Twas Brillig

Day 11: The Poison Eater

The Things Writers Carry

There are very few things that I NEED in order to write. A pen. A piece of paper. My brain. That’s pretty much all that I have to have in order to write.

But there are many, many things that I WANT in order to write. These are things that make the writing experience smoother, better, easier, or sometimes just more comfortable. Many of these are tangible things–of course, there are lots of intangibles, like software and apps, that I will write about some other time. Today I want to focus on the tangible things.

As I gathered myself together to sit down and write today, I had at my side:

• My Macbook Air. (I alternate between that and my iPad/Keyboard, depending on what I’m doing)
• My lined Moleskin Alice in Wonderland notebook (I prefer dots over lines or blank pages, but this cover was too good to pass up)
• One of my many, many Papermate InkJoy pens (writes great, super cheap).
• A blanket. (I’m often cold and insecure when I’m writing, and a blanket solves both problems at once)
• Hot tea (Today’s was Apple Crumble from T2. And then it was a homemade mocha).
• The kind of mug that makes me happy to look at and drink from (This one is from Society 6)
• A dog at my feet (Dog is lab-something mix rescued from the local animal shelter; they’re sold out of her, but you can probably find a different one in your size)
• Rain against the window (Seattle-style)

Here are some things that I no longer need (or want) to have in order to write:

• Cigarettes. Yes, I used to smoke, in my former life. And there was a time that I had myself convinced that I couldn’t write unless I was smoking.
• Soda. See above.
• Stress and sadness. See above.

Building a character is so often about focusing in on the things that the character holds dear. The things they carry. Covet. Care for. Now I’ve told you the story of the character that is me the writer. What I cherish. What I’ve left beyond.

For Talia in The Poison Eater, she covets and loves the things she’s lost more than the things she has still: Her arm. Her innocence. Her lover. Her blue-black blade.

Part of Talia’s journey–part of all of our journeys–will be discovering what new things she carries now and learning what they mean to her.

~iadace~

Shanna

~~

Follow along! If you’re interested in learning how this novel (or, really, any novel) comes together, feel free to subscribe to this blog. Over on the right in the sidebar, you can subscribe to JUST posts that pertain to The Poison Eater, so you don’t get all the other stuff. Or just click The Poison Eater category to get a list of all the previous posts.