Hobbies/Interests that inspire our reading and writing

[W_L]

We all have various hobbies/interests beyond writing and reading, sometimes they become part of our writing or are what attracts us to certain authors.

 

A hobby of mine is traveling and history, so I am attracted to museums and architectural works. Even though I only have limited 2D vision (you need a 2nd eye in order to create 3D vision), I love experiencing and touching things. Though the way I experience travel and history might be different than you guys: Things like the Mona Lisa, while I understand are aesthetically beautiful, to me are a long line with pushy people taking smartphone photos. In contrast, I can appreciate marble and bronze statues textural state by feeling them, though I try to avoid the parts I actually want to touch a little longer (anatomical correctness and all ). Renaissance statues are among my favorites, while I cannot touch the original David or Hercules, the models of their equivalence are extremely detailed and show the depth of work that original artists put into them.

 

When I visited China, the Great Wall of China to me wasn't awe inspiring, unless you count the thousands of stairs up and down it to be inspirational, then yes for a fitness instructor or Rocky Balboa. However, the Forbidden Palace really was inspiring for the sensations like feeling the wooden beams, smelling the gardens, or imagining yourself either as the emperor, a court official, a eunuch, or even one of the thousands of women vying for attention and love of one man at the same time trying to maintain power and position against the other 999 women after the same things. The concept of palace intrigue may have many origins, but Dynastic China was where it was played to its peak, when after centuries of Darwinist selection, a single woman not only rose above all her peers, but eventually rose above all men in the country as an Emperor herself.

 

That's one of my many hobbies

 

 

[Wayne Gray]

Photography: I'm only just beginning to dabble in photography.  I'm also starting to use these pictures alongside writing.  This influences my work, in that it encourages me to set my stories locally so that I can include applicable visual media within the writing itself.  My readers find the combination compelling, even though I am a rank amateur with the camera.

 

Social Awareness: My job includes a lot of work with folks who have fallen through the cracks of the larger society.  I work for a safety-net healthcare provider, and I daily see the terrible choices presented to people in fiscally difficult positions.  It has instilled in me a need to write characters who have these same trials and issues.  I figure the more exposure others have to these people, the more understanding and acceptance there will be for them.

 

There are many other interests which show up in my work.  Construction, alternative building methods, cooking, rural living, camping, each seem to find a way to rear up in many projects I'm working on.

[Thorn Wilde]

Music. If you look at my novels, there are musicians in all of them. Every single one that I’ve got on here involves people who play music. Lol!

[Wayne Gray]

12 hours ago, Thorn Wilde said:

Music. If you look at my novels, there are musicians in all of them. Every single one that I’ve got on here involves people who play music. Lol!

Damn it.  Now I’ll look like I’m copying you if I put music in mine!  😊

 

I once wrote a song specifically for a story.  I recorded myself singing it, and linked the file, so the reader could hear the melody if they wished to suffer through my voice.  Readers loved it.  This is where the very first idea that there might be merit in multi-media stories began in my mind.

[Thorn Wilde]

31 minutes ago, Wayne Gray said:

Damn it.  Now I’ll look like I’m copying you if I put music in mine!  😊

 

I once wrote a song specifically for a story.  I recorded myself singing it, and linked the file, so the reader could hear the melody if they wished to suffer through my voice.  Readers loved it.  This is where the very first idea that there might be merit in multi-media stories began in my mind.

I’ve done that, too, twice. Though I haven’t recorded them. They’re written for guitar and I’m a frankly shit guitar player, lol! 

 

You should put whatever you like in your stories. Nothing new under the sun, dude.  

[W_L]

3 hours ago, Wayne Gray said:

Damn it.  Now I’ll look like I’m copying you if I put music in mine!  😊

 

I once wrote a song specifically for a story.  I recorded myself singing it, and linked the file, so the reader could hear the melody if they wished to suffer through my voice.  Readers loved it.  This is where the very first idea that there might be merit in multi-media stories began in my mind.

 

That's really cool, adding personal melody to a story.

