Interpretation

My youngest daughter is a filmmaker. She wanders the world with a camera . . . she makes movies, music videos, you name it. She is eleven. She made a music video of one of her favorite songs, and she corralled Demon Baby for an interpretive section in the middle. And then, like a true filmmaker, there is even an outtake at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPYySspQkqk

And what I'm struck by, as I watch her make films, is she always finds some way to INTERPRET the words of the song into a visual.

Which brings me . . . of course . . . to writing.

When you are in elementary school and high school, your teachers are constantly, in creative writing, telling you to "include detail." They also assign you a word count ("You must write AT LEAST 500 words.") As such, for the average kid, they're adding ten adjectives in every sentence when one well-chosen one will suffice.

So you hone your craft. You start getting really picky. You choose one really GOOD word, as opposed to five that are wishy-washy.

You tighten.

But now I think I am at the point where it's not enough to choose one really good word . . . Instead, I start filtering even more. What is the interpretation going to be for this one word? What am I REALLY SAYING with this word? It's not enough to even be descriptive, but to match the word with the education level, nature, pathos or joy of the character.

It's about interpretation.

And for me, this is a newer lesson. And you know what has taught me this more than anything? Writing middle-grade fantasy. Because the lens of interpretation is a 13-year-old boy.

And my Oldest Daughter paid me the highest compliment two days ago. She said she liked reading Magickeepers, because she couldn't "hear" me in the words. In all my other books, she can find even the whiff of a phrase stolen from our lives (I say "ours" because it's not just ME in my books sometimes, but moments of her life or other people's lives that she knows). She can't find me so readily in Magickeepers. Which means I interpreted or channeled my young hero pretty well.

Thoughts? Are you an interpreter?

Five Adjectives

Back-to-School. Baby Girl's teacher asked for five adjectives to help her get to know Baby Girl. I picked words like spunky, kind-hearted, quirky, artistic, gentle. If I had to pick them for Oldest Daughter, I would pick words like focused, mature, strong, loving, brave. If I had to pick for Oldest Son, I would choose five words like kind, sensitive, mathematical, quirky, curious. And then, of course, Demon. Words fail me. Lately they would be: naked, temperamental, mercurial, exasperating, funny.

Picking five for me is nearly impossible. Somehow, I guess, we can see the qualities of others better than ourselves. Sitting here, I have to grasp. Roll words around in my mind. In the interest of posting this blog this morning and not a week from now, I'll pick five: complicated, driven, spiritual, nurturing, passionate.

But what about our characters? What five words would I choose--and would everything in the book back up those words? How would the picture of this character develop? In Magickeepers, I think of Koyla as cynical (slightly), moody, brilliant, brave, and lonely. The key, as I go through this rewrite, is to make sure the book shows that.

Got five adjectives for your character? How about yourself? It's not easy to pick ONLY five. But try.

Happy Monday, all.