Blog 45
The
development of the idea appears to be emerging slowly, perhaps more so than
usual. As such, it has afforded me an opportunity to examine aspects of my
writing process. I’ve read of writers who claim to allow their story to come
forth “organically.” I interpret this, correctly or not, to start writing and
see what transpires. Contrast that to the crime writer I met at a workshop years
ago who tightly plotted his efforts down to an anticipated number of chapters
and pages per.
If those
examples represent the extremes, I’d locate myself somewhere in between. I
typically have a plot in mind, nebulous as it might be, with a beginning and an
end. Whether I can get there or not, I need to have a sense of destination.
While it is not inlaid in stone and is ever subject to alteration, I feel the
need for a vision of the story’s conclusion even as I begin.
In my present
state, an aspect of my “percolating” relates to an unusual struggle with the
decision to narrate from a first-person point of view or my generally more
comfortable third person perspective. I’ve found myself pondering what this
might be about. Though I have no answer, since I’ve found myself tilting toward
first-person this time, I’m wondering if there’s a lurking concern with
interjecting too much of myself into the main character.
Feel free to
laugh. Of course, there are always pieces of me scattered throughout my
fiction. As with any writer, how could there not be? It (all of it) issues from
my head. That said, my experience suggests the closer a character approaches me
(or I him), the greater the possibility that fiction is edging into
autobiography. I’ve also noticed that the nearer my path attenuates toward the
protagonist’s, the more my writing slows. Am I now entertaining decisions to
withhold in order to maintain privacy? And if so, is honesty being sacrificed
for my comfort?
Weird? Silly?
Your thoughts or experiences?
