By the time you're 15 - maybe younger - you've felt the full gamut of human emotion. You probably haven't done anything about most of them at that tender age - but you've experienced the impulse. In your early 20s, there's a lot of "been there, done that" introspection going on, emotionally speaking. And in fact, before you hit the age beyond which no one trusts you - metaphorically speaking, you've done it all.
"Craziness!", you cry. "Never!" I beg to differ and I'm allowed to. My blog. My way. For example. Here's a wake-up call for all you lethal non-killers out there. Tree Huggers and Earth Worm devotees - those of you who swear that cooking broccoli sends you into paroxysms of grief. Lobsters - yeah I get that one. Inhuman, actually. But I digress.
Alright. You're camping. Pay attention. At 3 A.M. there's an infernal buzzing around your head. You swat at it. It stops for a second, only to return with fiendish vigor. You swat again - this time to no avail. The high-pitched drone seems endless. Sleep eludes you. Suddenly, maniacally, you leap out of the sleeping bag, find a shirt, a flashlight, a toothbrush - whatever comes to hand - and you go after that sunovabitching "droner" like one possessed. And you get it! Squish it up against the wall of the tent (which may or may not remain upright) or against the body part of a companion who also may or may not remain upright. But, oooh! The satisfaction. Tell me about it killer!
So there you have it. You've felt the need to "end" something and you've done it. So that emotional hook is there and it's accessible. I'm not nuts and I'm not trying to equate doing a mosquito with blowing away a person. So this isn't quantitative. But it is qualitative.
Using this model, mixed with a little imagination, you can locate any emotion within yourself and apply it to a given moment in the text. You get into trouble when you read the text in despair because -"I've never done that!" Sure you have and if you look inside yourself, you'll find the emotion that propels the action you need. I've just proved it to you. This probably needs further explanation -which, I promise - will be forthcoming.
I think a key word there may be "Imagination"....something terribly lacking nowadays, and a quality that tends to dull with age when that damn reality keeps pounding down on the top your head.
ReplyDeleteDo you suppose the imagination is like a muscle? It should be flexed daily to maintain and grow stronger?