Log 4.9 A Complex Dream, A Simple Character. Fuse.

Three things of interest have happened today. The first is that I've been distracted - it's been a while since I was distracted by anything. I've had quite a run - a good month of solid focus.

The second was using the exercise of speaking my writing, giving voice to my characters. I did this with the superhero's monologue which opens the story, trying to get a feel for whether it was natural. Quickly I established what belonged to the character and what belonged to me-as-author. Some of what I'd written was information rather than expression of a character, and I cut it out with some success.

While contemplating doing this exercise I realised that I was too distracted to focus on it wholeheartedly. I was also afraid of speaking the character because I felt that it would just sound trite, so I tried to get into character first. Before being able to get into my character I realised I had to get out of myself. This was a significant learning, and it is the reason that meditation is becoming a part of my writing practice more than it is a part of my health of wellbeing practice (which, truth be told, I don't really have).

This bought about the third interesting part of today. I realised I need to organise my space better. I have been writing, reading, reflecting, meditating, researching, plotting, mapping, planning, breathing, eating, sleeping, and getting into character all in one space - a space that takes up about a third of my room. I need to set aside different spaces for different parts of the work, and also make sure that I can keep life and work separate. I decided upon an experiment to this end - blacking out a portion of my room using fabric, black so that there are no associations, no imagery, no colours, in order to both meditate and explore characters, scenes, phrases. The difficulty is that I don't have the space to have an area for "IN" and an area for "OUT" so I will have to devise some sort of boundary marking techniques. It has reminded me that I should definitely get around to building that spaceship.

What I've realised is that if I don't embody the character and really get to know it on a personal level, it remains trite, just words and thoughts.

I'm also having difficulty with my five other characters. I managed to run the script parallel which is interesting as a dream sequence, but the story is weak. As an example, the Scientist is being interviewed by a television company and speaking about the N.U.I., thus delivering strictly factual information. There is no nuance of character, and she is nothing more than a plot device.

Perhaps I should start in medias res, and then have her converse with another character but in the same manner that she talks to the interviewers, as if her being in the world is defined by delivering factual information. Better yet, forget the interview altogether, and have two characters discussing the machine who have an different agenda from the protagonist/supe - media moguls, for example, who see the potential of using the machine as an entertainment device.

In conclusion; the superhero is going well, not yet fully formed but going in a good direction. After writing this I will return to paper and pen and dissect his monologue, paying attention to his language.

There are two important defining elements to his character: a) that he is of dream, and b) that he is primal. Thus there is a need to create very, very simple and emotive language. The use of the word "riddle" and the word "labyrinth" concern me a little. They are dream words, true, but they are not simple. Here is the conundrum: creating a character "of dream", which is complex, who is simple - single minded, primal. That is something I will enjoy, I think.

For now, with regard to the course itself, it is enough to focus on this character with this approach. If i can fit in just one or two other characters but the end of the month, that will be even better, but not if it is at the expense of the superhero whose form is rich and becoming richer.