Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Soaring

Soaring

Yesterday I got to fly the Club Trainer under the buddy cord supervision of our flight instructor. I am relieved to say that I didn’t crash the club’s training aid model. That would have been embarrassing. I discovered that my nickname is “One Turn Bob.” This is because I crashed my new trainer last week in the first turn of its maiden flight. As nicknames go I’ve been called worse.

As an aside, normally I don’t offer unsolicited advice but in this case I will. The first year at WDC I faced a recurring frustration. Often, when I would write a lengthy and complex review or email to someone, using the comment block, the screen would flash (Usually just as I prepared to send it) and the whole enchilada would vanish into the electronic netherworld of the internet. Finally I quit using those various blocks to compose a reply and instead put everything first in my word processor. Once I have it written I copy it and post it. This is the way I do my blogs and since adopting this policy I can’t recount how many times it has served me well.

I have been told that I have a connectional mind. Not a powerful mind but a connectional one. Often I write analogies like comparing my RC flying experiences with my writing. Some of these are a bit of a stretch but it helps my understanding and reinforces some of the notions and ideas I get, if there are examples in other unrelated but familiar models. For example I take my experience RC flying yesterday and ask myself, “How does this relate to my writing at WDC?”

Yesterday the blog I wrote talked about being detached from the model airplane and comparing it to the writer/character relationship. I really liked this connection and felt it was particularly insightful. Like RC flying, I explained, it is not the writer who is actually behind the stick (steering wheel) in the story but rather the characters. The writer is standing on the edge of the field. He/She is controlling the story while at the same time explaining to the reader what is happening. The reader is being “Told” through exposition and “Shown” through dialog, the action of what is taking place. Like the crash that gave me my knick-name, the unexpected often takes place. By this I mean things come to mind that were not anticipated and rather than say “Aw Shucks,” another unwanted digression and unexpected detour the writer should take note that maybe somebody “UP THERE” is trying to tell them something.

As I flew figure eights yesterday, I commented, “I’m all over the sky,” to which the instructor replied, “Ride it Bob… As long as you are in control learn as much as you can about what is happening.” That is exactly the point I try to make in the Exploratory Writing Workshop. In the first six vignettes, the student shouldn’t worry about anything but soaring with the story and seeing where it takes them. Sure the writer wants to stay in control but they should expect the unexpected and take note of it. I guarantee that as the writer you will find a place to include these unexpected revelations in the outline of your novel.