And...Scene

  I have an overactive imagination. It helped me enjoy my childhood as we often lived in the country and were homeschooled. It was me against the world when my brother or sister had other things to do. I took it so far that I would at times be both the good and the bad guys, shooting arrows in one direction, running to pick them up or pull them from trees and shoot them back. It was glorious fun. I was the wounded hero that sacrificed himself for those in need, struggling to stand and bring my weapon to bear against the charging enemy. I was and am a romantic adventurer with broad ambitions for glory. The history books and novels that I read fueled and established this baseline.

  When in college, I decided to follow my brother into the degree of Digital Media, a degree so new at least one class a semester was the first time it had been offered. My brother focused on web design and animation while I went the path of cinema. Amongst the graphic design and art classes I took classes studying the history of the movie and wrote many papers on the messages that can be taken from the stories on screen. I was forced to write script and come up with film ideas and even helped produce a very well-directed short film. This and the foundation of reading and imagining led to how I now write.

  I write in scenes. Before I ever put fingers to keyboard I imagine the scene and the interaction between the characters, the story and the world they inhabit. I see it so clearly that I often struggle to do the scenes justice on paper. Where in my mind is the entire scene, to include sound and music, on paper it seems bare. Writing in scenes is my way to take a snapshot before the images in my head fade. Only when I am able to read a passage and it takes me into the scene I had imagined do I feel comfortable to move on. Taking it scene by scene also helps me in time management as long as I start and finish an entire scene and the elements in it, I feel satisfied that the book is eventually going to be complete.

  The hardest part is the communication between imagination and my brain and fingers. My imagination is nearly limitless, my body and mind, not so much. I am still learning how to write and effectively put voice to the ideas that prance along their merry way in the world where I am king, pauper, cowboy, hero and creator; my imagination.