Writing Wrongs

February 20, 2006

Two entries in one day. I know! What�s up with that? This afternoon, Andrew and I have been working on his imagination fair project. It�s actually in combination with two of his friends, but since Andrew owns the universe in which it is set, we�re doing most of the work. So, I give you:

The Adventures of Mr. Big Arms and Mr. Big Legs

In the year 3049, two boys were born. They were twins, kidnapped at birth, but escaped, but not before the kidnapper dropped them in toxic waste. Their parents found them--at last!

The toxic waste left them with special powers. And since then, they�ve made some friends, who also have special powers, but their friends don�t know it yet.

Come explore the future with Mr. Big Arms and Mr. Big Legs, their friends, their enemies, and more!

I am actually going somewhere with this, other than plying you with Andrew�s artistic endeavors. We had a discussion about the story summery. He wanted the last paragraph to read something along lines of: Come see these fantastic masterpieces of art!

I told him that artists generally don�t describe their own work as masterpieces. (Why not, Mommy?) Then we talked about how to entice someone to take a closer look at the books of drawings he�s prepared--he has about 100, I think (drawings, that is).

What struck me is how much he loves his creations. He does get frustrated at his ability to draw them, but I never heard him say, ever, that he hates his �guys.�

This is in contrast to what I�ve heard writers say. Lately, especially, there seems to be a rash of it going around: I hate my storyline, I hate my characters, I hate my WIP. Maybe it has something to do with February.

What�s odd is: I don�t get it. I�m like Andrew. I love my �guys.� I get hugely frustrated with my inability to tell a story. I hate my writing, that my reach invariably exceeds my grasp. But I never, ever hate my characters or my storyline. I always feel like the odd girl out in those discussions because they�re foreign to me. I don�t think I�ve crossed the line into: Come see these fantastic masterpieces of art! At least, I hope not, but speaking of which, I give you one of Andrew�s �guys.�


Charity Tahmaseb wrote at 4:22 p.m.

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