Do You Ever Feel Like?
Honestly, it's not my fault...
Do you ever
feel like
just a conduit
a channel
when writing?
I sit down
concoct a plot
then a wickedness
takes over
My characters
have no chance
of escape
There fate's already sealed
I used to worry
about my characters
Now I know better
to worry and fret
The more I worry and fret
The more "he"
makes them suffer
makes me regret
To save my characters
I need to hide them
But he will find them
cut them, end them
Make them his pawn
in his awful game
Make them his piece
something to mourn
*
Thanks for reading!
Author's Notes: It's never my fault. Honestly. Never. Proof above.
haha. Hope you enjoyed my little testimony...
Here are a few others for your perusal, as per usual...
The rest of my work can be found at my profile here.
About the Creator
Paul Stewart
Scottish-Italian poet/writer from Glasgow.
Overflowing in English language torture and word abuse.
"Every man has a sane spot somewhere" R.L Stevenson
The Accidental Poet - Poetry Collection is now available!
https://paulspoeticprints.etsy.com
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More stories from Paul Stewart and writers in Poets and other communities.
Letter to our Queer & Trans Youth
Hey, you. I thought I’d start this letter by telling you a little about myself, just so you know who you’re dealing with. I’m an emotional dad, father to three amazing kids who we met through the foster care system, and whose presence in our lives has really transformed my sense of responsibility to the communities that surround us. The connections we’ve made with one another, with our extended families, and with the communities where we live and look for belonging have catapulted us into this whirlwind of emotional tumult which, while not easy by any stretch of the measure, has also been remarkably healing. I realize ours is really only a one-sided chosen family, since our kids didn’t get to choose to live here, but I’d like to think that they did choose to let us love them, which allowed them to grow to love us. And I think that’s where I want to go with this letter- to a place where you can find belonging and healing- even if the pathway there may be peppered with some emotional tumult.
By F Cade Swansona day ago in Pride
Comments (14)
Haha! I was just chatting with Donna about this. If I write fiction (rare, but still) my characters take over and I'm just like, "do your thing, I'll just be over here slamming on the keyboard for you." lol!
Hahah funny! Must have already liked this one.
Hi Paul ~ Who me write? ~ I blame my 'Alter Ego' Jay
Love the anecdote about pawns.
A little bit of auto-writing going on? Stories & characters do have a tendency to take on a life of their own.
I have no connection whatsoever with my characters and I kill them all off happily. I raise them like pigs for slaughter 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yes! Sometimes I start writing something with an idea in mind, and then my story will take off in a different direction. Like all it needed was for me to breathe life into it, then suddenly it becomes sentient and I'm just along for the ride😅
Scary!! I always say, I write right off the top of my head. I don't watch scary movies or read scary usually. I can't imagine writing scary. Sometimes I get into reading it by accident as it's someone I am following. I like their poetry. ❤️😉
Its complex isnt it. I can de-romanticise it and feel like I feel like a conduit because actually I am taking the characterisations and features of 1000 people I have read or met and creating another one from all of that. Or I can romanticise it and feel like the stories are wanting to tell themselves and I am enabling that to happen - depends on my mood!
I definitely feel I’m ‘just a conduit’ when I’m writing, but my characters always triumph in the end. I think our characters are an extension of how we’re feeling, so those who torture their characters… are feeling tortured themselves, or feeling powerless to help loved ones they see suffering. The stories are a release. That’s my theory, anyway. And every story needs conflict, so if you can numb yourself to the conflict of being alive, you’ll never be a storyteller. 🤍
Yes, I love the feeling when I’m “channeling” as you do deftly put it! All of my best work has felt that way.
There are stories I have written that way. My mind is someone’s’ puppet .
This is so relatable and well done. My brother also writes and we often say to each other “my characters’ told me this about themselves” or “they’ve run off and done this” . Nonwriters don’t understand that we have minimal control over this. Our characters pick up the plot and run away with it! I swear I didn’t mean for my character to have a dark tragic backstory, they just told me about it and who was I to tell them they were wrong?😂 This needs to be addressed more! Thank you Paul.
Yes, I have felt like that