Ask the Author: Cynthia Sharp
Answered Questions (26)
Cynthia Sharp
Hogwarts to teach, write, make films and have fun! Perhaps be a writer in residence :) Maybe fall in love :)
Cynthia Sharp
What a great question Marc, so Zen! Your own answer is like a meditation. I agree completely, that "all writing come down to thoughts and emotions." I feel like your question is a blog post in itself, a profound, paradoxical reflection that is a gift for other writers to reflect on. It's interesting too having read your meaningful poem in Poetic Portions and the beautiful way you discuss concern for the Earth combined with gentleness and respectfulness to others in your poetry collection. I tend to have one file I keep open all the time to gather random thoughts as they come to me and often those random thoughts are rough drafts of poems. Sometimes they are lines for a novel or an idea for a character or dialogue for a TV script. I leave that one big file open all day so I can type something in quickly if a thought comes in the middle of doing the dishes or getting ready to go out to tutor, so that all the thoughts and emotions can be captured as they happen, as much as is possible. I also bring a pen and paper when I go for walks because exercise, movement, fresh air and appreciating nature generate ideas and thoughts for me. Then, on days when I'm not sure where to start or feel like my mind is blank, I go through that big file of rough drafts, ideas, reactions, etc. and look for gems. If I see something that looks like a poem, I cut it out from the big file and give a new word file and try to polish it. I often go through the big file and look for themes like Meditations for Writers, which your post above seems to be and which is a new ebook I'm working on. A lot of my notes of encouragement to myself are meditations I may share with others. I use a day when I'm not sure where to start to organize the random recorded thoughts, polish, tweak, break them up into files of their own, etc. Some of that big file of everyday thoughts gets deleted if it keeps me caught in negative emotion or moved to film script dialogue, since that can be an outlet for intense thoughts. Some of the file just gets skipped over. I find it helpful to have a monthly deadline for a poetry column or a habit of posting something new once a month and when that deadline approaches, I scramble through my notes from the month to find something. Having deadlines, even ones I give myself, forces me to have to trust that something in my material will be good enough. I also find that reading both fiction and nonfiction gets me motivated to respond to the feelings and topics that I read and that leads to new poems, nonfiction blog posts or even writing I do just for myself, pretending to be a character from a book I just finished or making the cathartic scenes even more gentle because I love respectfulness and altruistic love between characters. I think you're totally right, that "all writing come down to thoughts and emotions," so if we record those as they move through us, somewhere in the midst, there's a start to a poem. Looking forward to reading your next works!
Cynthia Sharp
When I had my DNA tested it came back half Irish/Scottish and one percent French, which I knew. I knew about my Irish, Scottish and tiny bit of French ancestry, but had been curious about my grandfather's ancestry, since his father was adopted and we'd always had to guess what his ancestry may have been. My DNA results came back fifty percent unknown. It was like a Zen moment. How could I be unknown? I gave the story to the main character Marcie in my fantasy series, who is aching to know the truth about where she comes from and her own ancestry. Everyone else in her science class gets accurate results and she awkwardly hides her result of unknown. It becomes a catalyst to learn her true story.
Cynthia Sharp
Currently, it's Damon and Elena because of the underlying power of forgiveness and devotion to each other and especially because of the value it places on trusting yourself, your intuition and the chemistry of connection that is beyond logic or reasoning or intellectual control, in a sense. They allowed themselves the ultimate attraction on every level of being and went with what they know to be the best, most passionate match for themselves. They got to live the dream of being with the right person and not holding back. They had the freedom to make the right choices for themselves in that regard. I love the freedom and safety Elena has in her life, a home that she is safe in (vampires and supernatural danger aside), enough money for tuition, a car to get safely to school and a community of friends that care about her. She gets to be a teen and young adult without the pressure of worrying about tuition or basic living expenses, so she is free to fall in love in her supernatural setting. I especially enjoy how The Vampire Diaries is scripted, edited, acted and filmed, so those are the fictional couples most on my mind.
Cynthia Sharp
Thanks for asking! I'm currently penning a new book of poetry on the theme of narratives of loss, a little bit darker than most of my collections. I'll let you know when it hits the stands. A number of poems have been accepted to journals where readers can preview them before the collection comes out. Today's job is to polish up another set of drafts and send them out to literary journals.
Cynthia Sharp
Hope things cleared up down there! And for those days when metaphorical sun will have to do, my advice to everyone with a story inside is to write the characters you want. Write your characters as you dream them because writing is not only a career, it is soul. Let your characters be as sweet or daring as you imagine them to be. Let your voice and your story take the stage.
Cynthia Sharp
I hope so! It sure is a lovely venue reading in the forest! One of the reasons I adore BC!
Cynthia Sharp
That is one of my all time favourite sequences! I love how much emotion it carries with the goodbye with Stephan to holding the babies, all with the same song building underneath. They are masters of juxtaposition, The Vampire Diaries writers, directors and performers! I love how the song ties it all together. When I’m teaching juxtaposition and symbol in my English and writing classes, I use examples from The Vampire Diaries.
