Thoughts on Writing

I've been hesitant with my writing of late. Worried that I'll never really succeed. Not so sure that people will want to read it. It's had me out of sorts. Wanting so badly to just bleed the words onto plain white paper, but afraid that no one will appreciate the part of myself that I pour into it. It's frightening, when all you really want to do is write, and you start to think that maybe you can't. Truth be told, I've never finished a piece. Well, not a novel, anyway. I have a small handful of short stories that I've done, but the goal is to finish a novel. The dream is to find my books at B&N between Elizabeth Haydon and Robin Hobb, or, even better, to NOT find them there because they're sold out again. Somewhere along the line, however, a splinter of doubt worked its way under my skin, and now I'm afraid it's in too deep to pull it out. I need literary Ichthammol, something that will draw the doubt back out. It's really starting to irritate.

I read a very useful article in Writer's Digest today. It's in the August 2008 edition.The "Writer's Workbook" section on fiction talks about how much information to reveal when. The guy has a point. I tend to want to hold things back in hopes that it will add a little intrigue and keep people reading. Also, as he points out in the article as one of the reasons writers withhold info: I don't really know what's going on right away. I write until it falls into place. I don't follow an outline. the words really do just come to me and I write them down. The bleeding onto paper is an appropriate analogy, because it really does work that way. I get a spark of inspiration (a "cut"), I write until it is expended, and then the ideas kind of...clot. It's not really something I have control over. I can't even imagine writing to fit an outline. It would be too limiting. Like putting a band aid on my inspiration. But, anyway I'm getting off topic. The idea is the fact that I tend to hold things back without even thinking about it. The article suggests that the reader should know/be aware of the things the MC knows/is aware of. I've heard whispers of this in the past, but no one has ever put it right out there and said: "HELLO! You don't want to hold too much back, or you'll confuse or in some other way lose your readers!"

They also suggest summarizing the entire story into one sentence. WOW! I've heard of this, too, but it's HARD! One sentence, no big deal, right? Take your favorite book, and summarize it. One sentence. "A frustrated character does not want to try green eggs and ham because they seem strange, but when convinced, realizes it is better than expected." Well, I'm not very good at it, and that's not my favorite book It's just the first one that came to mind. Try it on a novel. Try it on one you've written. Summarize a piece of your soul into one sentence. Not easy at all!

I've never had a problem with providing background. In fact, my main issue with it is the fact that I tend to want to do a prequel, because I've come up with so much background that I can't work into the original story. I do, however, like to add a bit of mystery to my MC by holding some things back. While I realize that this CAN be done (most of my favorite books actually do this), you have to give a little taste to keep people coming back for more. In Wizard's First Rule, Goodkind doesn't tell us certain information about Kahlan Amnell until Richard finds out about it himself, but we know there's SOMETHING that she isn't telling us about herself. In the Wayfarer Redemption trilogy by Sara Douglass, we learn about Axis's past with him. I guess the idea should be to withhold information not to keep the readers guessing, but to keep the MC guessing.

I'll have to make a note of that to myself. Add it to my collection of things I've learned. I've also read (probably in Writer's Digest), that a good writer keeps learning and evolving as he or she goes. He or she shouldn't stay in one place because it worked the first time. Think outside the box, learn, and move constantly forward. Writers who don't do this end up stagnating, and so do their books. There is a ton of books on the shelves at B&N that were awesome best sellers, but turn into the only books a writer ever is successful with because he or she thinks the same thing will work again the second time. For me, this is good in a way, since my style is constantly evolving. The only problem: I evolve too fast, so by the time I draw near the end, the beginning seems...less. There in lies the larges bit of doubt.

I feel as though I need my own Inklings, like Lewis and Tolkien and their little group. A soundboard of other writers who relate to my frustrations and concerns. People who will listen to my writing and give me honest, useful feedback. I don't know too many writers, and they're all either too far away, or they write a different genre and don't really appreciate mine. Still, it would be great. To get together with a group of close friends once a week or so, read our manuscripts to one another, and learn together to improve our craft. I just can't bring myself to do it with people I don't know. Perhaps I'll see if there's a way to read my own writing to my Mac and play it back to at least have myself as a soundboard. I just don't usually pay attention to people speaking/reading aloud. Maybe I should sing my novels to myself...