De l'encre. Sous la peau. Sur papier. Dans la tête.
I find dialogues very difficult to write. They often seem very boring or unnatural. Should I use oral language or not? I’m just going to write them as they come, but do you have any good advice on writing dialogues? Should I read more plays to get inspired?
I think I’ll reread Amélie Nothomb’s Hygiène de l’assassin. I remember it was only made of dialogues and they were really well written.
I often discover new authors through friends, but also through celebrities. One of my favorite books, The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, has been “given” to me by the late Brandon Lee.
Now it’s time for Tim Roth and his wife to make me read Cormac McCarthy. They named their kids after their two favorite authors. I can’t remember the name of the second one, but I’ll make sure to read him as well soon.
I found a title for my story (or is it the title that found me?). Like the name of my characters, it is unlikely to change. It makes the story more real. I finally feel those words will exist outside of my head. I’m just a little scared of what shouldn’t been changed. I’m afraid of my story, as if it were a strange creature with a life on its own. However, it is generally a good sign when stories grow up and don’t need you as much as they used to.
I don’t want to jinx anything, so the title will remain secret for now.
I just booked my flights to London. I’m going to England for a few days in June to do a writing retreat. I don’t think I’ll spend a lot of time with people, I’ll mostly be by myself, writing, reading, listening to what the city has to say and telling a few secrets too.
I’m looking forward to a sunset on the Millenium Bridge but, most of all, I’m really curious about what the change of scenery will give to my story.
Selon le magazine Femina de cette semaine, le nouveau roman d’Haruki Murakami, Autoportrait de l’auteur en coureur de fond, donne envie d’écrire.
L’avez-vous lu?
Un roman qui donne envie d’écrire, ça donne envie de le lire…
Yesterday, as I was writing a bit, I realized I actually like my story. Now that may sound totally stupid, but I spent a long time thinking that what I write is boring, bad and silly, so I’m really happy I’ve finally come to like what I’m writing. I don’t know if it’s just a phase. Maybe I’ll reread it tomorrow and think it’s crap, but I think it means the timing is right. The story is coming out right.
As I was walking today, I thought about transformation. To be more specific, I thought about werewolves, among other archetypes of transformation, like caterpillars and butterflies.
One of my character is transforming through my story and I thought about using werewolves as a metaphor. I think it’s a powerful image, although the werewolf isn’t really liberated. He does free the beast inside in a way, but as it happens every month, he’s trapped nonetheless.
My character is going through a phase, not a cycle, and she might get to the end of her pain, or at least to something better. Still, I like the werewolf, because what we’ve got inside us can be ugly.
And, more importantly, the transformation itself is painful.
Je me suis réveillée ce matin avec La Quête, de Jacques Brel, dans la tête. Elle devrait faire partie de mon histoire, d’une manière ou d’une autre.
A very good friend of mine is willing to turn my story into a play when I finish it! The more I think about it, the more I see it as the thing to do. We’ll see what happens during the summer.
