Seeking Surface Or Depth?

Questions

Questions can be mundane, like how is the weather today? How are you? Something that only asks for a simple response. The answer isn't really that important to the person asking. It is only intended to start a conversation.

As writers, we are constantly asking and answering questions. Starting a conversation with our readers, we sometimes just want to skip along the surface of things. Sometimes we are seeking depth. Sometimes, especially when trying to write a Blog, we just want to find something that might stir some readers to put on the page.

Examining or asking ourselves questions can often give us the start we need. Questions are like a roadway leading somewhere else.

This morning the idea of questions and their effect on our memories came to mind. I was asked to write a series of stories about my life. The stories would be shared with my family. Randomly generated questions started coming in every week.

"What were your grandparents like?" Well, that was an easy story. I have all kinds of wonderful memories surrounding my grandparents.

"What were your favorite toys as a child?" This should be an easy question, but it is more complicated. What age during my childhood is the question about? Should I tell about some painful experiences that I remember or re-tell what others said about me as a child? Best, I thought, to tell about the doll carriage and leave out the part of being run over by a car. The gift of the doll carriage was the enticement for me to get better.

"What were your friends like in high school?" This is another question that should engender happy feelings to write about. But when you have attended too many schools, it is not that easy to make new friends. High school was not an easy place for me to get through. The popular girls already had dibs.

Then a series of questions that were all part of the same story.

1.     "What was your first job?"

2.     "How did you get your first job?"

3.     "What was your first boss like?"

Questions trigger you. They can bounce off the reflective surface or your awareness or swim deep into dark and weedy waters. They target something in the recesses of your mind that only you can access. Should you contemplate answering or hide in superfluous murkiness?

Writing answers to the above questions seemed a bit hard to get into, for me, that is. But after examining them for this Blog, I suddenly did not feel quite so thwarted. Maybe it is ok to write about some of the darker moments so my family might better understand me? The memories are true, but how I tell them can be in a positive light. We learn from the dark and dreary periods of our lives as well as from the happy and carefree ones, like a piece of art without shadows. You need the shadows to see the whole picture more clearly.

Some questions are like a pinprick into your soul. They begin piercing you like a balloon, hoping that you will not just pop but provide a steady stream of air.

It can take only split seconds to start the flow of words and images across your thoughts and must be governed before getting away from your tongue or onto the page. The whole question to the matter is how much you want to divulge. That means looking into your relationship with the questioner. Or, in the case of a writer, your readers. Are they well-meaning? How sensitive is the information you've tucked away? Is there trust? Are you still hurting from a particular experience? How much courage do you have?

My natural inclination is to share in the hopes that what I have experienced may be helpful. However, I am a somewhat private person, and I do keep some things trapped inside. I have learned the hard way to mull things over a little first. To weigh a question, write a little, edit, then edit some more. Think before letting the words materialize on my tongue or appear typed and ready to upload to a computer screen. I guess thinking things through is part of maturity.

Will, what you write help or hinder? Or will not saying it leave someone you care about in the dark? Some things have to be known.

I remember instances in my life when hiding the truth of the matter would have caused damage to someone. Yet, other times, hiding it was preservation for both sides. "Forgive and forget" was one of my mother's repeated sayings.

We can give pat answers as if someone is asking about the weather. But when the person is close to you, and you really want them to understand, you can blurt out the intimacies of what you have been through. To someone else, even someone close, these revelations may be unimportant. You have to decide if the hurt will be helped by telling or summarily dismissed, leaving you emptier than before.

Answering questions from people you know is one thing. Writing to share in a Blog or a Book can be like skipping stones across the water and not knowing where your words will land.

Writing is viewing scenery flitting across the screen of your mind, unseen to anyone but you. The feelings engendered can be anything but superficial.

Seeking more depth is like a dance of words. One person asks, moving forward, while another, who answers you, gives back. Hiding can be our undoing when we wish for understanding. Yet we often tiptoe through life, tenuously seeking a kind ear.

The questions you ask yourself are often the most important. When you are a writer, your craft requires you to not only open your heart but to, on occasion, lay it bare.

The stare of the blank page must dig deep. It demands your response.

Some questions are like daggers. Some are like whispers of rainbow hues awakening your soul. They can begin to inspire deep images of a time or circumstance you thought long forgotten. Recalling these moments and letting them play across your mind can banish that blank page. Just start giving up the words and decide what to withhold later. Thank goodness for editing.

Our stories are real or fanciful, made-up, or based on something actual. Some words sprint right onto the page, while others need a series of stepladders to get there. Writing is akin to drawing. You use references to lure some idea into being. The results may be unrecognizable from the original image. Remember, there is always artistic license to save the day.

Portray all the nuances of a thing, the pain, the joy, the awkwardness, never be afraid to tell the whole story. Play the wordy notes appearing through your typing fingers, let the letters rise, and be healed in the clear, calm breezes that waft between your words.

….And healed, these transparent words re-float themselves upon another's consciousness, rendering hope and bringing answers to light.

We write, therefore we question.

We think, seek, and sometimes even share answers.

Find out more about Trina Astor-Stewart on these websites.
Books by Trina
Astoria Magazine - Feature Articles
Gluten-Free Food - Articles and Recipes