tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1755502616289652010.post6781422788002127669..comments2024-03-07T04:13:36.330-06:00Comments on The Storyteller's Inkpot: Revision City: Using Our Whole BrainUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1755502616289652010.post-87320917624148429672011-05-23T15:23:39.951-05:002011-05-23T15:23:39.951-05:00Just want to add a loud shout-out for the book Cla...Just want to add a loud shout-out for the book Claire mentioned, MY STROKE OF INSIGHT--it's a terrific writing manual/inspiration, though unintentionally so.Marsha Qualeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02506544531376399293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1755502616289652010.post-14665241736456979712011-05-21T10:56:52.796-05:002011-05-21T10:56:52.796-05:00Molly, on Monday I will post in more depth on righ...Molly, on Monday I will post in more depth on right brain revision, especially in fiction. Thanks for your question. For now, before I go work in the garden, I want to say that in regards to the revision of my NF project, my right brain told me to stop protesting and give the new structure suggested by my agent a whirl. My agent suggested a different structure that would appeal more to kids and let them experience the science, rather than read it straight through. Using all the research I had uncovered over two years, I have a new outline now and I have to admit that it is stronger, even though my left brain had tired of all the rearranging needed.Claire Rudolf Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11520445613916601377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1755502616289652010.post-75736542462196973112011-05-20T17:37:13.392-05:002011-05-20T17:37:13.392-05:00Thanks for the recommendations and thoughts. I'...Thanks for the recommendations and thoughts. I'm particularly struck by what you said Claire in your first post. "I considered my agent's comments and enjoyed trying them out - right brain style. l let my right brain help me figure out sections of the novel that weren't working and solutions that might." I'm so curious. What did you do differently? How did you shift over. I know that I have done this, and will do it again, but I am curious how you did it.molly b. burnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03244578003834630167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1755502616289652010.post-88695969774251894612011-05-20T15:38:01.770-05:002011-05-20T15:38:01.770-05:00Andy, thanks for a book referral that now I must g...Andy, thanks for a book referral that now I must get. I believe that writing for a particular purpose can be pleasurable if it is truly what I want to be writing, rather than just to get published. Ah.<br /><br /> Molly, yes, thinking about writing for publication is left brain, but necessary. Just not at the same time as the creative flow. What I have found is that I am actually utilizing my right brain for revision (and first draft) writing during other parts of my day - hiking, hanging laundry, chopping vegetables. I've known this for ages. But being more aware and intentional about it, I can put it to better use. I am also trying to be aware that when i am dragging, to say okay - what would the right brain be thinking right now?Claire Rudolf Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11520445613916601377noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1755502616289652010.post-15841254457994890302011-05-20T12:50:05.641-05:002011-05-20T12:50:05.641-05:00Molly, I, too, know the dried-dog-barf feeling! I&...Molly, I, too, know the dried-dog-barf feeling! I'll see an ad for a contest and think, "I could write something for this," and then I don't. I have to write for the pleasure of it.<br /><br />Shelley Carson's YOUR CREATIVE BRAIN is good for learning about the different "mindsets" we use when being creative, from what Carson calls the "Absorb" (taking in loads of information without judging it, as we do during research) to "Stream" (improvisation) and "Transform" (using emotion as a catalyst to create). It's a teensy bit self-helpy but Carson is good at explaining the neuroscience her ideas are rooted in. Worth a look!Andy Cochranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13488591613265971587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1755502616289652010.post-62071799348173631182011-05-20T11:52:53.812-05:002011-05-20T11:52:53.812-05:00Thank you Claire for bringing this up. Such a fant...Thank you Claire for bringing this up. Such a fantastic topic. I, too, had been feeling the lack of inspiration for revision and wanted to simply write. A number of thoughts about why came to me-slightly different but still left/right brain issues. I went to the SCBWI NEw England Conference and was immersed in the urge to SELL my writing (for many logical and emotional reasons) but boy does that way of thinking zap the process. And as I made this realization I read Naomi Kinsman Downey's essay about play. Play had been forgotten by desire. (I've never been good at blending play and competition. Start keeping score in a game and my creative brain dries up like dog barf on a sidewalk). SO now what. I've identified my issues...what next? I mean I really need to revise. What does creative revision look like? Hmmmm.molly b. burnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03244578003834630167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1755502616289652010.post-45825317501214480572011-05-19T16:13:04.326-05:002011-05-19T16:13:04.326-05:00I don't know if this is a right brain/left bra...I don't know if this is a right brain/left brain thing, but I've noticed that sometimes I'll really be focused on writing, and then other times I just want to kick writing to the curb and do nothing but go on these huge reading binges. <br /><br />One of my friends is all revised out on her novel that an agent is waiting on, and she, too, is turning to another story that she's excited about. It sounds like what you're doing is just what the doctor ordered.Melinda R. Cordellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02924404257237523106noreply@blogger.com