Thursday, August 28, 2008
The Quest for Knowledge
The other day I was surprised to discover that I'm behind in my reading of Kathy Reichs' novels. I saw the new one, "Devil Bones" on the cart at work and went back and saw I hadn't read the previous one "Bones to Ashes". This may not sound like a big problem but I used to wait in breathless anticipation, 8 or 9 years ago, for each new installment of my favorite writers. Now I'm not paying attention. This is a dramatic change. I've always been a sponge for knowledge but now I seem to want to slurp up non-fiction works about history, politics or religion. Fiction has taken a back seat at the very time I started writing it. I'm uneasy with this, I don't want to miss the inspiration and example good fiction can give me. But I tend to be tangential. One week, I hear something about Hitler that's interesting and I go out and research everything I have time for on that subject for weeks. Then I hear something about the Dead Sea scrolls and go off on a tangent about that for weeks. None of which have anything to do with my writing. Well, sometimes they do, but not always. I still spend plenty of time thinking about my books. I just came up with an idea for a short story about a little girl that I'm going to write. But maintaining the focus is hard for me when there is so many interesting paths to know about. I do miss the days when I was lost in the fictional worlds I was reading about. But maybe since I'm making my own, I don't need them as much. Still, I think I need to go pick up Bones to Ashes tomorrow.
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4 comments:
Perhaps you should add fiction to your research. Heard something about Hitler that was interesting? Go read a WWII novel. Dead Sea Scrolls? There's a load of religious fiction that reimagines Biblical times. Maybe, instead of skipping out of reading fiction ...just read about what you're currently interested in but add a fictional element.
I've always read historical fiction, which is why I was interested in writing one. I just need to reinstate that. Maybe it's that simple. But fiction never has the kind of rigour of some non-fiction and can't really answer questions about history. I need to accept that about other people's and my historical fiction. What it can do is make it seem real and give you images. Anyway, this is turning out to be a bigger topic for me than I thought. Which will win the research part of me or the storytelling part?
Who says either one has to win? Why can't they both be expressed?
You're right! I need balance
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