Friday, June 22, 2018

It's part of being a novelist

This handsome little devil (of course) is nonother than Dan Dwayne Spencer (me) at age 8. If you are following my blog then you remember I told you I was a young fashion plate. Here I am in a long sleeved shirt with woven stripes which was normal as playwear... not the norm for most kids age 8, but by now your getting the idea that my childhood was... different. Oh give me a break, it was the 50s and everything was different back then. To an 8 year old the world is very small. For me it consisted of the yard, the house, the shops that mom or dad frequented, the neighborhood... oh, and school. You might say what about friends? surely friends were a part of your world? The answer to that is... yes and no. I had neighborhood friends who I could go and visit, and the kid next door (my most enduring friendship by the way) who was welcome in our home. However, school friends were exceptionally rare as mother forbid having them over, but family was always welcome. So... that was my world. I suppose I lived a fairly seclude life. Learning the social graces was - awkward. Aside from 4 schoolmates, friends at school were actually acquaintances. This is just how I was raised.  It is probably no surprise that I was (and am) somewhat introverted, and perhaps my own introversion might have played a part in how my parents raised me. Its hard to say... What I can say is that an artist or a writer must be somewhat introverted. It is enviable. We have to be able to feel comfortable spending time alone (hours on end) to produce the work (stories, paintings, or songs.) It is a part of the creative process. The next time a person says that you are creative... remember that it is also saying you are at least partially an introvert. I spend hour upon hour trying to craft a fictional world in my novels that is believable to my readers. Each character must have good and bad qualities and the situations they find themselves in must be... unique. The whole thing must be three dimensional or it is flat... boring... and unseasoned. The interactions of the characters must have a ring of familiarly to it... no matter the unfamiliar situation or environment they are in, after all, what fun is reading fiction if it doesn't take you to some unfamiliar place, meet exciting people, and put you in some kind of altered reality (scared, romantic, wonderment... etc.) Go ahead... read one of my books... Remember I only write adventure stories so you'll know what to expect.