The story begins with excitement and promise. We stand on a high mountain peak, about to embark on a grand adventure. It will be a long journey, but there is the goal, shining straight ahead on the far side of the valley. All we have to do is get through that forest and we'll be there!
And then come the delays. The disappointments. The dangers. The devastation. The whole world changes overnight. That goal, so clear from the ridge behind us, can't be seen from here in the trees. We are lost in the woods and we know we may never escape.
Yeah, I do this to my characters every time I write a story. That doesn't mean I like it when it happens to me.
My writing career began with a lot of excitement. I sold a short story, I had a great time at my first writer's workshop, I met lots of wonderful aspiring authors and watched as a few of them broke into publishing. Surely soon it would happen to me too.
I'm still out here in the woods.
The message of every story I write, of almost every story I read, is that around some bend in the path, or through some swamp, or maybe on the other side of some trackless thicket, lies the road to where you want to be. But you'll never find it if you give up. And sometimes when you burst out of the woods, there in front of you isn't what you thought you wanted, but something even better.
My own life has told me that story over and over.
I want to hear it one more time.
Yes! I swear, since I've started writing, I think about the decisions I face like a character in a novel. "What will this action reveal about my character?" It's part of the dementia. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso part of the dementia is narrating my life in prose while I'm living it, or when something awful happens to me I think, "How can I use this in a story?"
DeleteI do think writing fiction helps us understand life. We're students of the human condition, and we certainly can't escape it!
ReplyDeleteStories are a road map! That's why we need them so badly.
DeleteThe murky middle is what makes the shiny prize worth it. It's what makes it precious. It also sucks. BUT I hear it's worth it. Somehow thinking of this process as a story helps me want to plow on so I can see what new plot twist is around the next bend or behind the next tree. Thanks for that perspective!
ReplyDeleteHere's wishing you lots of exciting plot twists and a very happy ending, Leisha! Am I seeing you at WIFYR this year (assuming they get the website running before the end of the world)?
DeleteYup. I'm heading to the fantasy class. You know me, my heart is in the magic. :)
DeleteGreat post, Rebecca! I'm doing first revisions on the Murky Middle right now - and it's not pretty. I think we sometimes want to rush things. The middle takes a LOT of thought, and we want it to sound authentic, not forced.
ReplyDeleteAs writers, our projects are big and time-consuming. (Who else willingly spends a year - or more - wrestling 50,000 to 100,000 words into place, and then doing it again and again?) It's hard to extend things out a bit, doing it right. But the middle is so important, building the tension, the relationships, and setting things in place for the grand finale. I don't know about you, but I'm guilty of wishing the shoe-maker's elves would come overnight and magically put everything in place for me.
It takes guts, stamina, and massive brain-power to press onward. So cheers to all who stick with it!
Thanks, Jonene! I love your comments and I'm glad you enjoyed the post.
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