Tension
I’m confused. And is it any wonder? Just look at the two career paths I’ve chosen. I write murder mysteries. And I teach yoga. Two diametrically opposed professions. I’ve never quite been able to reconcile the two. I explain it by proclaiming to be a very complex person.
The differences hit home today. I was sitting here working on a critique for a writing friend and found myself giving her suggests to increase tension. This is what we want in our writing. Increased tension. Let’s face it. Happy characters doing happy things spell B-O-R-I-N-G. No, we want to torture our characters. Make life miserable for them. And then make it even worse. Build that tension!
But just last night, I sat in front of a room of stressed-out women (and one cute, but stressed young boy) and encouraged them to let the tension go with the exhalation. Breathe. Feel the tension peeling away like the layers of an onion. I watched as they melted into the floor during savasana. I smiled as they left the Yoga Center with blissful smiles on their faces, ready to face another week.
And then I come home and cram more tension onto the page. Ack. No wonder I’m a little nuts.
Breathe!
By the way, if you’re in or around Pennsylvania, I have an article in the July/August issue of Pennsylvania Magazine. Page nine.
The differences hit home today. I was sitting here working on a critique for a writing friend and found myself giving her suggests to increase tension. This is what we want in our writing. Increased tension. Let’s face it. Happy characters doing happy things spell B-O-R-I-N-G. No, we want to torture our characters. Make life miserable for them. And then make it even worse. Build that tension!
But just last night, I sat in front of a room of stressed-out women (and one cute, but stressed young boy) and encouraged them to let the tension go with the exhalation. Breathe. Feel the tension peeling away like the layers of an onion. I watched as they melted into the floor during savasana. I smiled as they left the Yoga Center with blissful smiles on their faces, ready to face another week.
And then I come home and cram more tension onto the page. Ack. No wonder I’m a little nuts.
Breathe!
By the way, if you’re in or around Pennsylvania, I have an article in the July/August issue of Pennsylvania Magazine. Page nine.
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Comments
You have developed a skill in how to walk a person through the process of releasing tension and attaining (or at least striving towards) balance – surely that should aid in your ability to disrupt the peace for your characters by moving them rapidly in the opposite direction as they desperately clam for some semblance of success!
Or at the very least, you’ll be able to write a character or two with a great repertoire of yogic asanas and a penchant for pranayama! That’s got to be useful SOMEwhere, right? :)