Category: Musings

Musings

Weekly Musing: What’s On Your List?

DH Hanni

Bucket lists, those things we’d like to do/accomplish/experience before we die. I haven’t put much thought about my bucket list other than a few things. It’s not because of my age and some asinine notion I have a ton of time on this planet. Unlike my spouse, I don’t think I’m immortal and realize I could go at any second.

When it comes to my life as a writer, what would be on my bucket list? This list is different from my goals I’ve set out for myself as it is more fun. As usual, this list isn’t in any particular order.

Research Trips: Not sure if this should be on a bucket list. The reality is research trips are something which are part of the job. At least for the stories I write and intend to write. Unfortunately I have yet to be able to go on one research trip. I was aiming to go on one next year but due to some unforeseen circumstances, that plan got scrapped. From what I understand, research trips help a writer to better understand your characters and their experiences. Plus who wouldn’t want to see more of the world?

Meeting My Favorite Authors: Previously I’ve documented who my favorite authors are. I’m sure over the course of my life this list will change. Authors are probably some of the most approachable of artist types even though writing is a solitary activity. I think it is far easier for a reader or writer to be able to meet, even for a brief few seconds, their favorite authors. No matter how famous or how much money an author has, so many of them still attend conferences, conventions, book signings, and other public events all around the world. Should I ever get a chance to meet any of my favorites, I highly doubt I’ll be able to find my tongue. I’m shy by nature and I’d be in too much awe to say much beyond “You’re awesome!”

Taking a Literary Vacation: I think it would be neat to take a literary vacation. What I mean by that is it would be a fun kind of vacation to visit the hometowns of some of the literary giants. Again, another excuse to travel this time to explore areas which inspired some of the most well-known works in history. Like a research trip, it would be neat to sit and experience what a famous author must have seen or heard or smelled as they wrote. Maybe some of their environment would rub off on me and inspire me to greatness.

I guess that’s it. The list is short but ambitious. The overarching theme with my writer’s bucket list is one where I get the opportunity to travel and see more of the world. Books take us throughout the world, both our own and those of others, so why not explore more of the only one I have easy access to?

 

Musings

Weekly Musing: Chaotic Mess

DH Hanni

Oh, what a difference a month makes. I have completed the first month of the initial revision round on my historical fiction novel and it has gone a lot differently than I had envisioned. Physically my working space is a mess with papers, folders, and pens strewn about. From a creative standpoint things are also a giant mess. I had no idea just how much I would still be changing my mind. More than once I’ve altered where the story opens. I also decided to replace some character names because I wasn’t honestly never fully on board with the original names I straddled them with.

Issues I knew I’d have to deal with I finally got to and it wasn’t pretty. Most were research related and I got those nailed down. I hope anyway. As I noted above, I have this tendency to change my mind. Fingers cross I’ll let these thing stand for a while. The problem with me and research is not only do I get sucked into a black hole, which I usually enjoy, is I spend probably far too much time double, triple, and quadruple-checking facts.

In the back of my mind I am paranoid should this book get published, if I have even one thing wrong, even if it is something small, I will get blasted for inaccuracy. This is a product of observing and participating in various online discussions. It fatigues and frustrates me to point out nothing will be 100% accurate, especially in fiction. While I’m not the lone voice in this, it still bothers me trying to reason with idiots. Explaining authors can only do the best they can with the information they have falls on deaf ears.

While I can defend and understand what other authors do, it is problematic for me to apply the logic to my own work. I have to be vigilant in telling myself I am in the beginning stages of revision and that I have never revised a novel before. Techniques I apply to short stories have worked but I am also discovering my strategy must be different.

Nothing will be perfect yet I’ve already redone the beginning at least two times and will tackle it a third time before throwing in the towel to move onto the middle. I have re-arranged and re-re-arranged chapters, deleted others, switched chunks of a scene to either earlier or later in the book and even noted scenes I think would be better switched to the other character’s POV. I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to condense basic information into a quick, easy-to-read file so I don’t have to keep flipping back to Scrivener.

