Monday, June 18, 2012

The Writerly Mind

I've been away with an unhappy tooth. However, if I ever had any doubt about being a writer, then it was quashed this week while sitting in the dentist's chair. During the whole experience my crazy mind turned to descriptions: the pain, the surgery, the fear. I could turn the experience into a horror story or a thriller about a psychopathic dentist. Not because the experience was that bad, but because my writerly mind turned in that direction and found story opportunities. Only a true writer could think those insane thoughts while getting a tooth drilled.

The experience even turned my thoughts to comparing root canal therapy with line edits. Yes, there are comparisons. For example, both can be painful, but both are necessary and everything will be a whole lot better once they are done.

It brought a smile to my sore mouth.

Do you have any amusing moments that reminded you that you've made the right choice about your profession?

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68 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can think back on failed or awkward relationships and write them into a story. I can look back on them and laugh now. But at the time they were uncomfortable, but now they are fodder for conflict or even a comedy sketch.

Murees Dupè said...

This is actually brilliant! The idea of seeing a dentist is scary enough and whether the visit was bad or not, your mind is still kind of traumatized. It is good that you found how your writerly mind works.

DRC said...

I often have dialogue going through my head more than decription, especially when I'm angry. As I have arguments going through my head, I turn it into a script that eventually gets twisted so it can be added to my WIP. Strange how that happens. However, if you're looking to write a horror story that will scare, Dentists will always work - or even a dentist dressed as a clown (I'm surprised how many people I know who are scared of clowns...)

Old Kitty said...

Gosh - writing is far from my mind while on the dentist's chair!! LOL! Oh but love your comparison! So so so so true!!

Hope you are recovering ok! Take care
x

Theresa Milstein said...

I'm sorry about your tooth, but this made me laugh. I can imagine the agony... of not being able to write your ideas down at the time!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Root canal strikes fear into anyone's heart!
Yes, this weekend I've been working hard on my next book and it's just begun to occupy my mind. I even went to church yesterday thinking about the next scene. (Hopefully God will forgive me for plotting a potential alien invasion while singing praise and worship!)

Unknown said...

I fell asleep during both my root canals.
But on to your question...
I decided to give writing a go when Anne Tyler told me to go for it. After she read my first manuscript & signed her newest release 'To Terri, in the firm belief you will one day be signing a book for me' I decided Yup. This is what I want to do. :)

S.P. Bowers said...

I turned an audio book on and listened with headphones during my root canal. I was terrified and it was the only way I was going to survive. Hope you're feeling better!

Unknown said...

I remember my dentist telling me on the last treatment of my root canal that he couldn't give me any pain relief, as he needed to seal off the nerves by finding where they ended. I just looked at him stunned, and I must of nodded as all I remember after that is the intense pain and an overwhelming feeling to punch him in the face as my hands intensely gripped the arms of the chair.

Hope all is well now, I can definitely relate to your pain!

Charmaine Clancy said...

I always feel awkward looking up with two people staring back down at me, so I close my eyes and whenever I close my eyes I fall asleep in about ten seconds. I think I may have been snoring during my last dentists appointment.
I had a moment of confirmation tonight. My hubby is off on another overseas trip for work in the area of environmental sciences and I'm always coming up with solutions 'outside the box' for him to put up in these meetings, tonights idea: 'Why not just make rabbits and foxes honorary Australian animals? Feral problem - solved.' I think once he sleeps on it he'll come to see how brilliant this idea is. The country really should be run by writers ;)

DEZMOND said...

if you need horror moments from surgeries, just call me :) During my latest of the two surgeries which lasted for 5,5 hours, I felt 90% of everything that the surgeon did to me :)))

Lynn Proctor said...

been there done that--too many times--hope you are feeling okay now!!

Jarm Del Boccio said...

I've done my best reading and writing from a dentist's chair...I think I've spent 1/16 of my life in that spot!

Unknown said...

The writerly mind never shuts down. It's a good thing people can't see inside and know what I'm thinking when I should be paying attention. Now that would be embarrassing.

