one of the comics i like, julia wertz, did an entire comic of illustrations referencing craigslist Missed Connections ads. i haven't read the whole book, but the idea seemed like an interesting place to investigate some people and get some ideas for characters.
next time i'll brace myself a little better before jumping into those waters. holy hell. King Arthur looking for his Queen (close to UCLA) - complete with corporate portraits and pictures of his home. i mean, i could spend a few hours decoding the level of narcissism and loneliness and a million other things, but, i'll be honest, the guy just freaked me out.
there was also a paparazzi who went on and on and on in this post basically trying to convince some poor girl he talked to at a club one night that she should go out with him again because he is friends with celebrities and texts a lot (i'm not kidding. the texting was a selling point).
the idea of the experiment was to look at some w4m entries as well, just to see what the landscape is like, but honestly, i've had a bit more than i can take. between that and the 24 pages of the 26 page New Yorker article about Paul Haggis and Scientology, I'm so fucking confused about why people do the things they do that it's bringing me down. under some other circumstance i'd let this be an opportunity to feel superior. but then i realize i don't have anything figured out either - i'm just not looking in the directions that the people i bother to investigate are looking.
to someone, somewhere, i am as confusing, pathetic, abhorrent, as the people whose lives i attempted to comprehend today. bat shit crazy, i'm telling you.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
characters
i'm attempting to get back into the groove of writing down all of the ridiculous nonsense that flows through my head. i'm also attempting to do this in a fashion that is slightly more interesting than 'dear diary.' as i try to think up characters, and envision how they might behave, i'm struck with the knowledge that i honestly have no idea how other people function. this is going to be a bit of a roadblock for me, i fear.
i've tried a few different things, so far. experiments, if you will.
first attempt - slight variation on jacquie and how she might attempt to negotiate a given situation. Ends up looking just like jacquie. at least to me. this is not a challenge, and i end up far away on tangents that have nothing to do with a plot or story and are just masturbatory looks inside my own silly psyche. which is cool, i guess, but not the goal.
second attempt - jacquie's polar opposite. utter failure. i don't like this character at all, so i don't want to spend any time with her.
third attempt - someone jacquie knows, cleverly disguised. this one ends up being even harder than the other two because i spend time trying to accurately portray the person as they are in real life. i get bored and start tinkering with other things.
when i see actual human beings react to situations, i can often sympathize with them, but i'm finding it daunting to predict their behavior. i don't know why people do the things they do. this is why life is so confusing for me and exactly why i feel the need to write in the first place. gah, this is incredibly frustrating.
how do i create a character that i want to get to know better, to investigate, to place in difficult situations? how do i create a flawed, sympathetic (at least to a degree) character, who isn't me, and who is interesting enough to keep my attention?
i've tried a few different things, so far. experiments, if you will.
first attempt - slight variation on jacquie and how she might attempt to negotiate a given situation. Ends up looking just like jacquie. at least to me. this is not a challenge, and i end up far away on tangents that have nothing to do with a plot or story and are just masturbatory looks inside my own silly psyche. which is cool, i guess, but not the goal.
second attempt - jacquie's polar opposite. utter failure. i don't like this character at all, so i don't want to spend any time with her.
third attempt - someone jacquie knows, cleverly disguised. this one ends up being even harder than the other two because i spend time trying to accurately portray the person as they are in real life. i get bored and start tinkering with other things.
when i see actual human beings react to situations, i can often sympathize with them, but i'm finding it daunting to predict their behavior. i don't know why people do the things they do. this is why life is so confusing for me and exactly why i feel the need to write in the first place. gah, this is incredibly frustrating.
how do i create a character that i want to get to know better, to investigate, to place in difficult situations? how do i create a flawed, sympathetic (at least to a degree) character, who isn't me, and who is interesting enough to keep my attention?
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