I have learned that while I may be a naturally organized person with a brain that thrives best on compartmentalization, the other part of my brain, the one which controls creativity, apparently likes the chaos. Perhaps it’s the thrill of creating a giant mess and then working to put it back together into something better. I’m not very nice to myself.

But this chaos vexes me. I’d hoped to be a further ahead on my rewrite; not still stuck at the beginning. Looking ahead to August, it’s going to be a busy month personally. I ponder how much time I will while making sure I pace myself so I don’t fry my creativity. Yet this makes me feel as if I’m pushing myself more and more behind. While I have likened this to an extreme marathon, this first month has me feeling as if I haven’t even gotten off the starting line.

Musings

Weekly Musing: What Is Critical Thinking?

DH Hanni

I wanted to touch upon the concept of Critical Thinking as I feel it is something that is unforgivably lacking in society. Everyone’s a critic but does that mean we actually know what critical thinking is and engage upon it? The dictionary definition is that it is a noun meaning disciplined thinking which is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence.

Notice in the definition it doesn’t state an emotional response or opinion. Yet whenever I try to participate in discussions about a book or whatever, I see more and more people believing their opinion counts as critical thinking. Far, far too often criticisms I see are based on emotion, irrational thinking, and personal biases. There’s this aggravating mentality of “I’m right and you’re wrong because…because you just are!” I find this incredibly painful to see. It truly hurts my heart to see people argue, not debate those are two separate things, over a point. Both sides have the critical part down to an ugly art but neither remembers to stop and think.

When examining a piece of literature in an intellectual manner, emotions need to be separated from the analysis. This is difficult because one of the beauties of literature is its ability to make us feel. Whether they’re positive or negative emotions, the written word has a glorious power on our heart. It’s also human nature to be emotional; we are animals after all. Yet our brains are wonderfully evolved to handle this separation.

When it comes to analyzing literature, our head must take center stage. Far, far too often we forget this. In our debates (arguments) we want to prove our interpretation is the only right one. We employ non-critical thinking techniques by calling each other names, claiming someone’s position is stupid or wrong because they don’t agree, and fail to cite any evidence to support our stance. When things get this way it gets no one anywhere; people shut their minds off when they argue and their hearing becomes selective.

I’m not sure how or why this happens and that’s not my focus today. What I want to talk about is encouraging us all to work harder on critical thinking. Look again at the definition of critical thinking and let’s break it down by each of the key parts.

Clear: When analyzing something, is your argument clear? It doesn’t have to be a complicated stance in fact it’s probably better if it is communicated as simply as possible. This makes it easier to stick to the point(s) for all parties involved.

Rational: Is your criticism coming from a place of rational thought or is it based on an emotional response? Often times our emotions are irrational. How many times have you struggled to understand why you feel the way you do at a particular moment? Why does something make you happy today when yesterday it wouldn’t have? Again, employ the gray matter between your ears when analyzing something. Does criticism make logical sense, stripped of my known personal biases as well as emotion? Get in touch with your inner Spock if you will.

Open-minded: This is probably the toughest thing to do. Even more than trying to be rational. Based on our life experiences and values, being open-minded is damn near impossible for any of us. No one is taught be truly open-minded and it shows in our actions. That being said, through careful practice and lots of reading (after all the more reading one does the more exposure we get to the lives of others) we can open our minds. This isn’t the same as allowing others to try and change who we fundamentally are as a person. Just hear the other points even if you don’t agree with them.

Informed by evidence: Oh boy, how do I explain this simply? Evidence in this case refers to what is in the text. Not what the author’s intent was even if you’ve read or watched interviews with the author. Keep in mind whatever the author’s intent was when they wrote the piece isn’t the same as what the reader will get out of it. As humans we all bring our life experiences to the page as we read. Our points of reference are different from the author’s. We see and interpret things differently from the author. That’s okay and is wonderful. So when we speak about our analysis being informed by evidence, it needs to be based upon what the text says. From that we can then use the text to support our position or to try and refute the opposing point.

We’ve got the critical part done but the thinking portion is something that needs to be worked on by all of us. Keep the above points in mind whenever you engage in a discussion not only about literature but also about other aspects in your life. Keep in mind, though, it is okay to stick to your guns and principles but treat others with kindness and respect.