Saturday, April 9, 2011

A to Z: Hope

H was tricky, I had a few ideas which I though might be fun to write about for today. I ended up choosing hope because I'm in a mood to write about something positive this morning. And I have part of a lyric from Flogging Molly stuck in my head "without hope you might as well be blind" (Tomorrow Comes a Day to Soon). I love Flogging Molly, they are one of my favorite groups.

Hope, to wish for a positive outcome in one's situation. To cherish a desire with anticipation (Merriam-Webster). A distinct form of positive thinking (Wiki). Hope is a feeling that can take on different forms. Hope is what keeps us going when times get rough, or simply give us something positive to look forward to. Heck, it gives us a goal, a drive for working hard towards something.

With writing it can help to think about what our characters hope for. And are they the type to try to attain what they hope for or do they simply wish for it? How do they handle being thwarted when something happens to deprive them of their hopes? Do they rise to the challenge to continue trying or do they simply give up?

Back in Catholic school I remember one of my teachers had said something along the lines of God rewarding those who work for things. She wanted us to be able to pray for things, but also continue to strive for what we wanted. That's something that had stuck with me, in part I think because it encourages more of a self determination. It is good to pray, but we can also rely on ourselves to help bring out our desired outcomes. And of course expressing gratitude when we do attain things is good.

7 comments:

Stratoz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Margaret Almon said...

I accidentally posted under my husband's name, Stratoz, so here it is again from me!

I think you are on to something with the difference between hoping and wishing--a character with hope seems more likely to get what they want than one who wishes it could happen, but is unable to do anything to get there.

Nicole said...

Hope is a nice choice for today's letter. I do agree that prayer is best when accompanied by action or even, wishes are best when accompanied with action because we're the only ones who hold the key to reaching the outcomes that we desire.

I read a quote often that says something like:

"The Best place for man to find help is at the end of his own arm"

This rings so true.

As far as characters go, one of the main characters in a script that I started working on earlier this year operates more on wishing things to get better or change, while another character in the movie puts some action behind his hope and wishes, to change the circumstances that they are left in when a situation does not turn out how they planned or expected.

The Madlab Post

Randi said...

I liked your thought about making sure to instill your characters with hope. I had not thought about that before, but it is such a good writing tip. Hope is such a universal feeling and so readers will relate better to a character with hope. Good advice.

Sarah Mäkelä said...

I like that. I think it's important that characters (and people) make strides toward what they're hoping to have happen instead of sitting back and wanting it to fall into their laps. Great thoughts for the day!

Inger said...

I love your subjects for the challenge: Gratitude, hope and so on. Thanks for following my blog. I will be back here too.--Inger

Mary Aalgaard said...

Hope is what gets you up in the morning and helps you open up that manuscript or art table or music or whatever it is you create.