Cynthia Sharp
All the time! When I first moved here I was in awe at the view we get on public transit - particularly the skytrain bridge to Surrey and the water bus to North Vancouver. I bet you'd love it! There are parts of the skytrain that feel like a tame roller coaster ride. In Marcie of the Stars, you may notice that she only uses green energy like the skytrain, electric buses and her spaceship, which runs on anti-gravitational, non-polluting energy. One of my goals with the series is to gently promote renewable energy. All of the Light Bearers on all the planets she visits use various forms of renewable energy that are studied in high school. In that way, the books help students with vocabulary and concepts from high school socials, in addition to normalizing responsible energy. You are a star of green energy Mike - I know you walk and take the bus almost everywhere!
Cynthia Sharp
For sure! It's not only one of my favourite shows to watch, it's also one of the best sets of teleplay scripts to analyze! The writing astounds me!
Cynthia Sharp
Indeed! I'm at work on the series right now :)
Cynthia Sharp
I'm working on several epic fantasy stories, along the lines of Harry Potter :) The first set are my Marcie of the Stars novels, adapted to screenplays, and the second set are a bit darker. I'm developing the second Marcie of the Stars novel into a TV series similar in structure to The Vampire Diaries.
Cynthia Sharp
That would be wonderful! Your poem "Healing Hearts" was constructed so well to beautifully fit the theme of the book! I'll let you know of any other anthologies or compilations or projects I'm doing :) I love that you're a team player :)
Cynthia Sharp
I can't believe I haven't read him yet! It looks like I should! I'm really into a lot of authors along those lines. Do you recommend his work?
Cynthia Sharp
Thanks Mike! There sure is! There are two exquisite chocolate desserts and quite a few other delicious treats in Poetic Portions! There is always cake in my world :) Hope you had a great birthday too!
Cynthia Sharp
:) I think Marcie will be a series :)
Cynthia Sharp
Hi Mike,
Thanks for following my poetry! I'll be teaching poetry workshops over the summer, starting at the end of June, and doing the final rewrite of Marcie of the Stars. All the best, Cynthia
Thanks for following my poetry! I'll be teaching poetry workshops over the summer, starting at the end of June, and doing the final rewrite of Marcie of the Stars. All the best, Cynthia
Cynthia Sharp
What a great question! Sometimes simple is elegant, but I think that using two or three sets of words in your diction really brings a poem to life. For a short poem, I might just use two sets of words, like "spirituality" and "nature". In a longer poem, like "You Were There," I combine "nature," "love" and music vocabulary to really give the reader the feelings associated with each of those sets of words. We can also play with verb tense to create juxtaposition (opposites) that make the emotion of the poem stronger.
You Were There
You were there
in lavender sunset swirls
of paint on canvas,
through the grassy terrain
to Sechelt beach,
in the cadence of royal blue shells
the waves washed to shore,
the gentleness you are
finding its way to me,
like the wind breathing cypress
through the grace of long easy days.
You were there
in the tempo of waiting,
the lonely pages
of chapters in time
when I poured
my longing into work,
loving through brokenness.
You were there
in the allegro
of road trips through life,
the toddlers and labradors and sunflowers
I nurtured as my own
and in the crescendo of mountain trails
leading to Eagle Bluffs.
You are there
out my bedroom window,
as planes disappear into stars
and the moon fills each night
to watch over and guide and protect
this exquisite gift of existence.
You Were There
You were there
in lavender sunset swirls
of paint on canvas,
through the grassy terrain
to Sechelt beach,
in the cadence of royal blue shells
the waves washed to shore,
the gentleness you are
finding its way to me,
like the wind breathing cypress
through the grace of long easy days.
You were there
in the tempo of waiting,
the lonely pages
of chapters in time
when I poured
my longing into work,
loving through brokenness.
You were there
in the allegro
of road trips through life,
the toddlers and labradors and sunflowers
I nurtured as my own
and in the crescendo of mountain trails
leading to Eagle Bluffs.
You are there
out my bedroom window,
as planes disappear into stars
and the moon fills each night
to watch over and guide and protect
this exquisite gift of existence.
Cynthia Sharp
The Littlest Mermaid and Cinderella were stories I could always relate to, characters who chose to do what they believed to be right, no matter what the cost. The original Littlest Mermaid was so gracious through her heartache - that really touched me because I think it hit on what love really is - the altruism within that all of us can act from. I admire actions of courage and hope, whether it's the Littlest Mermaid being gracious through loss, or Christ figures like Finny in A Separate Peace. It's also why I write - because I'm captivated by the choice to live in higher love. Actions of redemption, grace and the power of higher love have always spoken powerfully to me. My current short story collection (still in editing) addresses the theme of love of enemy and what that means to a particular set of characters, as they find out who they really are.
Cynthia Sharp
I've been dreaming about chocolate tart and cake! https://sweetgrassinthewind.wordpress...
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more