C. L. Norman

I have heard writers say that being a great storyteller helps make one a good liar. If so, am I in trouble.

I have been described as “too honest” by my mother. “Brutally honest” or “blunt” by friends and co-workers. My children laugh at me when I try to lie to hide things, like presents and surprises, from them. They know when I am lying. I have found it safer to just avoid a direct answer.

Friends ask me “Does this look good on me?” and I don’t want to hurt their feelings so I try to temper a negative response with a positive aspect but I can’t lie and say “Yes, it does” if I don’t think so.

I love to make up stories though. When I am in a medium where a lie is expected, I love it. On the stage and in stories, it is ok to make things up and I go crazy. I explore things that are darker than I ever want to see in real life. I pretend to like things that I am too scared of.

I am drawn to the fantasy genre for this very reason. Everyone knows or at least believes that magic and dragons and monsters don’t exist. I tell stories set in places where these things might exist and try to make it as real as possible but I know that everyone will know it is make-believe.

So what do you think? Do storytellers have to be good liars? Or to put it the other way around do good liars make good storytellers?

        

Happy Easter, folks. In honor of the holiday here is a link to the Washington Post Peeps Show IV. I hope you enjoy it.

Reading

This week I read and adored Patricia Briggs‘ new Mercedes Thompson novel, Silver Borne.  My place of work was even mentioned briefly in it. Pacing and characters and their attitudes make this a fun read.

Writing

To put it bluntly I blew it this week. I do have the excuse of not having a day off but in reality my shifts are pretty short and so it isn’t really valid. I know in my head and my heart what I want to do but the physical act of breaking bad habits and writing regularly is much harder. I have always had issues with self motivation. Working for others, paid or not, I take the extra steps to do the job perfectly but for myself I procrastinate. Let’s see if I can do better this week.

Movies

Saturday we went to see How to Train Your Dragon with our two sons. The movie is very good; pretty to look at, easy to relate to, and laugh-out-loud funny. While it has a good message, it doesn’t beat you over the head with it. As my husband pointed out, the Vikings are very close to fantasy dwarves complete with bushy beards, stout bodies, and a love of bashing things. In the words of my 6 year old, “The best movie ever.”