So, when last our heroes met, we discussed the necessity of rewriting things, for clarity and for making sure the story gets put into the mind of the reader.
Well, my story up and took a turn on me, and it came to me in big bright visions (all right, that's malarkey).
I've recently restarted my story, remembering that the important parts are getting across the story, and not getting hung up on reusing all the bits that you have made over the numerous rewrites in order to bolster word count. I am reusing some, but being pretty sparse about it.
I cannot stress enough the importance of voice and perspective, because without those, the story will never come. It will feel stifled, and flat, and there will be nothing to it, despite the grand visions of the dreamer. It has taken me months to find my voice, and even now, I am not sure if it will stick, but I won't stop.
There are dreams to give life to as stories.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
On Rewrites
Rewrites:
They are the name of the game. Stories don't spew forth from a pen or a keyboard simply because we have one to tell. I'm not an artist. I'm a storyteller. I may start from nothing, but my canvas is ultimately not the printed page, but the imagination, and I can't touch the imagination. I can only plant seeds of pictures and ideas.
Each time I write something, or rewrite it, I have a better way of planting that seed, and making it grow in the mind of the reader, but that that is what I mean about me not being an artist. I cannot show you anything. I have to make you picture it, and hope that my vision of what something feels like, smells like, or how someone would react fits into your interpretation of those events, or I have failed you, the reader.
Many books fail on that account. Some people love the way the story unfolds, and others throw the book against the wall, wondering why everybody has to die (I'm looking at you, George R.R. Martin).
So, when the vision in my head doesn't match the way the words are written, I have to figure out how to fix the problems and try again. Every book you look at in the bookstore, or on Amazon, or in a friend's house started in a similar way. Someone had an idea, and then they cultivated the idea, but the product was not an end, it was a seed.
They are the name of the game. Stories don't spew forth from a pen or a keyboard simply because we have one to tell. I'm not an artist. I'm a storyteller. I may start from nothing, but my canvas is ultimately not the printed page, but the imagination, and I can't touch the imagination. I can only plant seeds of pictures and ideas.
Each time I write something, or rewrite it, I have a better way of planting that seed, and making it grow in the mind of the reader, but that that is what I mean about me not being an artist. I cannot show you anything. I have to make you picture it, and hope that my vision of what something feels like, smells like, or how someone would react fits into your interpretation of those events, or I have failed you, the reader.
Many books fail on that account. Some people love the way the story unfolds, and others throw the book against the wall, wondering why everybody has to die (I'm looking at you, George R.R. Martin).
So, when the vision in my head doesn't match the way the words are written, I have to figure out how to fix the problems and try again. Every book you look at in the bookstore, or on Amazon, or in a friend's house started in a similar way. Someone had an idea, and then they cultivated the idea, but the product was not an end, it was a seed.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Forming a story
I've been writing a lot lately. It's actually been consuming a lot of my time, both in front of my computer and what I end up thinking about when I'm not there either. I'll have an idea on my drive and grab my phone and start the recorder up. What I really need is to get this thing finished, or at least send off a few more copies to readers for feedback.
I've listened to, or read, rather, a lot of authors who claim they do it for themselves, or they don't care about criticism, but that's not something I can detach from. I've gotten better at not taking things on a personal level, or fighting for every word choice like it's golden, but it is still hard when you turn out hours of what you believe to be good thoughts and stories and get feedback you were not expecting.
On the converse, though, when you feel there are weaknesses in a passage or an area of your story, and a reader then comments that they related to that directly, and they know what the character is doing or feeling, you wonder if you are being too hard on yourself.
My desire is to put out a story. The one I am currently working on is special to me, because I have had this story inside me and rattling around, growing, changing and evolving for over ten years. It's a lot to put out there at once, since it came out unformed and raw. Sometimes even the best plans for it change. I recently had to scrap an entire chapter I had planned to include simply because there was no real way for me to add it once I had built up a significant portion of the back story.
This has led me to the conclusion that writing is only partly how you build an idea, but a lot to do with how you can execute the idea, how you can continue to keep it fresh for over three hundred pages, and how you can build realistic characters who hold true to that image for the entire length of the book. You discover things about the story and the characters as you have to make them stay part of this mold that they have been built from, and it can even surprise you, the author. Realize, though. If the last five hundred words you have written is crap. It is crap. Throw it away, because if you write for yourself, you deserve better, and if you write for your readers, they definitely deserve better.
I've listened to, or read, rather, a lot of authors who claim they do it for themselves, or they don't care about criticism, but that's not something I can detach from. I've gotten better at not taking things on a personal level, or fighting for every word choice like it's golden, but it is still hard when you turn out hours of what you believe to be good thoughts and stories and get feedback you were not expecting.
On the converse, though, when you feel there are weaknesses in a passage or an area of your story, and a reader then comments that they related to that directly, and they know what the character is doing or feeling, you wonder if you are being too hard on yourself.
My desire is to put out a story. The one I am currently working on is special to me, because I have had this story inside me and rattling around, growing, changing and evolving for over ten years. It's a lot to put out there at once, since it came out unformed and raw. Sometimes even the best plans for it change. I recently had to scrap an entire chapter I had planned to include simply because there was no real way for me to add it once I had built up a significant portion of the back story.
This has led me to the conclusion that writing is only partly how you build an idea, but a lot to do with how you can execute the idea, how you can continue to keep it fresh for over three hundred pages, and how you can build realistic characters who hold true to that image for the entire length of the book. You discover things about the story and the characters as you have to make them stay part of this mold that they have been built from, and it can even surprise you, the author. Realize, though. If the last five hundred words you have written is crap. It is crap. Throw it away, because if you write for yourself, you deserve better, and if you write for your readers, they definitely deserve better.
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