On a whim, I decided to check on my Twitter again a few days back and somehow, Damyanti Biswas (@damyantig) reminded me of Quora. So for today, I decided to add another Ask Gi post. I wasn’t really asked this one, but it honestly annoyed me so I decided to give the OP (meaning Original Poster in Quora world) a piece of what I thought. My written answer was honestly the cleaner version of what I was really saying to him in my mind. Seems like others felt the same way.
Here it is. Read on then share your thoughts in the comments, if you will. Click on the image if you want to see what everybody else was saying.
Welcome to my new…what do you call it…? Never mind. Welcome to Ask Gi!!! What is it? It’s stuff I get asked. Not personal, though maybe based on experience, but opinions and/or suggestions. Mainly, about LIFE!!! So I thought I’d share the more interesting or helpful ones to you. I’ve already created a page for #AskGi Column (check the menu).
I’ve been told several times I give good advice. So if you’re not shy about it, feel free to ask me something, too. Send your questions to j.gi.federizo@gmail.com, subject: “Ask Gi”. I will respect your privacy. Let me know if (1) you want things published or not, and if yes, (2) what real or code name we should call you by.
So here’s our first question. Comment below for your own reactions 🙂
So I was late with my F post. Blame it on my very slooooow connection (very slow laptop, actually). And admittedly, I was pretty much preoccupied. The slowness was getting on my nerves on top of that. Anyway, on with my post..
Fictionists, as we know, create characters from their own imagination. Yes, maybe the characters are loosely based on other existing book/movie/TV characters or even actual persons. However, they still have their own personalities, backgrounds, battles to win. Now, being their creators’ brainchild (brainchildren???), for sure, they are special. Do these writers also have favorites, too?
Mine would be Maya, who has been with me, so to speak, half my life, I think. At first, I thought I had a clear view of what I wanted her to be, but I wasn’t ready. I got stumped. For years, her story went on and off, longer than I care to admit. I do feel a bit thankful that I waited because now, she is clearer to me. I know what she is now, I know what I want from her. She is part-me, part-Brennan of BONES, part-Abby of NCIS, and part-whatever things that are unique to her. She is as I have planned long ago, my own contribution to Philippine literature and my own way of introducing the Filipino to the world….Now, if I can only finish it now, that would be awesome! Will carry on, of course.
I was curious about other writers and their creations. I, therefore, posted this question over at Quora:
“Which fictional character that you created is your favorite, and why?”
Luckily, I found people who were willing to share. I think they deserve to be featured simply by sharing. Find out their answers below. Maybe you’ll like their books. Click on the screenshots to get to their respective pages.
There’s no such thing as writer’s block. At least, that’s what Neil Gaiman and some writers say.
I don’t really believe in writer’s block, but I absolutely believe in getting stuck…The difference is one is imposed on you by the gods, and one is your own d*mn fault.” (Neil Gaiman, The Huffington Post)
I agree with him, in a way. But I also believe it’s all just a play of words because whether you call it ‘writer’s block’ or ‘writer getting stuck’, it’s all the same banana. It’s a temporary obstacle writers face, something most writers go through at least once in their lives. That makes it real. It exists because it happens and is experienced.
A writer acknowledging he has a temporary writing problem does not necessarily make him lazy. The only question is, what must a writer do to not get stuck for long?
Of course, the best and most correct answer would be to continue writing. Unfortunately, not all writers are the same when it comes to how they get stuck and how they try to ease out of it. So I thought it would be fun to know what weird or unique ways writers do to battle the block. I made use of my new bestfriend, Quora, and posted this question:
“How do you personally deal with writer’s block?”
Writer’s block is real, but we also know it can be ‘cured’ by continuing to write. What OTHER unique, specific and effective techniques have you personally done to get over it? It would be interesting to find out quirky, fun and unique ways writers battle the block.
I got quite the answers from various writers, mostly published authors. There were the usual answers like the writer’s-block-is-not-real ones, there were “techniques” I was familiar with as I do them as well, and then there were the really unique ones that made my day!
Read for yourselves. I am sharing some of them. Maybe we can try them, too.
First is Larry Dixon, Fantasy and Sci-Fi writer, plus editor, among other things.
This was rather long but I thought I’d share the whole thing. He made a good and rather interesting point. I liked the perspective he shared. I thanked him for it and he said, “It helps me to turn what feels like a tragedy to other writers into a pleasant puzzle.”
Now, for the more uniquely innovative answers, we first have Elke Weiss, writer and song lyricist. Our exchange follows. And yes, she shared a recording as proof. I have linked to the recording, just click on the screenshot.
Jeremy Landry is next. He’s a “moron that loves answering questions”…Hey, his words, not mine, okay?!! But he writes, too, so this is legit.
Very interesting! Sometimes I do that, but not to that extent. I don’t think he mentioned anything about being in theatre, but I wouldn’t be surprised. If you’re a writer doing that, you better make sure you are alone.
Meanwhile, John Morris is a Creative Scientist, at least that’s how he describes himself. He does have very practical tips for writers.
