circumstances.  I may have never hoped to pass a board exam in my quest to become a lawyer, but I have hoped to pass a driving test, or even other college or high school tests which hold the keys to my future. This translates into something understandable and garners sympathy for our characters.  Without hope, a character falls flat and fails to engage the reader (assuming they never find hope throughout the book).  A character without hope for an entire book, is not a book which will most  entice a reader to pick it up repeatedly and will not earn it a coveted spot on the bookshelf.  It may even cause deletion from the reader's digital library ~gasp~!

There is a time for rosy hopes, but because hopes can be small and are often found in the character's goals themselves, don't need to be boring or trite.  A character can hope that a sick friend or family member overcomes a debilitating sickness, or it could be that the character hopes a friend lands the job their dream job.  A character may hope for just a normal day.  The hope does not necessarily mean the outcome will be favorable, but a character without any form of hope (even deeply repressed hope) is not realistic.

Hope is what inspires us to take risks, to finally try and accomplish our dreams, to change our situation for the better, to reconnect us with our own humanity, to stir emotions.  Hope motivates us (and should inspire our characters as well) to achieve beyond our dreams and gives us a reason to persevere.  Hope can seem to break us at times, but it is also the very thing which heals us and gives us strength.

"What If" Ponderings

What if the world as we know it, does not exist?  We might automatically think, The Matrix.  I, however, am not really thinking along those lines.

Candace Knoebel's First Book!

Hey everyone! Great news, Candace Knoebel has a new novel released, entitled Born in Flames.  This is available via ebook here:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/born-in-flames-candace-knoebel/1112772359?ean=2940015130775

You can check out her blog here:

http://candaceknoebel.wordpress.com/

This is pretty exciting stuff and I'm wildly happy for her.  It is so far available only in ebook, so I'll have to forgo my dreams of a signed copy for now.  I have the digital copy which I am reading in between my assigned reading for philosophy and english.  I'll probably get through her book first, though.  It's already quite interesting and I'm about three pages in. I'll try to post up a review of that.  The review of The Souls of Black Folk is currently sidelined (fyi), but I have not forgotten it!

This is all for today, happy reading everyone!

Be strong, be brave, be awesome!

On the Subject of Literature

Today, I have already spent my momentary eloquence at my other blog. I apologize for the lack of illuminating phraseology.  Not that I usually attain that, but still, I feel compelled to apologize.  The beneficial thing about reading authors who are wonderfully articulate is the decided improvement in sentence structure and thought processes of the lucky readers.  I do not want to imitate those authors exactly, I still desire to have my own impact somewhere in the world of literature.  What good is literature if you remove the subjective nature of it by emulating someone else's writing so closely that a reader may not be able to tell the difference?  I suppose if the author's goal is to, "write just like Mr. Award-Winning Writer", they would be ecstatic at hearing that a reader might not be able to pick out the difference between their writing and Nathaniel Hawthorne's.

I, however, would be saddened (although simultaneously flattered, of course).  I am not saying that I would rather write incorrectly, merely that I wish to remain true to my own style and voice while making improvements in the formulation my ideas.  I know that I can vastly improve my writing, and while I strive to do that, my goal is to reach the masses with my fiction.  I do not write with the goal of winning any kind of award. I am simply a writer, and as such, I must write or go mad. Here is my more eloquent and lengthy post on my wordpress site:

http://crampedwriting.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/literature-and-philosophy/

It's All About Living

I am hardly ever bored.  It is just that sometimes, I don't know what I want to do.  I have a virtual pile of things that I am able to do and enjoy quite a bit.  I can't always paint, however, or draw.  I love to crochet, but sometimes that gets old as well (still in the learning process). I can't always watch movies, or even write.

Do you ever feel as though you have to do something, anything to zap the synapses in your brain or you'll spontaneously combust? People are going to call me a mad woman, I swear.  There are days where I know  I should be running through fields of grass, waving my arms in the air hollering with joy. When I don't get to do that, the pressure builds up and it is difficult to turn my energy and whims to something entirely different.  Like sitting still and writing.  That doesn't work well and it makes me feel trapped. Ever feel trapped? Maybe it's just me, but I like to think that writers need their freedom and wide-open spaces.  Things are different for "us writers".  Fine, that's probably everyone at least once in a while.

I have to confess that there are times when I look around at everyone, plodding through their lives.  It seems as though they are content to do the same things day after day with the occasional visit with friends thrown in.  Perhaps it's all about the camping with friends.  That must be what is different, because I feel like I'm going to crawl out of my skin one of these days.  I'm not going to be able to do the same thing for 20 years and never learn, never pursue something different.  I'll go brain-dead.  So right now, I'm cramming my head with all manners of hobbies and knowledge.  It's a challenge and I love it.  I feel vibrant and alive.  It's something I feel down to the tips of my toes and it's a vibration that hums through me telling me that this is how life is supposed to be.  Pursue those dreams, ignore the haters and the naysayers.  When someone says you can't accomplish your goals...just smile, hold your head up high and tell them, "Watch me!".

We were made for so much more than a pale existence lying in the arms of a corporation.