To ease my mind
Since I started Ke Chuyen, I haven't written in English. There are days like this, when I wake up with an absolute resolution that I will write something, only to end up not writing anything and couldn't sleep. Even though I have tried everything, jot down notes, write as thoughts come and go, read other people's writings, relax, do something , do exercise, talk to my mom, make and drink smoothie, in short, everything that is normally suggested to overcome writer's block. But still, I couldn't write.
I am wondering if it's because I haven't gathered enough raw materials, or because I am just stuck. No, the answer might be simpler than that. Not everything is story, there is also thoughts, ideas, discussions, things that happen in between and never go anywhere. My problem at the moment is, I have gathered many little stories, but they are not big enough to stand alone, and yet I don't know how to weave them together to make one big story. Stories are great, but you don't always run into a great one every other day.
So I figure that while I wait for a good story to come along, I just need to record my thoughts, as I have usually done, and hopefully a story will emerge sooner or later. I need to switch too. There are certain differences in writing English and writing in Vietnamese. Yesterday at a talk, a Vietnamese writer said her book was written in English, and translated back into Vietnamese, even though it is done by the same person, the gaps between the two languages sometimes make the Vietnamese version inadequate, i.e. her English text could convey everything she wants to say, but the Vietnamese translation couldn't. I am afraid I will have the same problem some day.
Since I started Ke Chuyen more than 2 months ago, I've noticed a change in how I perceive others, especially strangers. Usually in a crowd, I often shrink myself to the point where I believe I am not noticeable (yeah, I know Im an introvert), but recently I've motivated myself with the thought that the other person might have something interesting to share. It's always been my philosophy that everyone has some stories in them, and all stories are valuable, but not until Ke Chuyen came into existence did I really practice this philosophy. One big push coming from the fact that I give myself the role of a collector, so I tend to become greedy and want to collect all stories that I run into on my course. Sometimes I am surrounded by so many little stories of different individuals that I feel like I am going to buzz if I don't let them out, yet I struggle to find them a form. One of my purposes for Ke Chuyen is to overcome my tendency to write a good piece when I write for the public. If I write for myself and a selected few, I can articulate my thoughts better, but when I write and want people to take it seriously, I am always under pressure to make it good. And because of this self-created pressure, I can't think, because I can't let the thoughts flow freely. I know it is bad, I am trying to relax.
It is also hard to find an angle to tell about someone's life, especially if that person is well-known and has been covered before. And other writers/journalists often work the stories so that they are extraordinary or dramatic, so they magnify certain points and bend the stories that way. I, on the other hand, want to keep my stories simple, real and sincere. I don't want to overemphasize things that catch attentions, and that makes it harder to write stories, because my brain, or any average reader brain, is wired to look for dramas.
This afternoon I started an experiment. I posted an ads looking for friends in a popular expats forum. I want to see when two people with little in common face each for the first time, what they will say about themselves. How they construct their life stories and what angle they choose to present themselves as a person. This takes a lot of gut, because I am anything but eagerly meeting strangers. It will be so awkward, but for the sake of storytelling, and for the curiosity of the social researcher in me, I will brace myself. Few people have responded so far. I will see how things go.
Friends often tell me I have the talent of making them feel comfortable. This is definitely a compliment, and I need to take advantage of it to serve my storytelling career. On the other hand, this will prepare me for my next 2 years in Canada, when, again, I will find myself in the company of people I have nothing in common with, and must struggle to find a way to make myself comfortable and sustain a conversation for more than 10 minutes.
The combination of a socially awkward and a story collector presents many challenges, so it seems.
Yeah, I have written something, finally I can sleep.
I am wondering if it's because I haven't gathered enough raw materials, or because I am just stuck. No, the answer might be simpler than that. Not everything is story, there is also thoughts, ideas, discussions, things that happen in between and never go anywhere. My problem at the moment is, I have gathered many little stories, but they are not big enough to stand alone, and yet I don't know how to weave them together to make one big story. Stories are great, but you don't always run into a great one every other day.
So I figure that while I wait for a good story to come along, I just need to record my thoughts, as I have usually done, and hopefully a story will emerge sooner or later. I need to switch too. There are certain differences in writing English and writing in Vietnamese. Yesterday at a talk, a Vietnamese writer said her book was written in English, and translated back into Vietnamese, even though it is done by the same person, the gaps between the two languages sometimes make the Vietnamese version inadequate, i.e. her English text could convey everything she wants to say, but the Vietnamese translation couldn't. I am afraid I will have the same problem some day.
Since I started Ke Chuyen more than 2 months ago, I've noticed a change in how I perceive others, especially strangers. Usually in a crowd, I often shrink myself to the point where I believe I am not noticeable (yeah, I know Im an introvert), but recently I've motivated myself with the thought that the other person might have something interesting to share. It's always been my philosophy that everyone has some stories in them, and all stories are valuable, but not until Ke Chuyen came into existence did I really practice this philosophy. One big push coming from the fact that I give myself the role of a collector, so I tend to become greedy and want to collect all stories that I run into on my course. Sometimes I am surrounded by so many little stories of different individuals that I feel like I am going to buzz if I don't let them out, yet I struggle to find them a form. One of my purposes for Ke Chuyen is to overcome my tendency to write a good piece when I write for the public. If I write for myself and a selected few, I can articulate my thoughts better, but when I write and want people to take it seriously, I am always under pressure to make it good. And because of this self-created pressure, I can't think, because I can't let the thoughts flow freely. I know it is bad, I am trying to relax.
It is also hard to find an angle to tell about someone's life, especially if that person is well-known and has been covered before. And other writers/journalists often work the stories so that they are extraordinary or dramatic, so they magnify certain points and bend the stories that way. I, on the other hand, want to keep my stories simple, real and sincere. I don't want to overemphasize things that catch attentions, and that makes it harder to write stories, because my brain, or any average reader brain, is wired to look for dramas.
This afternoon I started an experiment. I posted an ads looking for friends in a popular expats forum. I want to see when two people with little in common face each for the first time, what they will say about themselves. How they construct their life stories and what angle they choose to present themselves as a person. This takes a lot of gut, because I am anything but eagerly meeting strangers. It will be so awkward, but for the sake of storytelling, and for the curiosity of the social researcher in me, I will brace myself. Few people have responded so far. I will see how things go.
Friends often tell me I have the talent of making them feel comfortable. This is definitely a compliment, and I need to take advantage of it to serve my storytelling career. On the other hand, this will prepare me for my next 2 years in Canada, when, again, I will find myself in the company of people I have nothing in common with, and must struggle to find a way to make myself comfortable and sustain a conversation for more than 10 minutes.
The combination of a socially awkward and a story collector presents many challenges, so it seems.
Yeah, I have written something, finally I can sleep.
To me it's absolutely the opposite. Got so many incredible stories and haven't written a word.
"One big push coming from the fact that I give myself the role of a collector, so I tend to become greedy and want to collect all stories that I run into on my course. PLEASE Please please avoid it at all costs although I think I'm becoming greedy for stories too. This is sad. I mean we should censor ourselves a little bit and distance ourselves from the temptation to squeeze information and stories out of everyone we speak to. This feels so much inhumane :(((((((((