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Tomo Kumaki's avatar

"OK, here goes. I close my eyes. Two people are in my kitchen. Two pale, nongendered adults who — what’s this? — are copies of each other with different colored shirts. They stand. Nothing happens."

I found this part so funny haha

I think there is something about how your mind works. Do you know of anyone else that's like this? This mental image and fiction writing thing is exactly my experience too...

I wish I could send you an I for some kind of study to figure it out.

Laura Moore's avatar

Haha I'm glad you enjoyed that. I had fun writing this. I can't create a story for anything but at least I can humorously observe myself trying. I don't know of anyone else like this, but IRL I'm very different than I am here. I (generally) rein in my tendency to interrogate people about how their minds work. I try to find studies about creativity etc. but given how qualitative the topic is, I haven't found anything that scratches the itch. Let me know if you've found anything interest. But I think that's why I love biographies so much, especially ones that quote extensively from people's diaries and letters. I'm a consciousness voyeur.

Hanna Keiner (she/her)'s avatar

fascinating! I love this glimpse into the inner workings of your brain. It's such a gift.

Laura Moore's avatar

Aw thanks Hanna!

Gemma Mason's avatar

I liked this line: "She’d repeat something back to you not just in words but the way you said it — and then say, yes." So weirdly specific! It definitely makes you wonder about this person and why they do what they do.

I know what you mean about it being hard to write from the perspective of characters who aren't you. When I was younger I wanted to write fiction, but these days I've really embraced that nonfiction is where I feel comfortable.

Laura Moore's avatar

That does feel like the most alive thing in the whole piece, I agree. Unusually specific things (like this quirk) sometimes seem the most truthful. As for writing from different character perspectives, or coming up with a story episode based on the collisions of different character motivations and actions, it seems nothing short of magical to me. Like how a composer writes a symphony with individual music for different instruments and creates an overall effect from it. It's wild.