On account of Mythopoet's latest thread, which got me thinking about some things, I'd like to post a thread in response (let's pretend this is Youtube and I'm responding to her original idea lol).
Disclaimer: I don't have any or all of this figured out. If we're measuring success by how many books one author sells, I'm a failure. If we're measuring it by purely prose it's guaranteed I'd get laughed off this site. So, these are just my thoughts that I hope open the way to some discussion about what really matters: story.
What is story to YOU?
I've been thinking about this. Some big projects are in store for my portfolio this year. The stories I will be writing mainly focus on something internal I'm trying to understand, share, and figure out through my writing. Story to me is the resolution of what I can't figure out. So this is what I focus on when I write. How do I get the characters from point A--where there's this thing I'm trying to understand about my life--to point B--where I've figured it out using the characters and their conflict in order to heal from something internal. Get me?
If I constantly focus on how my prose isn't lovely or lacks a je ne sais quoi then I'll never move forward. I'll never get from start to finish. I'll never have more books added to my back list. Writing is something I need. It's something I crave. Story is the magic that happens in those pages that helps me understand something about my journey on this planet. Maybe it's something good. A lot of times it's something else entirely. Focusing on story means locking on the characters and never letting go. When I don't know what comes next I look to them. To the question I want an answer to. What should come next? It eventually reveals itself and story continues.
What I find unhelpful is shaving off words because I repeated one, or structuring a sentence in another way because someone said so, or whatever. Guess my point is: keep it simple. Why do you pick up a book? That's the very reason to invest in your craft, because you can share that with someone else. Writing advice out there IS generic but that's also because everyone has their individual journeys to explore. But if we're serious about our work reaching others, wouldn't it be best to focus on how you can reach them on an emotional level? Isn't that what story is?
Disclaimer: I don't have any or all of this figured out. If we're measuring success by how many books one author sells, I'm a failure. If we're measuring it by purely prose it's guaranteed I'd get laughed off this site. So, these are just my thoughts that I hope open the way to some discussion about what really matters: story.
What is story to YOU?
I've been thinking about this. Some big projects are in store for my portfolio this year. The stories I will be writing mainly focus on something internal I'm trying to understand, share, and figure out through my writing. Story to me is the resolution of what I can't figure out. So this is what I focus on when I write. How do I get the characters from point A--where there's this thing I'm trying to understand about my life--to point B--where I've figured it out using the characters and their conflict in order to heal from something internal. Get me?
If I constantly focus on how my prose isn't lovely or lacks a je ne sais quoi then I'll never move forward. I'll never get from start to finish. I'll never have more books added to my back list. Writing is something I need. It's something I crave. Story is the magic that happens in those pages that helps me understand something about my journey on this planet. Maybe it's something good. A lot of times it's something else entirely. Focusing on story means locking on the characters and never letting go. When I don't know what comes next I look to them. To the question I want an answer to. What should come next? It eventually reveals itself and story continues.
What I find unhelpful is shaving off words because I repeated one, or structuring a sentence in another way because someone said so, or whatever. Guess my point is: keep it simple. Why do you pick up a book? That's the very reason to invest in your craft, because you can share that with someone else. Writing advice out there IS generic but that's also because everyone has their individual journeys to explore. But if we're serious about our work reaching others, wouldn't it be best to focus on how you can reach them on an emotional level? Isn't that what story is?