Travels With Bobby
Amy commented in the Bobby at 15 entry that she too needs visuals to write, and that got me thinking about the places where the novel takes place and how I keep them in my head.
Ironically, the two sections of the novel that are complete take place in fictional places. There is no Winchester Academy boarding school in North Andover, Massachusetts (I googled it just to be sure), and there is no Sandia Ranch boys' camp in the mountains south of Santa Fe. (There is a well-known boys' camp in that part of the state, but it's not where the story takes place.) There is no island in the Caribbean called St. Edmunds. Of course I'm substituting my own experiences with the real-life places and changing their locales and names not just to protect myself against any possible lawsuits; it allows me to visualize the events in the story without being bogged down with trivial details such as the description of the buildings at Winchester. If I want the library to be housed in the old headmaster's mansion, then so be it.
I wish I had a fair hand at drawing, but then I know whatever I sketch out can't hold a candle to what my imagination can come up with.
Ironically, the two sections of the novel that are complete take place in fictional places. There is no Winchester Academy boarding school in North Andover, Massachusetts (I googled it just to be sure), and there is no Sandia Ranch boys' camp in the mountains south of Santa Fe. (There is a well-known boys' camp in that part of the state, but it's not where the story takes place.) There is no island in the Caribbean called St. Edmunds. Of course I'm substituting my own experiences with the real-life places and changing their locales and names not just to protect myself against any possible lawsuits; it allows me to visualize the events in the story without being bogged down with trivial details such as the description of the buildings at Winchester. If I want the library to be housed in the old headmaster's mansion, then so be it.
I wish I had a fair hand at drawing, but then I know whatever I sketch out can't hold a candle to what my imagination can come up with.
posted by Mustang Bobby at 12:41 PM
1 Comments:
glad i could inspire something :)
i know what you mean about what you see in your mind being so much better than if you put it to paper.
it's the source of many a blocked moments. i have this way of wanting things to be perfect the first go. i used to draw quite a bit and became pretty decent at it. still, i was almost never very happy with the end result.
after years of neglecting my artistic side and drawing/painting or writing very little, you can imagine the frustration on my part, me being the type that wants perfection right away. not only is my imagination so much better than what i could express with anything i could by at PEARL, but with my complete neglect of what talent i did have, for so long, it is more difficult than ever.
that's why photos have become helpful. it still doesn't help my blocking when it comes to writing. fear of failure and imperfection are serious roadblocks sometimes...
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