[stylist] Story development and strategy?

Brad Dunse' lists at braddunsemusic.com
Mon Sep 26 22:10:54 UTC 2011 

Jacqui,

There are different strains of thought on the different types of 
personalities there are, but I've come to narrow it down to three for 
my own purposes. Visual, Audible and Kinesthetic. I totally could see 
how a blind person could be a visual type person because it goes 
beyond sight.  I will say the ultimate goal is to become balanced in 
all three but we tend to have naturally born traits in one area or 
another.  These come in very handy when developing rapport, 
networking with people, and understanding why sometimes others just 
don't seem to click with us. For instance I am a visual person. Not 
only as a sighted person was I very visual, using sketches and 
diagrams but also relied on visual queues . However that is only one 
part of being a visual type person. trying quickly to explain here, 
visual types tend to have a "do" type attitude. They might talk in 
terms of "lookks good to me", "I can see that yes", you know those 
kinds of expressions. They will "do " things for people, more  active 
types, more hands on, more fast paced even. Auditory types might talk 
in terms of "Sounds good to me", "I hear ya on that one", and tend to 
be listeners. It is important to listen and to be listened to, to 
express things  and intake audibly. Kinesthetic types are the 
huggers. Those folks that get right up in your face and talk to you 
with a sweaty hand on your's, or gripping your arm all the way 
through the 15 minute greeting lol. The kind that greet you with a 
hug before anything. The kind that are ruled by feeling and emotion. 
So you can imagine what happens when  a visual person such as myself 
meets a kenesthetic person. I want to just do  something for or with 
them. I want them to let go of my increasingly sweaty hand or grip 
off my arm before I get overtly obvious their grip on me is an 
invasion and I'm just not really listening to a word they're saying. 
I'm really scheming behind the eyes how I can get their hand off me 
lol. As a visual type, I want my space,. I need my whole field of 
vision to operate for me to be most comfortable. But the kenesthetic 
person invariably jumps in my face,  gives me a hug or shakes the 
eternal hand shake, saying how much they missed me and all that.

Visual folks think "Anyone can  say they love you and giving a hug is 
the same thing, anyone can do that, but take the hour or two out of 
your life to do something for or with them, maybe go out and buy them 
something for a surprise, now that's showing them you care".

Auditory think similar in that anyone can  just simply "do" something 
for someone else, and hugs too, yeah, everyone hugs everyone all the 
time, it means nothing, its cordial, I want to be told I'm loved.

Kinesthetic people think that simpley doing a cold act or task for 
someone is cheap and distant and that can't show anyone that is 
caring. And Telling them is better but still its just words. To show 
it you got to have that contact, the emotional connection. They also 
tend to talk slower, more thoughtful, and in terms that  deal with 
their feelings  and emotions. Things like "I just don't feel that is 
right", "Can you feel what he's trying to say to you?

There is a lady at a place I call occasionally for work. She will talk like

Hell . o . This . is . Karen .  with . so . and . so . May . I . help 
. you . please?

I swear I'm ready to finish her sentence for her, hit the star key on 
the keypad, or whatever just to get her to jump ahead because I know 
what I want to say but I'm tortured with a one minute phone 
salutation! OK so I'm exaggerating a bit and these are 
generalizations but these kinds of traits help us understand how we 
learn, how we deal with others, why we react to others  based off the 
type differences. I like to learn how the brain works, and why we do 
what we do. Very interesting to me.

