A Writer's Problem does not change..... 2/3/2008 12:24:44 PM
Ernest Hemingway wrote, "A Writer's Problem does not change. He himself changes, and the world he lives in changes, but his problem remains the same....." He goes on to say:
"It [the problem] is always how to write TRULY and having found what is true, to project it in such a way that it becomes a part of the experience of the person who reads it."
I do believe this is the heart of the struggle for most writers, because we seek not only to find the truth in a story, but to communicate that truth. It's an obligation we feel and a directive we assume when we delve into human nature and human drama.
But it's not easy to achieve and I've been stumbling over this ground in my latest story, which is a screenplay. I've been trying to figure out the essence of one of the characters and have found it hard to capture. It's like he begins to emerge, then he slips away again. I have my heroine clearly delineated and other characters, but for some reason I've been stuck on my hero. Is it because he lacks some trait that he needs in order to accomplish his goals?
I know his secrets; I know the desires of his heart; I thought I knew his conflicts, but more and more I suspect that he is struggling over issues I have not yet uncovered. That, in a sense, is his TRUTH.....the real essence of who he is. Until I discover that truth, he cannot emerge as flesh and blood.
So, back to the drawing board I go! I think the next step is to have this guy write me a letter, so that I can 'let him speak.' I'll let you know how it turns out.....
Unfortunately, it is as Edmund Morrison states: "Like STONES, words are laborious and unforgiving, and the fitting of them together, like the fitting of stones, demands great patience and strength of purpose and particular skill." In my situation, the words I'm searching for are the very ones that will help to define this character and his identity!