 

I can't hit a note if my life depended on it, but a long time ago, I also attempted to write a song into a story. It was one part poetry and one part rap.

 

Anyone here ever incorporate exotic foods and cuisines into their writing?

[Thorn Wilde]

On 2/23/2019 at 6:38 PM, W_L said:

 

That's really cool, adding personal melody to a story.

 

I can't hit a note if my life depended on it, but a long time ago, I also attempted to write a song into a story. It was one part poetry and one part rap.

 

Anyone here ever incorporate exotic foods and cuisines into their writing?

Does going out for Vietnamese or ordering Thai food count? Cause that happens. 

 

My stories tend to have a lot of food in them in general. I love food, so to me it's a way to make the story come alive. My characters often cook, and I sometimes describe in some detail how they do it, what they put in it. In Nemesis 2, Dave had dinner at his friend Mandira's house and was served Punjabi cooking.

Edited February 24, 2019 by Thorn Wilde

[Wayne Gray]

1 hour ago, Thorn Wilde said:

My stories tend to have a lot of food in them in general. I love food, so to me it's a way to make the story come alive. My characters often cook, and I sometimes describe in some detail how they do it, what they put in it. In Nemesis 2, Dave had dinner at his friend Mandira's house and was served Punjabi cooking.

1

My stories have a lot of food as well.  I've had readers comment that I should create a "Wayne Gray Cookbook" of all the recipes which show up in my writing.  🙂

[Thorn Wilde]

3 minutes ago, Wayne Gray said:

My stories have a lot of food as well.  I've had readers comment that I should create a "Wayne Gray Cookbook" of all the recipes which show up in my writing.  🙂

Do the thing! Or if you don't feel you have enough unique recipes for a whole book, we could do one together.  

[W_L]

4 hours ago, Thorn Wilde said:

Does going out for Vietnamese or ordering Thai food count? Cause that happens. 

 

My stories tend to have a lot of food in them in general. I love food, so to me it's a way to make the story come alive. My characters often cook, and I sometimes describe in some detail how they do it, what they put in it. In Nemesis 2, Dave had dinner at his friend Mandira's house and was served Punjabi cooking.

 

Awesome, I am partial to Mumbai curry myself   I get heart burn, when I eat curry now, but it's worth every antacid.

 

PS: @Thorn Wilde, take a look at the Mumbai Street Food scene, it's really cool.

 

While I love food, I have resisted for a long time to open the floodgates of talking or writing about my food experience. I come from a family of cooks and restraunt workers. I love food and the most fun memories I had were around food.

 

3 hours ago, Wayne Gray said:

My stories have a lot of food as well.  I've had readers comment that I should create a "Wayne Gray Cookbook" of all the recipes which show up in my writing.  🙂

 

Wayne write that menu and if you need more recipes, I can offer up some Asian specialties for you.

[Thorn Wilde]

11 hours ago, W_L said:

 

Awesome, I am partial to Mumbai curry myself   I get heart burn, when I eat curry now, but it's worth every antacid.

 

PS: @Thorn Wilde, take a look at the Mumbai Street Food scene, it's really cool.

 

While I love food, I have resisted for a long time to open the floodgates of talking or writing about my food experience. I come from a family of cooks and restraunt workers. I love food and the most fun memories I had were around food.

 

 

Wayne write that menu and if you need more recipes, I can offer up some Asian specialties for you.

No restaurants in my family, but we all cook. A lot of my 'signature' dishes I've learnt from my mum, though I experiment more with them than she does. I've also learnt a lot from my uncle who's a chef by education, though not by trade. He taught me how to make the most amazing omelettes. I also have a friend who studied in Japan and has a degree in Japanese language, history and culture, and she knows a bunch of recipes for Japanese dishes (and makes the most amazing onigiri, omg). So yeah. Cooking and food is central to my life.  

[BabyXander1990]

My hobbies are boating, trains, amusement parks, history, retail history, motorsports, cooking, politics and family life. I have others, too (designing, camping, swimming, naturism, hiking, and other things.) My stories I'm writing here, Racing Love, will have all my hobbies in it.