The hardest part about writing is knowing what to write. This column discusses how to choose subject matter in fiction.

Fiction Craft: What To Write?

By

Robert Ferrier
(RobertLFerrier.aol.com

Screenwriter Syd Field once wrote, "The hardest thing about writing is knowing what to write."

Very true . Most of us have to dig for ideas. We face months or years working on a novel. Yet if we choose the wrong premise or subject, we have no chance in the market.

So how do we decide what to write?

The answer lies in feelings, where every salable story begins. To capture readers we must write with a passion that pulls readers into our characters' world. If we feel passionate about our characters and their milieu, then so will readers.

Writers Know Themselves and Write from Experience

Let's take Syd Field's statement one step further: Knowing what to write requires knowing ourselves.

What engenders feelings within us? Separates us from other human beings? Creating original characters exacts a price: courage. Why? Because we feel as passionately about our fears and faults as we do about our "good" side. Yet, to create three-dimensional characters, we must draw on personal experience, venturing into the dark corners of our life and uprooting weeds.

Here's an example. Two decades after surviving lymphoma, I wrote a novel about a teenage boy with cancer. My daughter read the first draft of Dear Mr. Kapps and said, "Dad, you didn't deliver."

"Didn't deliver what?"

"At the beginning, you promise a story about a boy battling cancer. At the end you talk about his cure," she said. "But in the middle you never talk about the battle."

Truth hurts. In the first draft, I wasn't ready to revisit the fear and pain.

In the second draft, I forced myself to recall the "bad part." I created BB, a fellow cancer patient. Together Rafe and BB fight through chemotherapy, nausea, needles, pain, and fear of death. In each chapter -- all letters to Rafe's idol, a New York television comedian -- I wrote from the passion of personal experience. I imbued Rafe not only with my illness, but with my faults, fears and hopes. As friends do, BB challenged Rafe's weaknesses and leaned on his strengths.

Reliving the hurt and hope brought Rafe and BB to life. I added other of my passions and interests: writing, football, girls, model airplanes and books. One reviewer wrote that he "knew Rafe and BB." They had been created "from the inside out." The McQuark Review selected Dear Mr. Kapps as one of the three best e-books for young adults in 2000.

That success happened because I looked within my heart and wrote from experience.

Writers Develop Their Creativity and Imagination

Knowing one's self as a human being and writer involves more than just writing from the heart. To achieve full potential we must develop our creativity and imagination. Warning: prepare for obstacles. Subconsciously, we can censor our creative spirit because of negativity. Following are techniques to open creative flow:

A. Journaling

In her book, The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron writes that creativity embodies the natural order of life. After discussing reasons we block our creativity, she presents a 12-week plan for regaining it. Readers write "Morning Pages," stream-of-consciousness entries in a daily journal. The process clears "mental debris" and unblocks creative flow.

B. Dream Analysis

In Naomi Epel's book, Writers Dreaming, 26 authors talk about their dreams and the creative process. The writers discuss how they transform dreams into art.

For example, mystery writer Sue Grafton creates a computer journal for each of her novels. Anything her right brain "gives her in the dead of night" goes straight into the journal because the information often sends her on a new and productive path. Grafton often addresses entries to "Dear Right Brain." Right Brain usually comes through with the answer to a plot problem in a day or two.

Other authors, including Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, Anne Rice and Amy Tan share useful ideas.

C. Image-Streaming

Author Win Wenger writes on the Internet about a concept called "image-streaming," a pole-bridging activity which links a person's "imaging brain" with their "analytical brain." The technique involves relaxing with your eyes closed and describing aloud the flow of mental images. An unexpected image may open a new avenue of thought. Blocked writers may find this useful to remove obstacles.
In summary, human creativity can be enhanced. Knowing what to write begins with knowing yourself.

Suggested Reading:

Cameron, Julia. The Artist's Way. New York: Putnam, 1992.

Epel, Naomi. Writers Dreaming. New York: Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 1993.

Copyright 2002 Robert Ferrier