(Originally published on June 24, 2012)
One of the things we struggle
with most as writers is originality.
I once heard that every story
there is to tell has already been told. That’s sounds pretty black and white,
though, doesn’t it? Non-Fiction writers, especially, will argue till their
faces turn purple that their individual experiences are unique beyond compare.
But that’s theevery-snow-flake’s-different
vision, the no-two-people-are-the-same
view. And I’m not sure which to believe some days. Black and white? Or gray all
over?
I’ve often wondered whether that
someone was right. Has every storyline been explored? Honestly, how many times
can I see Cinderella find her metaphorical or literal prince at the ball? And
tragic endings don't necessarily solve this issue. Think of a movie that ends
with “The Big Game”. What happens in the end? Either they win, overcoming
people’s expectations and beating their sore-losing opponents, or they lose,
learning a greater lesson from their defeat.
And how many times can we watch
the hopeful character at the climax of the movie walk out of their potential
employers office with a shocked/slightly sad look on their face (to which their
family/friends quickly tell them "you’ll get it next time") only to
say they’ve gotten the job. Did they have you fooled? Would you be shocked even
if they hadn't gotten
it? No. Why? Because you know they’ll learn something from the experience.
Where have I heard that before?
So have we seen it all? Catch me
on a bad week and I might say yes, but most days I’m a romantic, and I believe
there’s still one or two more unexplored avenues out there in Author City.
Maybe I’ll be the one to find it. Maybe you
will. But I don’t think either of us should worry too much about it.
Were you blown away when
(SPOILER) good triumphed over evil in Harry Potter? No, because that’s what
happens in rags-to-riches, powerless-to-powerful stories. And here’s Rowling’s
secret: she understood that that’s how people actually want their stories to play
out. People want to
believe that there’s hope, that dark will always disappear in the face of
light.
There’s a reason that we keep
writing these “cliché” plots. Because readers, at the core of their beings,
respond to them! And it doesn't matter that we knew Harry would win in the end.
We wanted to see how
he did it, and what he learned along the way.
So write another Cinderella
story! Just make sure the journey to happily ever after is all your own.
Photo from
onedayworkweek.wordpress.com
(Originally published on June 20, 2012)
One of the reasons why it’s so
easy to edit the work of others, compared our own, is because we have all the
distance in the world from it! We haven’t spent hours or days (or YEARS) with
our minds perplexed over every little period placement. So we can make an
honest judgment about the quality of the work.
Why is it so difficult to do
this with our own work? Because, not only will we justify the problems, or settle
with them (“It’s better than the first draft…”), but we’ll get caught up in the
original vision we had for a scene or the initial way we phrased that sentence
because it was pretty darn clever! Well, wasn’t it? Maybe not, if it pulls you
out of the story or gives you that uneasy feeling every time you read over it.
We can edit others’ work better
than our own, because we’re not bogged down with our own intentions. Although
it was with goodintentions that we
wrote that risky metaphor, comparing a celery stick to a Hallmark card,
intentions can often lead us astray.
What can we do, then? How do you
get that necessary distance from your own work when you’ve just spent an hour
trying to decide whether you should write “Martha said” or “said Martha”?
Unfortunately, there is no easy
way—sorry, no miracle solution here.
BUT (I knew you were waiting for
it), you can create some space! You
just need some patience—ugh, I know right? Who has time for that?!
YOU do. Or you have to. I’ve
found that the best way to look at my own writing with fresh and
semi-less-biased eyes is to spend a day or more away from it. Now, obviously
this isn’t something that you can resort to every day or you’d never be done. But it’s important to get
some space after a chapter or other breaking point before heading back for some
intense editing. Step away from your own all-consuming thoughts about that ONE
DARN PARAGRAPH for a day, and get some insight!
This post isn’t meant to
downplay the importance of enlisting a few trusted writing peers to look over
your work, but as I’m coming to the end of my own book’s first chapter, I’m
gonna be focusing on the early stages. And you never want to open yourself up
to that kind of critique (no matter how good-intended) that early on.
Remember how those intentions
can lead you astray? You don’t want to be influenced like that when you’ve
barely discovered where you and your characters are heading. No matter how many
years you’ve been detailing the past, present, and futures of their lives, we all
know that the book we set out to write is never the one we end up with in the
end, so we don’t need any extra help pushing it off course from our initial
vision! We have a specific story we needed to tell here, after all!
Exercise the restraint you need to
get some space and insight. But after you’ve gotten a better idea of where
you’re going, and a fair amount of chapters under your belt, enlist the help of
a friend. They’re likely to catch what you’ve missed (or maybe been denying to
yourself).
Photo from carissa-taylor.blogspot.com
(Originally published on July 13th, 2012)
It’s been a while since I faced
my last blank word document with the intention of beginning a book. I figured
this time, after having one manuscript under my belt, the horrible white
blankness wouldn’t be as frightening. Well, I wasn’t just wrong, I was WRONG.
Last time I faced this vacant
beast, I was starting work on a little side project, something I hadn’t even
really planned. Something that initially resembled my favorite book at the time
a little too much. Over the next couple years it morphed into its own story
with twists and turns even I hadn’t anticipated. But there wasn’t that same
fear in the beginning, not the fear I felt when beginning my newest project
this past Thursday.
It’s easy to see why. There wasn’t
so much expectation riding on that book. The project I’ve just started has been
in the works for nearly three years now. And from the first sticky note to my
book’s forty page reference bible, it’s been an uphill battle. Or battles. Now,
I’ve won the majority of them, fixing as many of the kinks in the plot as I can
and figuring out the back-stories and motivations for my characters, putting
off the first words of my novel till last Thursday.
But facing the blank word
document that I’d already saved as “book”…that wasn’t an uphill battle. That
was a left-handed sword fight up a cliff face—Keep in mind that I’m right-handed. Also keep
in mind that my opponent is the metaphorical equivalent of Inigo Montoya.
So what did I do? I created a
header and wasted a few minutes deciding which font to put “Chapter One” in, as
if the formatting of my manuscript was at all in my hands if it ever did get
picked up for publishing. ßYou see that! That’s why starting this manuscript was so terrifying.
My mind was already worried
about the querying process! Oh how I’m getting ahead of myself! But then again,
how can I not think about it? I’ve
spent years working towards the first book of this series of a lifetime,
pouring over fictional details of a world and a story that I can only hope will
touch as many lives as possible. So every wannabe author’s dream, right?
Eventually, I just had to put
some words down, and then begin the constant game of second-guessing my
phrasing. And now I’m happy to say, I’ve got something great underway! (Bet
you’ve never heard a writer claim THAT before!) Well, think what you want. No
one will believe in it if I don’t believe in it first.
How do you work up the courage
to overcome the dreaded blank page?
Photo taken from leonpaternoster.com
One of the things we struggle
with most as writers is originality.
