Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Tactless Tuesday #1 - The First Lie

All--

Welcome to the first Tactless Tuesday. Today begins a several week series examining lies that writers tell themselves. I know about most of these because I have told them to myself a hundred million times. In fact, as much as possible I will try to draw all illustrations from my own experience.

Lie #1 - Stories exist outside out imagination.

Few writers would tell this tell to themselves quite so brazenly. Let me suggest some alternative forms that this lie can take, which might sound more familiar:


I have to tell the story that demands to be written.

I can't change that part, because that's the how it happened.

My favorite part of writing is discovering what happens as the story goes on.

I just can't wait to see what happens next.

I didn't expect that to happen.


Each of these, in some way, requires that the story have its own existence -- an ability to compel your writing or determine its own course of action.

So what's the big deal? If that's how the writer perceive it, it's just a quirk of the human brain. No harm done.

Here's the truth that this lie often serves to conceal: The writer is in charge of the story.

Too often I talk to fellow writers or read their blogs and get this sense of helplessness. As if the writers are engaged in some dialectic struggle with spiritual force of their story, hoping that in the end, the result will be better than either the writer's will or the story's. But the story doesn't have a will. The writer is the boss! The writer is the creator!

Writers have the ability to take charge and take control. You have to write the story that demands to be written? Perhaps there's some psychological reason that you personally have to write the story, but it's not the story's fault. Take responsibility.

You want to see what happens? Hey, you're the one who makes it happen. You didn't like what happened? Change it. Something needs to be changed? The story never happened; you created it in your imagination, so changing it doesn't hurt anything or anyone.

Here's the point. Writers need to not feel helpless before their stories. Writers are all-powerful when it comes to what they create. That's the power of being the creator. Your story does not exist in some spiritual plain that you are tapping into. You are that story's momma and poppa and deity all in one. Make it yours. Claim it!

.Nevets.

4 comments:

  1. Excellent "truth"! Writers ARE in charge of their stories! Great post - I'm totally thinking about this "lie" now. And I love things that make me think. :)

    Oh! And I'd love to see your outline. I'm elanajohnson at gmail.com

    Thanks so much!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's all psychological, so basically, we're mental.

    Good post. Carry on.

    : )

    ReplyDelete
  3. I can do anything! I am the all-powerful Oz! Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

    (laughing) Hey, to tell the truth, there are times when the story seems to tug me along of its own accord, and I just hang on for the ride, see where it takes me.

    Maybe what feels like some sort of metaphysical compulsion is really the writer's subconscious finally making connections that he/she didn't make when trying too hard, or when focusing so closely on one part of the story that the mind doesn't have a chance to leap in other directions.

    Just my dos pesetas.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Elana -- keep thinking! Thinking is a good trait in a writer. :)

    Casey -- yes, we are all mental.

    Keanan -- as long as you get were you need to be, are happy with the results, and don't leave your readers feeling lost along the way, go for it! I myself sometimes end up going for the ride and then realizing I didn't mean to get where I got and not sure where to go from there. That's when it's good to remember I'm the boss of my story!

    ReplyDelete

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