Anonymous said...

My mind is always whirling with thoughts, at the strangest times, no matter what I'm doing or what I'm feeling.

I do quite a bit of thinking on the dentist's chair.

Bish Denham said...

Root canal = revision... I can identify with that.

Tara Tyler said...

oh ow ha ha!
hope you are feeling better now!

yes, just had a moment on my way home. i have no patience for absentminded drivers, i have places to go! a harried mom having a crash would be intriguing, but do i want to write that? hmmm, file.

Morgan said...

LOL! This is too funny, Lynda...

Tess Julia said...

Since I don't make money at writing (not yet anyway), my true profession is as a nurse. Those moments when I know I've chosen the right profession are when my patient's face lights up when they see me. That's worth more than the paycheck.

Pat Tillett said...

I really loved my job and had a ton of experiences that made me feel that way. Now that I'm retired, I have even more!

Loree Huebner said...

I work a day job, and I write. I hope my writing profession takes off. I know I've chosen the right profession when my hubby (this happened last night) is reading my WIP, and he says, "I haven't noticed any breaks or mistakes. You have a real book here. It's like - who is this author? My wife? Nah..." Hubby got consumed by the story. I couldn't have asked for more.

Joanne said...

I've just been to the dentist too and had a similar experience.
And I never forget Anne Lamott's words when it comes to teeth and the third draft or dental draft: "when you check every tooth, to see if it's loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy!"

M Pax said...

Hope your mouth is feeling better.

I do the same thing. What if that truck was carnivorous? Is that light blinking ominously? Yes, I think it is. That's not just a rabbit ... lol

momto8 said...

oh the dentist!! then they ask you all those perky open ended ?s when you have all that stuff in your mouth!

Charlotte Brentwood said...

I've been having these exact thoughts lately too... all these ideas just seem to seep from every pore, taking over my brain, and I find myself thinking: I must be a writer! I hope I can say it's my profession one day.

I also tend to think "I can use this in my writing" when I'm going through hard times. Sometimes it's the only consolation!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

A dentist dressed as a clown!! So funny and yes!! Super scary! lol.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

YES!!! Exactly!!! lol

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

haha, yeah, I'll admit my mind has drifted to scene ideas during church too and I know for a fact that God forgives me because He is kinda awesome like that.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

oh wow, that's fantastic encouragement!!
And I have no idea how you managed to fall asleep during the dental procedure. No idea at all. ;)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Oh my gosh!! I haven't had my last treatment yet... eek!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

I wish I had that talent for falling asleep. Totally jealous!

I'm in agreeance with you. The country SHOULD be run by writers! lol.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

eeek! And you are still smiling? I'm impressed.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

hahaha I think all writers can relate to that one. So funny.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

oh wow, that's so brilliant. It must be so heartening for you. It's a shame as writers we'd rarely see that kind of reaction when people read our books.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

That's so cool! It's so great having that kind of genuine reaction from those who support us the most.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Yeah exactly. Plus the dentist and her assistant were talking about something that was incorrect (geography) and it drove me nuts I couldn't correct them, lol.

Karen Lange said...

Some days these moments come in rapid fire and it's hard to get it all down, and then I think I need more hours in the day to actually write about them. :)

Hope you are feeling better soon!

Take care,
Karen

Deniz Bevan said...

Love it! It always makes me excited, taking an annoying/horrible/frustrating situation and turning it into something for a story.

Libby said...

It is weird where your mind goes, how you want to mine every experience for your writing.

Unknown said...

*Shaking hands with a kindred soul* I did the very same thing during my root canal!!

Callie Leuck said...

I'm usually extremely uncomfortable and self-conscious at dinner parties & other social situations until someone says something particularly interesting & suddenly I'm in "research for a potential story" mode. Last week I happened to meet someone who knew about tribal tattoos. BAM! A fiddly little detail in my WIP materialized. Sure, it's just a half-sentence description, but it feels so good to know it :)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Ha! That's awesome the way that happens. And it sounds like it was good timing for you too :)

Romance Reader said...

