Theme Six: Break Away
Nudges
Slowly but surely,
With help
From tiny
Daily
Nudges
I am remembering;
Sometimes letting go,
Giving space,
And shifting FOCUS
Is not so scary,
Is not the end,
And leads to growth.
Yipes.
It’s been kind of a while since I’ve updated, hasn’t it? I’m sorry. /o\ The story I’ve been working on for Theme Six kind of fell through, and then NaNo happened and…well… That’s how that happened.
But I wrote something recently that seems like it’ll work quite nicely for Theme Six. It’s poetry and it’s completely different from what I was planning, but the creative process is like that sometimes.
Hopefully I can get back on track, balancing the longer story that developed out of NaNoWriMo and this project as well. These themes aren’t going to write themselves!
-Cris
Working Playlist for Theme Six
Music is a pretty big influence. Most of my ideas have come from listening to songs and generally, when I’m writing, I’ve got music coming out of my speakers or earphones. (When I’m not listening to music, I usually have the TV on to what passes, I guess, for edutainment channels—Investigation Discovery, Science, Discovery Health OWN, A&E, History, and so on.) Over the years, I have tended to develop a habit of building playlists for characters or even entire stories. This project is no different.
I don’t have playlists for the others, but I may go back eventually and do ones for them. We’ll see. (I’ll also probably update this if I add any other songs, which is likely since I’m still working on this story.)
Break Away
- “Medisin og Psykiatri” – Kaizers Orchestra
- “Crucial” – K-OS
- “Sonny” – Kaizers Orchestra
- “The Gulag Orkestar” – Beirut
- “Theme (For Ennio Morricone) – Murder by Death
- “Llégale a Mi Guarida” – Calle 13
- “Kismet” – Bond
- “Tank!” – The Seatbelts
- “The Red Cape Diver” – Foxy Shazam
- “Blank Page Empire” – Further Seems Forever
Research: Omamori & Hachiman
Yes, most of the work involved with writing is research. Lots and lots of research. Even if it’s just for a tiny, tiny part of the story, research helps the writing process a great deal.
Since part of the developing goal of this little venture seems to be in sharing most aspects of the creative process, have some more research.
Wikpedia: Omamori
Omamori (Japanese: 御守, omamori) are Japanese amulets dedicated to particular Shinto deities as well as Buddhist figures. The word mamori (守り) means protection, with omamori being the sonkeigo form of the word, “to protect.”.
I need to research this a bit more, see if I can find some good photographic examples, so if anyone knows of a place where I can start looking, that’d be pretty greatly appreciated.
Wikipedia: Hachiman
In Japanese mythology, Hachiman (八幡神 Hachiman-jin / Yahata no kami) is the Japanese syncretic god of archery and war,[1][2][3] incorporating elements from both Shinto and Buddhism.[4] Although often called the god of war, he is more correctly defined as the tutelary god of warriors.[4][5] He is also divine protector of Japan and the Japanese people. The name means God of Eight Banners, referring to the eight heavenly banners that signaled the birth of the divine Emperor Ōjin. His symbolic animal and messenger is the dove.
A to Z Photo Dictionary Japanese Buddhist Statuary: Hachiman & Hachimangu Shrines
Hachimangū Shrines 八幡宮 are devoted to the Shintō deityHachiman 八幡, but some also venerate the lengendary 3rd-4th century emperor of Japan, Emperor Ōjin 応神 (Ojin), who was identified with Hachiman around the 9th century. The Hachiman cult can be traced back to the late 6th century at Usa Hachimangū 宇佐八幡宮 shrine in Ōita Prefecture, where the deity played an oracular function and exhibited attributes of both Shintō animism and Korean shamanism. It was only later, sometime in the 9th century, that the deity became associated with Emperor Ōjin, and later still that Hachiman became worshipped as the god of archery and war, ultimately becoming the tutelary deity of the Minamoto clan and its famed warrior Minamoto Yoritomo 源頼朝 (1147-1199), founder of the Kamakura shogunate.
Chances are, there will be more research to come. Watch this space! (The blog; I won’t go back and edit in this post with more links. Just post them as I find them.)
Research: "The Beautiful Way of the Samurai: Native tradition and Hellenic echo."
So Wikipedia had some interesting things to say about my earlier query, but I tend to treat Wikipedia as a place to mine more potentially credible resources from than trusting it outright. This wasn’t on that page—it was one of the other results on the list Google pulled up—but it was a bit more in-depth than Wikipedia’s entry. Enough, at least, that I feel a little more sure of how to progress with Theme Six.
Also, they both mention a university professor of history named Gary Leupp as being kind of knowledgeable about this kind of thing. Mental note made for later researching.
Working on the story for Theme Six. Research is a very important and very legit element of the creative process.
Theme Five: Seeking Solace
[AN: Same as with the last poem; to preserve formatting, the poem is presented first as a screencap and then the text at the bottom (for those who can’t see images for one reason or another).]
All I Need is A Little Drive to Get Where I Want to Be
Freedom is a van I can climb in and drive
When being a stationary hermit isn’t working out.
Freedom is high-speed cruising down an open freeway late at night,
Blasting sound from my speakers;
Singing,
Screaming,
Rock and roll hymnals from the tops of lungs
(Too small for careers dreamt of in not-so-quiet bedrooms).
Freedom sounds like
“Get up and go!”
Like
“I’m going out; don’t wait up.”
Like
“If you pay for my gas, then I’ll be your ride.”
Freedom sounds like lovingly complaining about
Insurance premiums,
The rise and fall of gas prices,
Making time to wash “the fucking thing”.
Freedom is a van that’s too expensive,
Fenced in by bureaucrats opaque with answers.
Freedom is a dream from the mind of someone stuck in dependency
(Instead of independent.)
Theme Four: Dark
For those who are reading on their phones, I’ve typed it out as text underneath the screencap.
Everything’s under a cut just to err on the side of caution. Graphic words aren’t used, but I’m concerned that the reigning murder imagery (for lack of a better term) might be offensive or triggering for some readers.
