If you follow me on Facebook, you already have an Inkling what this post is about. On Tuesday, I posted the following status:
“Netflix offers us the opportunity to see all our shows from the very beginning. Dot and I are working through Grey’s Anatomy. At times cute, endearing, vulgar and heartpounding. Tonight we saw an older episode that suggested it’s harder to ignore someone if you know Five Things about them. My Five Things are in the first comment. What are yours?”
There weren’t too many comments on that post, but I did get a few messages that it started a few people thinking. Is it harder for you to ignore someone if you know more about them?
As a writer, I love learning more about people. I love hearing what they have to say, knowing what makes them tick, discovering personality traits… all of it. Knowledge of people inspires me, creates characters, provides background. It’s wonderful. I just love stories.
That is, of course, the subject of today’s post. Stories. But what kind of stories? Well, that’s as unique as the person telling it. Give me the same story told by five different people, and I’ll have five different stories!
I have a plethora of family stories: The chipmunk in the dryer vent. Dad’s bear rug. The turned-over potato truck and more deer than we could count. Mom asking for a Second Hand in the Kitchen. The snake under the stairs that was actually just a box of fishing bait rattling around. Moving cross-country, then back again, in one week.
And an assortment of personal experiences. Most of these are being compiled for my writing project: Broken Girl and Other Tales of Redemption: A Collection of Parables, Poetry and Prose.
I love well-told stories. A gifted writer can hold your interest on subjects you’d rather not study. A well-written resource paper is far less mundane than a bulleted checklist, don’t you think?
In keeping with today’s theme, here are my Friday Five: Stories.
1. Jo March, the narrator of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women is a character I fell deeply in love with because she resonated my young life. “Settled into a temporary poverty”, this tomboy is more comfortable with a pen than most people. She feels more deeply, loves more intensely, and lives more rambunctiously than I have… yet! She inspires me. I used to tell people I was named after her (my middle name is Jo!).
2. Award-winning Stephen J. Cannell, the magnificent writer-creator-producer of many television shows. I used to watch so many. The Rockford Files was my dad’s favorite. I was enamored with shows from the 80s: 21 Jump Street, The A-Team, Riptide. I used to tell my family, someday he’s going to know who I am. They laughed. In 2007, I sent him an email, never ever ever thinking I’d get any sort of response. Boy, was I wrong! Not only did I get a response, but he turned it into a video response for his international website [you can see his advice to me about writing here. It’s still the first video that shows on this page!] He was the first writer/mentor to call me by both my first and middle name. So for three years we had a quasi-mentor friendship online. Facebook and twitter interactions, mostly. And then in 2010 the planets aligned and I was able to meet him in person for a book signing! It was the day after my birthday, which made it that much better. And six months later he died. I saw the post on Facebook and it took me fifteen minutes of online searching to verify his page hadn’t been hacked. I couldn’t believe he was gone. My heart broke. I remember calling my mother, crying, and blurting out, “Stephen’s dead! Stephen’s dead!” As if he would somehow remember me, remember how important he’s been to my writing career. And then there was the email incident. If it hadn’t happened to me, I’d be very skeptical. But it was me. It did happen. And so I try to write. Every day.
3. Louie L’Amour has such a style of writing that leaves me breathless. I wish I could read fast, quick, without blurring the words, without forgetting what was on the previous page. I wish I could swallow up every story of the Sacketts and all other characters he’s created in one afternoon, and then start over again. I’m still currently reading his Collected Short Stories. I’m a slow reader, lately. But when I do read, I love it! I even named my 2011 annual Christmas Nutcracker after him!
4. I have a hard time writing fantasy. I’m very much a logical, linear thinking; which is quite oxymoronic for being a creative writer. Still, I try. My desire is to be read. To be a quality, best-selling, recognized writer. And still be able to go to Disneyland without getting mobbed.
5. I have many Cookbooks that I like to read and study. But rarely do I cook from them. I’m too afraid of spending money on groceries for a recipe we may not like, and then it’s money down the drain. Someday I’d love to write a series about a Chef who solves mysteries. Sort of a “Murder, She Wrote…” with a Julia Child-type protagonist. Well, now. I’ve written the idea. I guess I better start working on it.