Brad









On 9/26/2011  01:03 PM Jacqueline Williams said...
>Jim,
>Thanks so much for sharing. It makes sense about memory courses. I have
>taken several, and all were based on visualization techniques.
>The next question would be whether you consider yourself a visual, auditory,
>kinesthetic, or tactual learner. I ask because my Braille teacher, blind
>since about age three considered herself a visual learner.  It sounds
>impossible to me if blind since birth.
>I was a teacher of the learning disabled for many years, and always to
>determine the favored modality and taught to the strengths of each student.
>Thanks for your knowledge.
>Jacqueline Williams
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Homme, James
>Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 10:23 AM
>To: Writer's Division Mailing List
>Subject: Re: [stylist] Story development and strategy?
>
>Hi,
>I've been blind since birth. I dream what I feel, hear, and to a lesser
>extent, smell. My personal theory is that you can only dream what you've
>experienced, or whatever combinations your mind thinks up based on your
>experiences. I have no visual memory, so don't dream colors, or anything
>related to seeing things.
>
>Related to this, I think that's why the books on memory-improvement that
>I've read have never helped me. They are very much based on pictures.
>
>Jim
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Jacqueline Williams
>Sent: Monday, September 26, 2011 1:16 PM
>To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
>Subject: Re: [stylist] Story development and strategy?
>
>Bridget,
>How do you remember dreams more than for a fleeting instant. Do you
>immediately write down the details. I have the most wild and wonderful
>dreams, and sometimes can get back into it after re-falling asleep. I even
>invented things. However, after a few moments of waking I do not remember
>details, and sometimes everything fades.
>A technical question. Can one who has been blind from infancy dream? I would
>imagine Yes, but perhaps without color or specific objects. Please, anyone,
>enlighten me.
>I used to sleep with a tablet by my bed, but I can no longer read what I
>write, so I am forced to remember everything.
>Jacqui
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Bridgit Pollpeter
>Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2011 4:59 PM
>To: stylist at nfbnet.org
>Subject: [stylist] Story development and strategy?
>
>Brad,
>
>Whether you use an outline or not, and any strategy followed is a part
>of the writing process. How a writer develops a story is different,
>though outlines are the common plan for most writers especially novel
>writers.
>
>Personally, I don't like using outlines even though I'm a pretty
>organized person. However, the longest story I've written has been 30
>pages for short stories. Perhaps if I ever attempt a longer manuscript,
>I would employ an outline.
>
>I can only explain my process. I like to mull my ideas for a while
>before even putting pen to paper, so to speak. I often am inspired by my
>dreams especially for fiction. Sometimes I have an entire dream that I
>want to use, other times it is just a portion. Either way, when I wake
>up, I'll lay in bed replaying it and developing ideas. Then I will write
>a scene that sticks out in my mind, usually the last thing I saw in my
>dreams. If I don't have time to write when I wake, I leave it until I
>do. At this point, as long as I leave ideas in my head, not only do they
>remain, the inspiration remains until I have time to sit and write
>through the inspiration. This may sound crazy, but it works for me.
>
>One of the reasons I don't like formal outlines is because stories and
>characters have a way of developing themselves. And more often than not,
>I rarely have a full story. I'll have a beginning and end, but no
>middle, or beginning and middle, but no end. Sometimes I have an ending,
>but no beginning or middle. It's as I write and think about
>plots/characters that the story unfolds.
>
>My nonfiction is even crazier in terms of the process. To date, the
>nonfiction I've had published and/or people have praised was written in
>one sitting, usually during a turbulent emotional moment. I certainly
>edit over and over, but most my nonfiction (personal essay/memoir) has
>been done in the matter of a day or two with the initial writing
>happening at one time with little to know thought of a goal or
>structure. If not already present, the structure emerges during the
>revision and editing process.
>
>And I'm extremely visual even though I no longer can "see." When I have
>an idea for a piece, I like to watch it unfold in my mind like a movie.
>This is how I visualize my work in my head. I quite literally see it in
>my head just like scenes in a movie. I still have visual memories of
>people and events even though I didn't visually see them in the moment.
>Like I have detailed visual memories of my wedding six years ago, though
>I couldn't see. I can pull any of this memories up and have a visual in
>my head, whether the actual visual is accurate or not is another story,
>but I have memories nonetheless. So it stands to reason that when I
>write, fiction or nonfiction, it's a very visual process for me. It
>happens inside my head just as much as it happens on the paper. After an
>initial idea pops up, I like to spend a couple of days watching it in my
>head to see if anything more develops from it. In a way, it's
>role-playing just by myself in my head! LOL
>
>Ideas are in our heads no matter what, but most writers I know like to
>write what is happening in their head right away, whereas I like to keep
>it in their to stew for a while.
>
>Nonfiction and fiction alike, when I go back to pieces, I see where I
>can add or edit. One essay I'd been working on had good individual
>sections, but I wasn't finding a thread to make them flow as a
