Friday, August 27, 2010

Why is it always "random thoughts" if I'm not talking about a specific issue?

lol--guess that got me away from geeky titles, although random probably describes my train of thought. For the last five minutes I've been preoccupied with presentation style. Anyone who has ever followed one of my soapboxes over on RD knows that I only have two styles--all out, and outta there. I'll usually keep screaming into the wind until I work things through--not so much for other people as it is for myself, because questions keep me sane. Or I realize there isn't a point, and sometimes it might be because my stuff or thoughts aren't really the best fit. I don't kid myself --and hope I'm not so puffed with my own conceit (you can take the writer out of the regency, but you can't take the regency out of the writer, lol) to think the gems that fall from my lips "are" gems and not cubic zirconias or something.

What works for one person doesn't always work for another. It's easy to tell when someone has connected with something that really resonates.

So this person asks if I had asked a rhetorical question--and before that I'd only vaguely thought about how I got information across. In the last workshop someone mentioned the Socratic method, and I'd vaguely agreed, but knowing and living it are different.

I do give back questions, and yeah-- it "is" the Socratic method.

I ask because it triggers focused thinking. Most people have the answers, they just need to dig down and look for them.

2 comments:

Hailey Edwards said...

I agree. Writers usually have the right answer. They're either afraid to run with it, or it's a vague mist of thought in need of definition.

When I solve a plot problem, it's because I've bounced ideas off another author (or three). Their suggestions are usually not exactly what I'm looking for, but are close enough it sparks my own revelation.

Unknown said...

brainstorming is very cool. :) I don't do it enough--probably because I'm not close enough to see people in person, and...I dunno. Not really an online brainstormer. *sigh* It's just been one of those days.