Observing the World Round Here

I love the details that make up a person. The way they say certain words, how they wear their hair or  put on a jacket. The stories from which they are sculpted and the dreams that fuel their journeys.

Fellow Writers, Please Explain

I see a lot of pretty people. Everywhere: in magazines, on the telly, on polyvore, in films. But I'm thinking. Pretty, when you really come down to it, means looking in a mirror and liking the PERSONALITY, the individual, un-copyable style reflected there. I've always silently hated it in books when all the characters are described as good looking (in different collections of words, but the message beams through). Why the hell does it matter what people look like? I'm certainly guilty of this in my own writing. This is partly why Charlotte Bronte is brilliant: In a time when beauty and status meant more than anything, she was writing Jane Eyre, removing looks from the equation, and focusing solely on the protagonist's MIND. She purposely repeats again and again that the two main characters (both of whom I liked very much) are "plain" and "ordinary", the man being hawk nosed and unattractive, and Jane having no sense of finery about her. And by golly, it all works out fine and they get their relatively fairytale ending. I would like to see more books with statistically probable main characters; average people, people like us. Writers try, they do, but apart from certain categories, modern writing is just....it's really hard to find normal people. And also, if the people are described as plain and simple, when book is turned into film, gorgeous actors and actresses are inevitably cast.

How To Live (for me-make your own edition!)

What I need is a complete personality overhaul. Whether because I’m naturally cynical and difficult, or because outside factors have shaped me to be that way, I can’t rightly tell. But I do know that things need to somehow change. I think people should always be studying themselves, reshaping and critiquing and expanding on spiritual, physical, and most importantly, moral grounds. So where is the best place to start, now that I’ve proclaimed this? With myself. I want to wake each morning, and think ‘you are new again. This day defines you.’ The difficult thing is going to be setting the parametres for this new personality. What kind of a being have I been? What am I? Above all, what would I like to be? I have so, so many ideas for the latter one, less so for the other two. I’ve gone through life so far with very little thought. Things happen, situations change along with the times. It’s hard to pick out a point in life and say, ‘this is who I was here’, because every stage of it remains with you. The waters are muddy and I’d like them to clear. Don’t worry. This will be my last mushy, wishy-washy post for a very long while.