>collective. One night, in dire need of a manuscript for a class,
>inspiration hit and I found a structure that made it flow.
>
>Even published authors go back and want to make changes. I know Stephen
>King has actually published revised copies of books to make updates such
>as with The Stand, which he wrote in 78, but it took place in 88. He
>decided, years later, to update the novel, reflecting changes to make
>the story more realistic to 1988 since it had happened. Rowling has said
>she wished she would have done more editing with the Harry Potter series
>especially Order of the Phoenix.
>
>If I just can't find a direction for something, I put it away and come
>back later. Like Chris, I did a lot of writing exercises only to come
>back to them later and find a diamond in the rough. Writing exercises
>not only sharpen and hone our skills, but they can act as conduits
>providing us inspiration. One exercise done in a class didn't appear all
>that great to me, but three years later I came back to it and turned it
>into an entire personal essay.
>
>Now, when writing something like historical fiction, I suppose an
>outline would be beneficial to keep facts and dates straight. Or any
>writing with factual information. Keeping a timeline helps keep this
>kind of info straight.
>
>Typically outlines are used for academic writing too, but again, I never
>followed an outline unless it was required to turn an outline in. I've
>always just written academic papers as I go, incorporating what quotes
>and facts I need as I go along. This process doesn't work for everyone,
>but I've never received less than an A on an academic paper, in high
>school or college, so I never took the time to use an outline. I
>followed suit with my creative writing. I just write, and it's in the
>editing process that I add and delete and find structure and where a
>piece is going. I have a much more organic process meaning I just do
>what comes natural for me. I think I'm in a minority though. Most
>writers I know follow some type of outline as they commit to a
>manuscript.
>
>Now, I do use outlines as a tool for instructional information or as a
>listing tool when compiling ideas. This helps bring organization. For
>instance, my mom asked me to draft a strategic plan for her dance studio
>since she wants to create a nonprofit supplying scholarships to young
>girls who can't afford dance classes. A strategic plan in and of itself
>is an outline essentially, so I developed an outline detailing the goal
>and direction, and what info was most important. This gave me a
>structure to follow for the plan.
>
>And a while back, our NFB chapter wanted to have written goals and
>focuses for various committees our chapter has created through the
>years. As committee members met and discussed the purpose for different
>committees, I started drafting outlines to discover the purpose and
>functionality of each committee. We didn't end up following through with
>this plan, but the intention was for me to created in a written form the
>purpose and goal of each committee. The outlines were to help me know
>the focus of each committee, making it clear what to state and how to
>state it.
>
>So, now my response is turning into a novel! Perhaps I should follow
>outlines for my Stylist posts! LOL What I could have done is say
>outlines can be useful, but it depends on the person and what they're
>writing. To each his own.
>
>Sincerely,
>Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
>Read my blog at:
>http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
>
>"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
>The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan
>
>Message: 4
>Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 14:32:19 -0500
>From: Brad Dunse' <lists at braddunsemusic.com>
>To: Writer's Division Mailing List <stylist at nfbnet.org>
>Subject: [stylist] Story development strategy?
>Message-ID: <7.0.1.0.2.20110925141502.05799bd0 at braddunsemusic.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
>.  At the end of an audio  book I read  a while back they had an
>interview with the author. He was saying with his writing he develops
>the storyline as he writes, puts little to no forethought in the
>story and felt it to be more interesting to a reader that way. To be
>honest I don't recall his name but he had a series of books out and
>was signed with a book deal not self-publishing.
>
>While his story over all in the end was pretty good, I took double
>takes on some of the emotional areas of the book. Only slightly
>exaggerating here he spent an inordanant amount of time with the main
>character begging, gravveling, pleading and balling his eyes out over
>a person he was semik-close to in the story. It kept cropping up a
>number of times.  It was getting to the point my wife and I were
>laughing "Oh no, not again going on and on and on and on with the
>girl", who wasn't even a large character in the book other than real
>estate used up on her. But when his dad died, who he had a good
>relationship with, it was something like "Oh yeah, and dad died. Then
>I applied for a job atso and so's place..."
>
>So my question is on large projects, do you have an outline or at
>least know the big picture of the twists and turns leaving
>flexibility for creative twists or improvs? Or do you just wing it as
>you go and ride the keyboard to the end?
>
>I do the latter in songwriting with my instrument but those are short
>lived and one point or themed writings even if they are a story song.
>
>It seemed to me an editor did a major booboo missing the emotional
>ratio and proportion factor with some of the characters and event
>emphasis in this authors project.
>
>Brad
>
>
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Brad Dunse

When it comes to change, don't wind up like concrete...
all mixed up and permanently set!

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