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| C. Kevin Thompson |
I run into the same issues when I read books, watch movies, or binge TV shows for pleasure. I’m always analyzing, examining, wondering why. It’s almost as if becoming an author has tainted me as a consumer of other people’s works. The genres in which I write cause me to see the worlds I depict a certain way, limiting me in the absorption of what could be.
To run our particular races, these lenses with which we write tend to put blinders on us, like a horse ready to run the Kentucky Derby. They serve a purpose. Therefore, whether it be the suspense/thriller race, or the romantic comedy race, or the historical fiction race, as a writer, these blinders help us to stay focused so we don’t end up with multi-genre, will-the-author-please-make-up-his-or-her-mind flops.
As a reader, however, and as a consumer, these blinders tend to do the opposite. We miss things others enjoy because our vision is limited to our genre’s POV. We can’t enjoy it as much as we could have because our minds are “working” instead of relaxing and being entertained.
I have found that when I purposefully wipe my mind clean and instead ask myself beforehand, “Please, just read/watch this, and see if you can pinpoint what all the fuss is about,” I find myself seeing some things I may not have seen otherwise because I’m looking at it with my blinders off.
I’m not sure writers who love what they do can “turn it off” completely. Even my question above has a hint of “What can I learn from this?” embedded within it. However, I have found that if I can get the blinders off and realize there are genres out there that can entertain, embolden, or inspire, and they are not my favored genres, then I’ll grow as a writer by osmosis.
A recent growth moment was watching the 1980s, Megan Follows’ version of Anne of Green Gables a few nights ago. The main character’s arc throughout the series was very well done (from her initial walk in the woods, quoting The Lady of Shalott, to her embrace of Gilbert Blythe on the bridge). I’ve seen the mini-series before, but I appreciated this aspect more than I had in the past. Anne’s growth as a character, changing herself and others along the way, was very powerful, even if some of the fawning of other characters was a little overdone at times. This genre is definitely a departure from what I typically read and watch!
So, am I the only writer who deals with this “addiction,” or are there other writers out there dealing with the same affliction?
Who will join me in this Writers Anonymous group?
I have found that when I purposefully wipe my mind clean and ask myself beforehand, “Please, just read/watch this, and see if you can pinpoint what all the fuss is about,” I find myself seeing some things I may not have seen otherwise... via @CKevinThompson
I have found that if I can get the blinders off and realize there are genres out there that can entertain, embolden, or inspire, and they are not my favored genres, then I’ll grow as a writer by osmosis. #encouragementforwriters via @CKevinThompson
The Letters
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| The Letters |
THE WORLD IS A CRAZY PLACE
WHEN THE LIVING ARE DEAD
AND THE DEAD ARE ALIVE.
Rachel Hamar—a Manhattan bank teller—lives nothing close to a Manhattan lifestyle. Residing in Washington Heights, NY, the only thing keeping her in The Big Apple is her mother—a long-time patient in a local psychiatric hospital. It’s December 2014, and the twentieth anniversary of her high school sweetheart’s tragic death. She’s not sure how much more heartache she can endure, especially after being told earlier in the day she no longer has a job at the bank. A casualty of downsizing.
In the midst of spiraling depression, Rachel receives a mysterious letter in the mail. When she opens it, she becomes cautious and skeptical of its contents and discards it as a mistake, concluding it’s simply addressed incorrectly or a postal worker’s faux pas in the midst of a busy Christmas season. But another letter arrives the next day. And another the day after that. Before long, she is in possession of several letters. Each one more puzzling than the last.
Thinking that someone may be playing a cruel game, she contacts the police, and this propels Rachel and the two detectives into one of the most bizarre cases they’ve ever encountered. Is it a friend’s cruel joke? Is it some stalker’s perverse idea of manipulation? Or is it something more?
C. KEVIN THOMPSON is a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a kid at heart. Often referred to as “crazy” by his grandchildren, it’s only because he is. He’s a writer. Need he say more?
The second edition of his award-winning debut novel, The Serpent’s Grasp, is now available! The first four books of his Blake Meyer Thriller series are now available: Book 1, 30 Days Hath Revenge, Book 2, Triple Time, Book 3, The Tide of Times, and Book 4, When the Clock Strikes Fourteen! Book 5, A Pulse of Time, is coming Memorial Day 2020! And, his newest standalone novel, The Letters, is now available in both e-book and paperback!
Kevin is a huge fan of the TV series 24, The Blacklist, Blue Bloods, NCIS, Criminal Minds, BBC shows Broadchurch, Shetland, Hinterland, and Wallander, loves anything to do with Star Trek, and is a Sherlock Holmes fanatic too. But you will never catch him wearing a deerstalker. Ever.
Website: www.ckevinthompson.com/
Kevin’s Writer’s Blog: www.ckevinthompson.blogspot.com/
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