Now that I have sent my first series off and running, it is time to start again. Ah...yes is the bane of the writer's life. When you finish one you start another. It must be done. There is no choice.
So we write and write. Then we re-write and write some more. Eventually, we look down and we have a completed story. A beginning, middle and end which includes, a calculated stunning climax, a host of riveting characters and a twisting plot. However, as I, the writer, review this current venture, there is a nagging at the back of my neck.
Something is off. Something is missing.
Once it set in my mind that there is something imperfect, the piece will never sit right and thus never reach beyond the screen of our computer. This is not ' block'. That is a completely different phenomenon (yes it is an accurate description of the effect).
This is Leonardo looking at the Mona Lisa and obsessing over her smile until he captured it perfectly. So perfectly that it transports you into a different time, as you wonder, what is her secret? What is she thinking?
It’s all about the connection. I watch So You Think You Can Dance, and they talk about the dancers connecting with the audience. A dancer can be technically superior but without the connection, the audience could care less, so he gets voted off. It is the same for a writer. Your story can be better than Dickens, but, unless you connect, your readers will put it down. (Remember the three episode rule? This applies to books as well, three chapters to hook)
So that is the challenge I am currently facing. The piece I am working with is not ‘connecting’. It is missing something. I just have to figure out what.
Now you ask…how do you do that exactly? Well, that is a GREAT question! If you find out the answer can you let me know?
But seriously, for a writer, the answer is the same no matter what the question. You write! You write and write and write some more. You write pages of CRAP. Pure ugly, disconnected, poorly defined crapola!
Then it happens…it hits you!
You find your answer and it all makes sense. Finally!
Well that wasn’t too hard, was it?
That is how it works, start or finished. Someone asked me recently how they would go about writing a book. How they have all of these family stories they tell. How they would like to document them. I suggested a journal format or a memoir. Then this person asked, so then what?
My response, you write. They then went through this torrent of structure and format, the order, the length...on and on. Once they took a breath, I looked at him and said... None of that matters if you don't write anything down. The look on their face was priceless. I saw the light bulb go off and they got it.
It has to be about the writing. It has to be about the words you spill onto the page. I have spoken to so many people and taken so many writing classes and sat through so many writing seminars that talk about everything BUT writing.
Please do not mis-understand. Everyone has a different way of attacking the beast, but stripping away the 'fluff' you have to write. Whether your writing for profit, for passion, or for fun it is all about what you give. Like anything else in this world, you get back what you give. Sometimes it is a pile of manure and other times it is handful of rubies. Your chances are always 50/50 but you'll never know unless you WRITE!
So go...write...see what happens. You might just surprise yourself!
Oh...WOW...I just figured it out what the story is missing...thanks for the help!
See it does work.... Hahahaha!