Oh, you can definitely compare root canal with line edits!

Riya

DEZMOND said...

oh, I even laughed at the surgery table while the horror was going on :) The doctor thought I was crazy....

Terri Tiffany said...

After spending some unwanted time in the dentist chair,I say it's good you could spin some writing thoughts during it to take your mind off it! Hope it's done!

Tonja said...

I know exactly what you mean. :))

Carol Kilgore said...

Hope your tooth is better and your dental journey complete. I write about murder, so I've had a thought or two while sitting in the dentist's chair, too :)

Rachna Chhabria said...

Aww..Lynda. You could actually think of a story while awaiting your dental treatment? I would be too petrified to think.

Suze said...

'because my writerly mind turned in that direction and found story opportunities.'

I so get this! Lynnie, I liked the post a lot and I thought the pic to go with was a lovely, nuanced choice.

Precy Larkins said...

Oh man! Sorry to hear you had to deal with a sore tooth and a root canal. No fun. :(

On the plus side, you've got fodder for a horror or a thriller. :) I do the same thing. One time, I was in the playground waiting for my kid to come out from school. No one else was out there (just me and my little boy), and I began imagining that something went wrong inside the school. Anyway, it quickly turned into a horror scene (zombies or some such nonsense) and I had to shake off the images until the bell rang. :-S

Btw, I have a blog award for you. :)

Missed Periods said...

Isn't psychopathic dentist redundant?

Nick Wilford said...

Yeah, I think that proves you are a true writer! If awkward or embarrassing things in particular happen to me I always start turning them into stories in my mind. Then it's as if they didn't really happen or happened to someone else, haha.

Jemi Fraser said...

Love it! It's funny how our minds just go in certain directions when we're doing things completely unrelated to writing. :)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

you laughed!?!! Wow!! I reckon you felt some serious pain.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Alas, no. I have go see a specialist in a couple weeks time. :(

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

I forgot to explain that I took that photo while on board the cruise ship as it sailed out of Sydney. It's the windows of the Sydney Opera House.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Thank you so much for the Booker Award!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

lol, I think you might be right!

Luanne G. Smith said...

Yep, I've had those moments. I'm telling you, anyone and anything is fodder for a story. No one is safe around a writer, not even a sore tooth. Hope you're feeling better. :)

LTM said...

LOL! That's an awesome story! I look forward to reading about one of your characters having his/her teeth drilled. :D Ahh, I don't know. I think my confirmation comes whenever I take too much of a writing break and I start feeling miserable. Have to keep those lines of creativity going! Hope you're back to 100 percent very soon~ <3

Cynthia Chapman Willis said...

Oh, I'm so sorry to read you've had to deal with the dreaded root canal. Ugh! Awful! I hope you're feeling better. But it sounds like you made the best of a bad situation.
I do try make note of bad experiences to use somewhere, somehow in my writing. At least then, the unpleasantness has a purpose.

Southpaw said...

Oh yes. Sometimes I think that is the only way to get through some situations. ;)

Mary Aalgaard said...

Hilarious. At least you can laugh about your dental angst. How do you think they got the idea for "Little Shop of Horrors?" The sadistic dentist is so believeable!

Play off the Page

Sabrina A. Fish said...

I had a long conversation with a friend in which we spoke about many different topics. At the beginning of the conversation my friend complained about a recent paper-cut. 30 minutes later she got a particle of dirt under her eyelid and needed to borrow my eye drops. I came away from that with my mind brewing a story about paper-cuts on eyelids. I tell this story when people ask me how I can come up with such amazing story ideas. They all agree that I am a bit 'different' in the head. LOL!
I think this dentist horror story has some serious potential.

Melissa said...

Sorry to hear about your tooth.
I got a story idea from a silly AFV episode once. Does that count? :)

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

absolutely!!!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

oh yeah! I'd totally forgotten about Little Shop of Horrors! LoL!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Ha! Yeah! It's funny how our writing has such an impact on our mood.