WL#6: Limbo as a Location to Consider for a Story
Limbo is by no means a new concept, what’s there, in Limbo once you get there, that’s the mystery. Even different people who get their information from the same source imagine it in vastly different ways. I’ve been reading an incredibly engaging book called Limbo: Life’s Kiss by Simone Leigh Martin. In this engaging book there’s no compromising story for characterization or the other way around, there’s no compromise at all, it’s just everything you want in a book. Martin’s take on Limbo is definitely one of the more interesting and unpredictable I have ever read, and that’s saying a lot. What can I say, I love the genre.
The imagery and concepts raised in Simone Leigh Martin’s book were enough to get my head rolling, an effect much like a snowball. I’ve read a lot of different perspectives on limbo as a physical place, a place of the mind, such as in cases of dementia or coma, and have discussed those and the myriad of other questions raised by it at length, it can be one of the more interesting places to ponder. On the one hand, it feels limitless since it’s a place left largely up to imagination and interpretation. On the other hand as much as the mind can expand on ideas of it, your ideas of it can be muddled down by preconceived notions, especially to people who have a religious background. Of course, even different religions that agree there’s a limbo, don’t agree on what, exactly, it is like.
I can’t think of a better way to practice your craft as a writer than to make Limbo a setting in a writing exercise. It’s fun to write a place that’s never a lesson in frustration as there are no wrong ideas, no wrong concepts, no wrong interpretations, you can pretty much make it what you want. You could even write a quick piece that plants a seed for other writers and hope they have as much fun as you did playing in Limbo, it’s so much more than a crazy party dance.
It’s fun as a writing exercise to just describe it. We’ve all done free association writing, just go into it thinking about what you think Limbo would be like if you woke up one morning and found yourself there. Just as interesting as how you got there and what it’s like is how you get out. Do you get out? Is it uncomfortable? If you leave and go to “heaven” do you want to go back when you find heaven to be really, really boring? But I digress, Heaven is a whole other concept that has an infinity of interpretations.
For now I’ll stay in Limbo, I like it here. My Limbo is a sort of real life Limbo, one that has been exacerbated by the pandemic and the circumstances I live in. Like a Limbo, it isn’t great, but at least it’s not hell. It’s a challenge, to say the least, and there’s a certain isolation that’s almost a comfort as fear embraces the rest of the world and people become afraid of one another more and more each day. As the environment grows thicker with fear it all turns more and more grey. But I can write my way out of that grey fog into anywhere I want to go. How great is writing? If you need Limbo ideas check out Simone Leigh Martin’s book Limbo: Life’s Kiss.
The imagery and concepts raised in Simone Leigh Martin’s book were enough to get my head rolling, an effect much like a snowball. I’ve read a lot of different perspectives on limbo as a physical place, a place of the mind, such as in cases of dementia or coma, and have discussed those and the myriad of other questions raised by it at length, it can be one of the more interesting places to ponder. On the one hand, it feels limitless since it’s a place left largely up to imagination and interpretation. On the other hand as much as the mind can expand on ideas of it, your ideas of it can be muddled down by preconceived notions, especially to people who have a religious background. Of course, even different religions that agree there’s a limbo, don’t agree on what, exactly, it is like.
I can’t think of a better way to practice your craft as a writer than to make Limbo a setting in a writing exercise. It’s fun to write a place that’s never a lesson in frustration as there are no wrong ideas, no wrong concepts, no wrong interpretations, you can pretty much make it what you want. You could even write a quick piece that plants a seed for other writers and hope they have as much fun as you did playing in Limbo, it’s so much more than a crazy party dance.
It’s fun as a writing exercise to just describe it. We’ve all done free association writing, just go into it thinking about what you think Limbo would be like if you woke up one morning and found yourself there. Just as interesting as how you got there and what it’s like is how you get out. Do you get out? Is it uncomfortable? If you leave and go to “heaven” do you want to go back when you find heaven to be really, really boring? But I digress, Heaven is a whole other concept that has an infinity of interpretations.
For now I’ll stay in Limbo, I like it here. My Limbo is a sort of real life Limbo, one that has been exacerbated by the pandemic and the circumstances I live in. Like a Limbo, it isn’t great, but at least it’s not hell. It’s a challenge, to say the least, and there’s a certain isolation that’s almost a comfort as fear embraces the rest of the world and people become afraid of one another more and more each day. As the environment grows thicker with fear it all turns more and more grey. But I can write my way out of that grey fog into anywhere I want to go. How great is writing? If you need Limbo ideas check out Simone Leigh Martin’s book Limbo: Life’s Kiss.