Writing Rage
Karen Hancock, author of the Legend of the Guardian King series, posted about ‘Aggressive Trust‘ on 9/22/11. The post spoke about God’s perfect timing, first drafts, and what I call ‘the circle of the writing life’.
It really hit home.
The last several days I have been in agony and rage about what a struggle it has been to get any writing accomplished on my rewrite project. Because of the intensity of the struggle, I have allowed myself to become disheartened. Actually, I allowed myself to give up and convince myself that maybe I needed to go to a different project.
The thought of having yet another half-completed project waiting on the shelves for my attention did not appeal, but I didn’t know what other choice I had. If I continued to try to write through rage, the characters would have a war on their hands instead of the finding of true love.
Karen Hancock wrote how she began reading through some of her old journals to get herself into the mood for writing. She couldn’t believe that she had ever felt so negative toward a current writing project. As she read, she discovered that it was a common malady. She went on to write that God would reveal things about the story in his perfect timing. She only needed to wait. To let God “gather together the waters so that the dry land appears”.
“To trust Him to guide and to trust Him to come through.”
Bam. There it was, the request to trust God and give him the time to do what He was going to do. The reminder that hating our first draft is usual and customary. Once we get to the other side, it is a little easier. I needed to sit back and relax and LET GOD DO. Something. Anything. In essence, I tried too hard to make something happen. Because of that, nothing COULD happen.
I needed to let go and LET GOD.
So, I started praying about the characters, the story, the approach, the scenes… everything. I started going to God’s office again, as I once did, and invited Him to come along on this rewrite project. Wouldn’t you know it, yesterday on the way home I began brainstorming again. Last night I wrote out the general outline for the entire novel, and this morning I finished writing chapter one and feel a little more comfortable in my writing skin.
Thank you, Karen Hancock, for the reminder to just relax and enjoy being a writer.
Deliberate Inspiration
I have always been a SOTP writer.
That is, I write by the “seat of the pants”, allowing the moment and/or the characters to have their way with me and the story. After all, it is their story I am telling. Why should I be cheated out of the surprise of the next page?
Wait. I suppose I shouldn’t portray an incomplete picture of a SOTP writer. We, most of us, know the general idea of the story we want to tell. We know the hero, the heroess (I don’t like using the word ‘heroine’ any longer…), and the antagonist. We know a general idea of what falls between point A and point Z, just as we know how we would like the story to end. But those twists and turns and surprise bits of information that are discovered along the way? Many of them are gems revealed as we discover the deeper identity of who our characters are.
What makes them tick? What drives them? What defines their motivations, their loves, their hates…?
Some of the information will survive future revisions, often finding its way into a different presentation. All of it, however, is necessary to provide us a more complete understanding of our character so that we can, in turn, weave that into the final tale.
Last year I began experimenting with outlining a story instead of writing the idea as it came to me. Over the course of a month I worked diligently on fashioning the complete story in a basic outline and then more detailed outlines of each chapter. My internal response to the outlining process was two-fold: frustration and freedom. Frustration because I wouldn’t allow myself to go into too much detail (which always spawns story facets and plot twists and even more ripples). Freedom because when I began writing the chapters, I had a clear idea of each chapter. The outline gave me the ability to get advice from other people, which then afforded me an early opportunity to refine the story and make it better.
Could I have done this as easily with a first draft? Unfortunately, no. Any change to the story would have led to a complete and utter rewrite, much like I am doing to Searching for Sara.
As many of you remember, this past June I began conceptualizing a new approach to my inspirational romance Searching for Sara. Before jotting anything to paper I would plot, plan and re-plot each scene until I felt satisfied with the result. Then I would jot down an outline (it almost read like a summary) of that scene. Quite a few of the scenes and chapters are now outlined in this fashion, with only the first scene actually written into novel form.
When I digressed from my outline, something formed after 3 months of purposeful brainstorming, and followed a SOTP urge… the story spluttered to a halt. Only after I cut those two pages and began again – this time completely devoted to my outline – did the story resume its steady pace. Chaos settled to calm. Frustration subsided to peace.
Have I lost my love of SOTP writing? No, I don’t believe I have. Every once and again I still get the urge to simply sit down at the computer, or grab a spiral of paper, and begin writing about the character I see in my head. I call these character studies, when I post them to my blog. Will these characters ever find their way into a story? Maybe so. It is one of the main reasons I look forward to NaNoWriMo each year.
But of late, when it comes to my novels, I have needed a more deliberate approach in order to keep myself on task and productive. So often when I feel disorganized in thought or in workspace, my creativity grinds to a halt and I succumb to distraction. So I continue to step forward, my outline in hand. It seems a form of daily goal, to either more fully brainstorm a section, or to actually write a portion to novel format.
I must admit my concern is the intensity of the story won’t be present with such a deliberate approach. But perhaps being so… purposeful will allow the characters’ fire to flow more freely? A definite hope. Especially when I feel a passion for the characters bubble up inside me when I am simply brainstorming the next scene.
When I write from an outline, I feel more comfortable with the result because I know I brainstormed the Dickens out of it. I turned away ideas and possibilities by the dozens before settling on this particular approach, even seeking out the council of others. I might be an outlining convert, in fact, and soften the SOTP approach to something that isn’t quite as absolute as it once was. After all, there is still that essence of the unknown when you translate a story from outline to novel.
What dialogue will be spoken?
What body language will come?
What intensity of emotion will swell?
Sometimes it is best to let inspiration have a free hand with these, and that is when a SOTP style can be the most fun.
What type of writer are you?
Marketing Question
If someone were to offer you a branded cap, t-shirt, notebook, or tote, what would you be willing to offer as a service?
- a book review on an external sales site such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc?
- a book review on your website?
- a hosted book read & review contest [hosted on your site]
- editing help [per Carol]
- brainstorming collaboration [per Carol]
- any other suggested activities?
I am a writer. I adore the spinning of the unwritten tale – that lesson waiting to be divulged to others. Each day a new story beckons. One last happy ending. My characters have a life outside of my own, and I always learn from their destiny.
~ Nona ~
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." ~II Corinthians 5:17
comments