In Today’s Journal
* Quotes of the Day
* The Bradbury Challenge Report
* Faux Interview, Part 6
* Of Interest
Quotes of the Day
“You’re gonna start with zero in a scene and end with zero. You let the process take you to the result rather than going to the result. Come in with nothing and just see where it goes, like life.” Robert Duvall in the best, most concise explanation I’ve ever heard of the creative process and writing into the dark
“Then if something good happens, something that’s really valid because you allowed yourself to not push it, then you can be rewarded around the corner by something else very valid. If you don’t violate by pushing.” Robert Duvall on process
The Bradbury Challenge Report
Participating in any challenge is a great way to have fun and grow as a writer.
The requirement is to write at least one short story per week, then let me know the title, word count, and genre per the format below. During the past week, the following writers wrote these new stories:
- Erin Donoho “The Decision” 400 words micro historical fiction
- Vanessa V. Kilmer “Ghosts Galore, Unlimited” 3065 Paranormal
- Christopher Ridge “Screams Beneath the Surface” Fantasy 2373
- Dave Taylor “One Door Opens ” 2,619 Science Fiction
- Glynn Young “An Ordinary Day” 3003 General
- Glynn Young “The Eve of Surgery” 2350 General
Congratulations to all of these writers.
Faux Interview, Part 6
This will wrap the extended faux interview. Judging from the lack of feedback, not a moment too soon. (grin)
- Does creativity become more reliable because the writer no longer waits to “feel inspired”? And perhaps most importantly, does prolific writing eventually create its own form of freedom?
Of course. The more the writer learns to recognize ideas, the more ideas will come to him, and the more he practices his craft, the better he gets at it and the more he writes.
As for prolific writing creating freedom, not really. Writing at all, if you trust yourself and your characters, creates its own form of freedom. And writing consistently expands that freedom.
- Your recent writing also shows that you’re still actively refining your approach rather than simply repeating old lessons.
Of course. And why wouldn’t I?
Anyway, I’m not refining my approach so much as the stories and characters are refining moment by moment what I know about writing fiction. But then, that’s why I get up and go to work every morning.
- After writing more than a hundred novels, what are you still trying to understand about writing?
Literally everything. Every aspect of any story can be made clearer, more precise.
The goal is for the reader to take from the page exactly what I put on the page: the exact physical and emotional sensations the POV character experienced as he lived the story.
- A writer can accumulate enormous experience and still encounter something new.
Sure, I couldn’t agree more. In fact, the more experience the writer has (we call it “practice”) the more new things he will encounter.
- A character sometimes behaves unexpectedly or a story sometimes refuses to follow the expected path.
In either case, God let’s hope so.
- A scene sometimes works better than anticipated.
Impossible. In the authentic story everything happens for a reason, though the reason is seldom clear. So if you report it accurately, a scene never works better or worse than anticipated. Everything works the way it should.
- A new idea sometimes changes an old belief about craft.
Not really.
I learn or realize something new every time I write a new story or novel, but my “belief about craft”—that I should always strive either to write the authentic story the characters are actually living or give it all up and go fishing—remains steady.
- What questions are still interesting enough to keep you writing?
I seldom even know what the question was until I discover the answer.
A Gentle Argument, and a Summation
The interviewer used several forms of the word “construct” (construction, constructing, etc.) at various times. But very seldom did he use any forms of the word “create.”
That’s a little troubling.
Construction in any form is a function of the conscious, critical mind. In preparing to write fiction, you can “construct” an outline or a character sketch. You can “build” (construct) a world. You can also “construct” settings and scenes and the narrative surrounding and describing those. You can even construct dialogue.
I recommend strongly against doing any of that. None of that is writing, and none of that is authentic because none of it comes from the story or the world or the characters themselves. It all comes from you.
You cannot write an authentic story when you constantly control the characters’ every thought, action, and speech and even the events that happen in their world.
Creation, in fiction writing, is simply the act of reportage.
To write the authentic story, you have to come out of the ivory tower, toss away your glistening white robes, and slip into sneakers or boots, jeans, and a t-shirt.
Then you roll off the parapet of the story and run through the trenches with the characters, doing your best to keep up as you observe and report events and the characters’ reactions in word and deed to those events. And you do so always through the perspective and opinions of your POV character.
Back tomorrow or the next day with some truly exciting personal news.
Of Interest
Kurt Vonnegut interview on His Life and Career
Ways Your Character Might Subliminally Indicate He’s Lying Keep scrolling past the ads. The whole article is there, plus links to other similar articles.