I don't know if this happens to other writers, but I've discovered that any time I'm having an unpleasant experience one of the ways I try to cheer myself up is to think about how I can use it to better my writing. For example: today I am very sleep deprived.* This is a culmination of three days of bad sleep, caused by a) tremendously loud thunderstorms, b) big changes in morning schedule, c) a migraine, and and d) general anxiety over impending news. The result is that today my brain feels like a brick. How much like a brick? See that first sentence I typed? It literally took me four tries to spell "discovered" properly.
I can already tell this is going to be a day of plentiful mistakes, which will probably escalate my already grumpy state of mind. I feel sorry for my husband and my cat.
It's the things that go through my head; ill tempered snipes and biting sarcasm usually pop into my mental theater maybe once or twice a day (I admit it, usually when I'm driving), but otherwise they're side characters at most. But in todays performance at Z.D.'s Noggin, they are the stars of the show. Thank heavens I have the wherewithal to keep my mouth shut so none of it actually gets said! But it makes me wonder what this atypical inner monologue says about my personality. And that makes me wonder how I can use something like this in my writing.
The heart of a good story is people and situations, each changing the other. What stays constant about a person and what changes in the face of adversity is fascinating to me, and apparently the ancient Greeks agreed because if you've ever read "The Odyssey" you've seen one of the most poignant examples ever written. But few people in real life are ever thrown into the kind of intense, world-changing drama that makes an epic poem. Most of us deal with normal - albeit still very powerful - struggles: finances, health, relationships, employment, reaching our dreams, and separation from those we care about. All of the above can offer insight into the depths of a character--and so can a bad night's sleep.
Thinking about the protagonist of a story I'm wrapping up right now, I'm wondering how her thoughts and behaviors would change if she slept badly. A little less witty, a little more crude? Or perhaps that's her reaction to low blood sugar, maybe several night's bad sleep is really her kryptonite, and she'd get flat out trigger happy. And is she the sort to go back the next day and apologize? Probably not. She's more of the type to scoff, "Yesterday you got what you really deserve. Thank your lucky stars that most days I show restraint." And she'd believe it, too.
There, I already feel my mood improve by one or two iota. I think I'll pet the cat before I get grumpy again.
*And with that disclaimer I hereby disavow myself of any spelling, grammatical, or general social errors made within the confines of this post.
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