Kamila Miller is very generous in giving practical advice, after all, she has had much experience as EM Prazeman (for historical fantasy fiction), Tammy Owen (for memoirs), and KZ Miller or Kamila Miller (for contemporary fantasy and short stories). I did break down her answer in parts.
And then we have Adam J. Taylor, writer and a whole lot of other things–Sherlockian, Fannibal, TFOL, Partial Whovian, etc.
There were more answers shared that I’m not able to post here. How about you, how do you go around the writer’s block? Please feel free to share!
If you are curious about what the others had to say, you can find the whole Q&A page HERE.
Well, I’m glad you’re back here from last time, or if this is your first time here, welcome, friends! Come back again tomorrow, alright? In fact, come back every weekday and on Saturdays this whole month of April (and maybe I’ll post stuff on Sundays, too) 😉
Until I read Debbie The Doglady’s post, I could have forgotten this. I had planned on posting this sometime ago but never had the right time or chance to do so. I did think of sharing it for Valentine’s, but I also felt it would have been kind of a sad reminder for some who are still grieving for our parents, so I didn’t.
I was doing some legit research one day, I don’t remember what about, but as most researches went, I stumbled on something else. I found this question posted on Quora:
“What was the strangest thing you found cleaning out your parents’ house after they died?”
My parents on New Year’s Eve 2011
I could have answered, but I wasn’t planning on joining Quora. Also, I didn’t think I had any answer to that. I still don’t.
My father had a mild stroke when I was 20 and since then, he was unable to go to work, work being a teacher in elementary Math, Physical Education, and Gardening & Shop (I have no idea what those subjects were called then exactly and I think they have new names now). So maybe, whatever secrets he could have hidden, if there were any at all, my mother had long ago gotten rid of them. I know of one I found when I was young, but that doesn’t count because he was still so alive back then. So when he died in May 2012, I didn’t find any strange thing that belonged to him.
Meanwhile, my mother, who was a Geometry and Trigonometry teacher, had nothing physical to hide either, not to my knowledge, nothing strange that I found, at least. There were several secrets about her personal experiences that I found out after she died in July 2012, some things she did not tell me because she knew I would get mad that she let people do that to her, but they were nothing near strange.
I think the reason that I still haven’t found anything “strange”, surprising or shocking is because I have lived in our family’s house all my life (well, except when I was/am gone the whole week working). Non-Filipinos may go, “What???” and think “Adult and still living in her parent’s house?” Let me tell you now that Filipinos are family-oriented and living with one’s parents doesn’t necessarily make him/her dependent and useless. It is common in our culture, especially the extended family culture…
My parents were teachers and most things that I find that belonged to them are clothes, personal effects that I mostly knew anyway, various school-related stuff like books for lesson plans, IDs, lovely notes from students (especially for my mother, whose hoarding tendencies I happen to have inherited). I’m just thinking maybe I’m better off not knowing anything in case it happens to be something I’ll regret finding out.
Now that I have answered the question, I am sharing to you some of the worthy answers I found on Quora. I’d rather share the nice ones because I’d rather that we remember our parents fondly. Click on them to get to the actual pages if you want to.
Click on the image so you get to be redirected to the link he gave and see what he’s talking about.
This is something that I would have liked to have found. I wish I could learn more about my parents, their experiences, their thoughts, their worries, their dreams…This only emphasizes how important it is to not wait and get to know your parents more while they’re still alive, because time will come that they won’t be able to tell you anything anymore. Except for their lesson plans, my parents did not seem to have inclinations towards creative writing, which is most probably why there are no journals for me to visit in the first place.
Again, one of the things I regret is emphasized here. I regret to not having video-recorded my parents (I tried, but my low-tech phone wasn’t much help,…I could have found a way and borrowed, but didn’t. Sadly.). I did not even record their voices! Now all my sister and I have of them are like the Jim Croce song: ‘Photographs and Memories’. It would have been better to see and hear them alive and talking and laughing once in a while when we’re missing them…
Finding such bills would have been awesome, I gotta admit 🙂 Anyway, my father had quite a sense of humor, too, which I would not have known had he not gotten sick. It seemed he went back to his former and younger self and in the next years of his life, I got to know more of how he was as a younger man. I’m sure he was like that to his friends before the mild stroke, but at home, he was stricter. So the “change” was somehow drastic.
Alright, I couldn’t help it. This one’s kind of sad in the end. Still, the mother thought of buying gifts for her children…
Make sure you click on this to see the whole of it…This reminds me of my parents, especially my mother whom her students adored. I found similar letters and cards given to her, but I really was not surprised. I had known since I was little that she was getting such expressions of appreciation from her beloved students.
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I hope you liked what I shared. How about you, “What was the strangest thing you found cleaning out your parents’ house after they died?” Again, the comments section is for your perusal 🙂
**NOTE:I thought I’d add this since I mentioned the song. It has always made me sad even before losing my parents, but now it means so much more to me. I actually just teared up having listened to it. It’s a lover’s love song, but it can very well be a song for a loved one who has gone on before you.
The End Justifies the Journey 