The Todd Said

By Todd Brabander

The Todd Said is a collection of really great ideas, writing, observations, and random thoughts by Todd Brabander.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Todd Brabander
• Release date: Aug 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463632055

Todd Brabander

Todd Brabander is an author, musician, and artist from Portland OR. His projects range in style from comedy, to absurdist, to horror, and usually have a Pacific Northwest flavor. His work aims to capture a twisted and often humorous view of the normal world. He has been in several music groups, had his writing published online, and has publicly displayed visual art. He is a big fan of the Oxford comma.

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THE TODD SAID

A Collection of Really Great Ideas, Writing, Observations, and Random Thoughts

TODD BRABANDER

SmashWords Edition

Copyright © 2018 Todd Brabander

www.toddbrabander.com

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FOREWARD

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything. There are a couple reasons for that. They aren’t good reasons.

In short, I’ve just been doing other things. I do like to tell stories, and putting a story down on a page is the most straightforward way to tell a story, but, there are other ways to tell a story. I’ve been working on some music and I made a couple short films. Music and film are both extremely rewarding ways to tell a story, but they come with limits. In the case of a song, the constraint is the format itself—rhyming, structure, harmony, melody, etc. Short films require actors, sets, costumes, scheduling, etc. When you sit down and write fiction there are no limits. You can create a world. You can destroy a world. You have an infinite cast and unlimited budget to create the story that you want to tell. So, you might be wondering why, if writing is open and boundless, haven’t I been doing any writing? Without trying to make excuses—writing is hard. Coming up with ideas, plots, and characters is the easy part. Sitting in one place and putting it down on a page is awful. I am not alone in this. Most writers fail because they simply don’t write. Writing sucks. Writing is an exercise in discipline more than almost any other avenue of creativity, and once you’ve actually written the thing the next step is to edit it. This is equally miserable. You have to read the same thing again and again, cutting unnecessary parts, and trying to look at the story through fresh eyes. You need to attempt to come up with varied ways to begin a sentence. Trying to decide whether he said is adequate, or whether he gasped, he whispered, etc is more appropriate. It is a pain in the ass. It’s very much like running or going to the gym. It is a miserable chore, but afterwards you’re usually glad you did it. Although writing may be the purest and most powerful form of storytelling, I have just been doing other things over the last couple years.

This doesn’t mean I’m done. I do have a few story ideas in mind that I think are quite compelling, and I haven’t given up on the idea