*Bonus Story* When I was 9 years old, I read a short story in Cricket Magazine. Rosemary for Remembrance. To this day, I remember that story, but have been unable to find it. It was the story of a lonely girl who found a playmate in her grandmother’s backyard… with a surprise ending. Oh, how I wish I could find that story! It inspired me, at the age of 9, to write well. It showed me how to build suspense and deliver a twist. That little short story that I can’t find anywhere continues to inspire me to this day.
And now it’s your turn. Leave me a comment with Five Things about Stories. They can be your favorite authors, your favorite memories, your favorite books. Anything related to stories. You don’t have to be a blogger. There’s no link-up. Just share your Friday Five Things. Be sure to check back frequently as others leave their FFTs as well!
As always, Happy Reading (and Writing)!
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
You may also enjoy reading:
Falling in Love With Louis
Self / Public / ation
Why I Don’t Go To Carnivals in October
A Good Name
I Want to Write in That Style
Amara’s Light: Book One of the Grenalia Chronicles
So so so cool that you got to meet him! :D :D :D
Oh how fun! Hmm let’s see…
1. As a child from age 8-14 I attempted to write stories.. One I wrote and illustrated on paper and it was about a girl and her horse. I kept it hidden in my closet shelf, but one day while I was working on it in the living room coffee table, my little brother spilled a glass of water on it and it was gone. The second I wrote on Microsoft Office on an old computer in our guest room. One day I pressed a button or two accidentally and it was gone. The others are still beginning in notebooks in the bottom of boxes in the basement.. I loved beginning stories but rarely finished them except for a child’s short story. It was mostly the creative outlet and enjoyment I got out of it that kept me going.
2. I learned to read by memorizing a story and then following along as my mother read.
3. I’m currently helping a friend edit the book she is writing about her life story.
4. In my Sociology class this past semester my professor told us that on the final exam there would be a section for us to write five “nuggets” or little bits of wisdom that we learned throughout the course. My favorite one was when he said, “Everyone’s story deserves to be heard.” I believe this.
5. For a long time I was befuddled by the use of the word “story/stories” to mean levels of a house or building. To me “story” was sacred to mean told tales…
This was fun, thanks for the prompt, Molly. :)
Larissa Tenorio recently posted..Humor Me Friday.
Thanks for participating, Larissa! I loved reading your Five Things! I too have lost stories… so frustrating. I love the quote from your sociology professor. Definitely a nugget to hold on to!
5 stories about stories….hmmm
1. I have a friend who is a actual published indie author. He was actually able to quit his job last year to write full time. One of the perks of our friendship, I get to “beta read” his stories before they are published. FUN!!
2. My two favorite stories as a child were Winnie the Pooh and Raggedy Ann. I had the complete Raggedy Ann series. I lived for those stories and read them over and over again.
3. I tried for years to get my grandmother to tell me stories about here live growing up and what she knew about our family history. She expressed a willingness to share but whenever we would sit down to talk she would tell the same one or two stories and then change the subject. Slowly I realized that she didn’t want to talk about the past but she just couldn’t bring herself to tell me no. So I quit asking. She passed away last year. I wish I had those stories, but I don’t regret letting her keep her secrets. Not all stories need be shared.
4. I collect photos, especially old family photos. I love the visual stories they tell. I study the backgrounds and build a story in my mind of what life must have been like for the people in the pictures.
5. I am an avid reader but I never had the urge to write until the very day I started my blog on a whim. I enjoy it so much, I love the community and friendships I have found in the blogosphere. I don’t know where this blog is going to take me, but I am loving the trip! :)
Tamara recently posted..Thirty Days of Truth: Day 8
Thanks for stopping by, Tamara! Your Five Things are great. I also loved Raggedy Ann, and wish I still had those books. Your grandmother sounds like a considerate woman, and you too for letting her keep her secrets. Happy reading!
You know, I believe that Jo March is a character that writers can really, really relate to.
I agree, William. What other reading and writing stories do you have?
Molly Jo recently posted..Five Things Friday – TRAVEL