Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Just Say It

Hello!

Today, I've got something to say, which is no different from any other day, except this is super duper important. Yeah, yeah, get the eye rolling over with. I gotta a finger, and I'm not afraid to jab you with it.

Okay, in this snip-it from my WIP, my protagonist, Layton Craig is viewing art that her dad looted from the real world. This is what her thoughts are on the Mona Lisa....To me, she's nothing more than a plump, dowdy woman with eyes set too close together. I can't imagine why Dad brought the hideous image here. Seems to me, she'd fit better with the savages on the outside. Gasp! Yes, she trashed Mona. Why? Because that's how she sees her, but for some reason, even though they're all thinking the same thing, nobody else says so. And for the life of me, I'll never understand why. MONA LISA IS ONE UGLY CHICK! See, I can say that without my head splitting down the middle. My house didn't cave in, and so far, Leonardo da Vinci's ghost isn't standing at my front door, holding an assault rifle. It's okay to speak the truth, peeps, promise.

Unless writing is honest, it'll never be great. What's honest for me, may not be honest for you, but we have to be honest with ourselves. Otherwise, our writing and our characters fall short of the mark. We shouldn't be afraid to say what's what. At some point in the game, if we're doing a good job, we'll offend somebody. Heck, we may even get a bomb threat. That's when we know we've really arrived!

Of course, lots of you are probably writing about issues way more serious than Mona Lisa. There's plenty of stuff I'd like to address in the political arena, but I'd probably come off as a horse's butt, and I do enough of that already, so I'll leave that topic to the experts. But I don't leave the topic alone out of fear, I leave it alone out of ignorance. If I was just a little brainier, I'd probably have plenty of bomb threats because I'm not afraid to say what's on my mind. None of us should be. And by sprinkled cupcakes, when I get famous, I won't pretend to like caviar just because everybody at my swanky book-launch party does. No, I'll sit in my corner, eat my generic Twinkie, and make fun of  the pricey art displayed on the walls. 

Whether it be fact or fiction, we can't water down our characters out of fear. Okay, that's all I got..short,sweet, and about not conforming. I hope this benefited somebody. 

Until next time, happy writing, or whatever makes you smile. :)

22 comments:

  1. Good blog. Short, not so sweet, and very good. Mona's picture can't hold a candle to yours, Celeste, but if given a choice of which one I'd rather have, I think I'd settle for the ugly chick. Be sure to eat a Twinkie no matter what at the swanky book launch you're sure to have some day.

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  2. Ha! Touche, Jeff! I can't blame you for going with the ugly chick. Mona's worth a lot more money than me. And I'll definitely eat the Twinkie. :P

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  3. Mona has the smile of knowing. Someone's said something off frame and that smile tells us she knows it is a lie.

    She's no match for Sophia Loren as the best Italian export. Of course, it doesn't take much to see she's thinking of having someone put down. Maybe the husband. Maybe the artist.

    Dangerous women - always attractive. Thus, Leonardo's Mona Lisa and The Cramps' "Bikini Girls with Machine Guns."

    Immortals both.

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  4. Hey, Jack!

    This is why I chose Mona...the lady gets people thinking. She also has a way of bringing people to her defense. She may not be beautiful, but she's got some kind of magic. I wonder how many fights have broken out over her? :)

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  5. Hey, you never know...Mona could have been a real looker back in her day.

    O.k, maybe not... :)

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    1. Ha! Yeah, I'll never get how Mona became so famous. Really, Mark, I could tear my hair out, wondering her secret. I MUST HAVE IT, lol. :P

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  6. LOL!
    I think a lot of Mona Lisa's appeal comes from Leonardo da Vinci and his obsession with her. That and because Leo himself was such an interesting person as well as a talented artist and visionary. But I often think people read too much into paintings, it may be a way of generating more attention. Anyway, I agree that we need to be honest especially with ourselves, but most of us have been taught "if you don't have anything nice to say . . . " sometimes it's hard to just let it all OUT! :D

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    1. Hey Elise!

      I'm guessing you've seen Mona up close and personal, since you live in France. I'll have to do more research on her. She really baffles me, lol. And you're so right, that one has been drilled into our heads. I definitely don't want to come off as a meanie, but I gotta say what's up. :)

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  7. I have t agree that Mona Lisa is nothing special. I hope she didn't look so bland in real life. I also agree that you have to create characters who mirror real people and emotions- like thinking Mona Lisa needs some make-up. lol

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    1. Thank you, Brinda! Yes, for the love of chocolate, would somebody please just paint some blush on that lady?!?! :P

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  8. So very true-- our honesty, or lack thereof, shows in our writing. Plus, we don't want banal characters. They need to zing! Mona Lisa opinions included.

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    1. Yep, Julie, people should really say how they feel about Mona Lisa. Then the world would be a better place, lol. And I agree, we definitely show up in our writing. We can't fool our readers. :)

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  9. Oh, well, hell, it doesn't take much looking around on my blog to see that I say honest, and offensively honest, things all the time.

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    1. Sounds like my kind of place, Andrew. I need to do more exploring over there. Plant a garden, hand out free chocolate, and I'll never leave. :P

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    2. I did, actually, try to hand out chocolate recently. It was the prize in a contest I was running, best chocolate in the world, too.

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    3. Dang! I can't believe I missed chocolate, good chocolate at that. :P Next time, I must be informed. Maybe send an airplane w/streamer to fly over my house.

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    4. Do you spend a lot of time looking out of your windows?

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    5. Only when chocolate's involved. :P

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    6. Ah, well, in that case, keep an eye out for that plane.
      >wonders how long she will keep watching...<

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    7. Yeah, or with the cost of gas, I'd settle for a carrier pigeon. Maybe my cat won't eat it.

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  10. My son asked me the other day why Mona Lisa was such a big deal. I gave him an answer sort of like Elise's, to which he suggested Leo should have given her a nice rack. Yeah, we're classy. We'll fit in with the caviar crowd!

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    1. HAHAHA, Elizabeth, which one said that? Give em a high five for me! Sad that I appreciate your son's juvenile remark, but golly, he's funny. We'd all fit in with the swanky-wanky bunch. It's all about the pinky. We just have to hold it out while we sip our drinks. :P

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