Wednesday, February 22, 2012

If writing was like cooking...

...then I'd be screwed.

Just kidding! But no, really. I can't cook. Can you?

Sometimes I joke about how I write because I can't do anything else. Craft stuff - nada. Cooking - haha. Art - LOL! Sewing/knitting/crocheting - in my dreams. Anything involving coordination? Well let's just say my husband teases me that one day I'll fail a drunk driving test while dead sober, because I can't walk a straight line in the first place.

So I can't cook great, though I do at least try (and I won't talk about the time I was newly married and made "beef stew" that was actually a crockpot full of water, veggies and boiled hamburger meat, or the Lemon Square Disaster of 2005, or the Sugar Cookie Meltdown of 2010)

But what if writing was like cooking?

Maybe it already is, in some ways.

A recipe is like a synopis, right? We hate that part but its necessary for creating a satisfying end product, and keeping us on track along the way so we don't go totally overboard on the seasonings and spices.

Then there's the ingredients, which is sort of like the rules we follow when writing. We need some suspense, but not too much. We need a lot of conflict, but only in good taste. We can't headhop in the same scene, or drop eggshells in the batter. We can't change tenses halfway through the story, nor can we change what we're cooking halfway through the recipe. (unless you're Rachel on Friends, and make half a Shepherd's pie and half a dessert Trifle...in the same bowl. HAHAHAHAHAHA. That show gives me such hope!)

There's rules in everything we do, and while the best chefs and the best authors know that sometimes rules CAN be bent or broken...there's generally good sense in following them.

After all, someone had to do it wrong first (probably me) to give the better, opposite advice ;)

If writing was like cooking, would you be with me in my pathetic, overflowing, meat-floating crockpot? Or would you Boss of the kitchen and dominate? :)

5 comments:

  1. This is a great post!! Love it!! :)

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  2. Thanks ma'am! You won't believe this - my husband makes a mean gumbo, and he's inviting some friends over tomorrow night to eat a batch. He called one of his guy friends last night, and I was sitting right there by the phone but the guy didn't know I was. And when my hubby invited him, he said "umm....I think I can....who's cooking?"

    Um, yeah.

    Shockingly enough, when hubby said he was cooking, our friend was suddenly free of plans ;) Let's just say the cold lemon graham cracker pie I'm attempting tomorrow night for dessert will not go on a certain friend's plate hehehe. Revenge.....

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  3. Great post! I love to cook and have been having trouble with my synopsis. Now I can change my mindset and create a masterpiece!

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  4. If writing was like cooking I would probably master the slow cooker because it takes me forever to write a story. But I think my problem is I have too many pots boiling over so I just give up put something in the microwave and call it a day. Okay that is a weird analogy but I think sometimes I have too much going on so I just don't get to my writing as much as I would like. Oh well I am still cooking away.

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  5. Go Amanda! And Blaire you made me laugh so hard!! I looooove that analogy!! lol Keep at it honey :)

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