Christy English

Art and the Self

Friday, January 13th, 2012 | Random Thoughts, The Writer's Path, The Writing Life | No Comments

I was fortunate enough to see an exhibit on Rembrandt, and one of the most fascinating pieces for me was the self-portrait of an older Rembrandt. Painted after his work had gone out of style, after his clients had left for new fads and other kinds of art, Rembrandt was still painting for himself. I suppose all artists ultimately create for themselves. When we sit down to write, or paint, or sculpt, in the end, we work alone in a room with no one standing by to love it or to hate it. At least at first, we work alone, for ourselves alone. Only later do editors, critics, readers, and art dealers come in to tell us if what we’ve done is good or not. Basically, whether or not they like it.

But in the beginning, in its purest form, the only critic we need is our own vision, our own eye. Without that, we have nothing. As we work to make our art for the consumption of others, we must remember that our art has to be for us, too.

Rembrandt had no idea that his work would last, that four hundred years later, I would stand in front of it,  inspired by it. He sat alone in a room with his canvas and a mirror, and painted his own face, for himself. And it is one of the best works he ever did. I wonder if he knew that, too, even as he did it. Perhaps the best work we do, the purest art, is the art we make for ourselves.

Tags: Art, Light, The Writer's Path, The Writing Life

Inspiration: The First Step on the Writer’s Path

Friday, January 6th, 2012 | Inspiration, The Writer's Path, The Writing Life | No Comments

Where do our characters come from? What inspires us as fiction writers to delve into the world of the imagination, into the barely remembered past, seeking story lines and the characters who lead us into them?

Inspiration lies everywhere, in simple things of daily life. I’ve gotten some of my best ideas in the middle of washing the dishes, or while taking a shower, always it seems when water is flowing and I can not quite reach a pen. I have to commit to an idea to make it mine, stop what I’m doing, dry my hands, find a pen and paper, and write that idea down. Only then does the idea begin to become mine, only then do my characters recognize that I may be as serious as they are about writing the novel we have not yet even begun.

I make notes, I listen to the silence, I allow myself to be drawn into another world. If the novel has wings, both the characters and I commit to take the same path for a while, to strive to transform their lives and their choices into a work of art. The act of creation is a beautiful thing, and it always begins with the first spark of inspiration, an idea that comes into my mind like a flash, and leaves just as quickly. I have to be ready to stop what I’m doing, to set the pause button on my life, and write it down. Once the shadow of inspiration is captured on paper, only then can my characters and I begin to create.

Tags: Inspiration, The Writer's Path

Following the Stream of Thought

Friday, December 23rd, 2011 | Random Thoughts, The Writing Life | 3 Comments

Where do the streams of our work lead us? Where do they come from, and where are they going?

These are truly random questions, drawn from the myriad of random thoughts that are flowing through my mind today. They are questions without answers, as all the best questions are.

I do not know where my work comes from, or where it is taking me. That is part of the joy of the journey: not knowing. Always following the stream of consciousness that leads to the next story, to the next character, to the next world that has yet to be born.

I love following that stream. I have been doing it all my life, during all the years when I wrote only for myself and my Muse. Now that I write novels for others to read, I  do it still. There is music in the stream that leads me onward. I can’t see where the stream will end, if it ever will. I follow it through dark forests, through deserts where the stream dries to a trickle.  I follow the stream of my thoughts, the stream that runs through my life, knowing that I will find the next character along its banks. Another world to enter, another life, another story to tell.

Tags: Writers, Writing

Year End Thoughts

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 | Guest Posts, The Writing Life | 2 Comments

Thank you so much to Gabrielle Carolina for hosting me on her lovely site, The Mod Podge Bookshelf.  This post looks back at the year we are finishing up, about the work I have done as well as the work I hope to do next year. It is lovely to reflect, and Gabrielle was kind enough to ask the right questions to help me do just that… a little Eleanor, a little Regency romance, my thoughts on what is most difficult about being a novelist and my resolution for 2012. Just click the link below to take a look…

http://themodpodgebookshelf.blogspot.com/2011/12/2011-author-wrap-up-with-christy.html?spref=tw

Juggling Worlds: A Fiction Writer’s Adventure

Friday, December 16th, 2011 | Eleanor of Aquitaine, Regency Romance, Shakespeare in Love, The Writing Life | 5 Comments

Image Credit:

http://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/juggling.html

This week I have had the pleasure of living in two worlds: the world of Eleanor of Aquitaine and the world of Regency England. As I write the Regency romance series Shakespeare in Love for Sourcebooks, I find myself immersed daily in a past that I have visited often as a reader, but only now have come to live in as a writer. I have been exploring the challenges of bringing Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew to life in a new way and in a new setting, this time in Regency England just after Bonaparte has been defeated and my hero returns from the war. Anthony Carrington comes home to an arranged marriage to a woman he likely would have never chosen for himself.  Caroline Montague, the daughter of his commanding officer, will be left penniless and alone upon her father’s death if Anthony does not marry her. He agrees to take her on, in spite of her wild ways, and a great deal of Shakespearean fun ensues.

Of course, in his efforts to control and dominate his bride, Anthony does not resort to starvation as Petruchio does in The Taming of the Shrew. And Caroline does not conform to her husband’s demands, but struggles to be accepted as an equal, something unheard of at the time. So needless to say, I am having a ball mediating between these two, knowing always that true love will triumph in the end. One of the wonderful blessings of romance.

The second world I have been living in is, of course, Eleanor of Aquitaine’s. True love does not win in Eleanor’s world, and power, the by word of Eleanor’s life,  is almost always elusive. This week I had the pleasure of answering questions about Eleanor and her world for RT Book Reviews. Thinking of Eleanor and reminding myself of all the reasons I adore her, why others adore her as well, is always a joy, and no more so than when people ask me about her. She is an amazing woman with more facets than we fiction writers will ever fully explore.

Image Credit:

http://www.123rf.com/photo_9406430_yacht-and-blue-water-ocean.html

It is always a joy to move between the worlds of my fiction, to explore my characters’ lives and to take part in their adventures. And there are always more stories shimmering on the horizon, along the edge of the ocean of imagination on which I sail. I look forward always to the next port, the next elusive shore on which I will wash up, only to discover the next story that is waiting to be told.

I have said it before, and no doubt I will say it again. I am a lucky woman indeed.

Tags: Eleanor of Aquitaine, Fiction, Novel Writing, Regency Romance, Writers, Writing