in your head.
Writing is fun, however it is also work. I can think of a
thousand stories and they run rampant inside my brain for hours, days, weeks,
years, but putting them on paper can be difficult.
And I am not talking about the physical act of forcing
myself to sit at a keyboard, which can be difficult too. I am talking about to
make that phenomenal story work you have to make it realistic, believable,
coherent (that helps), and a whole of host either points to be made, or keeps
the readers attention, to keeping facts in line and drama that must be cohesive
to create a story from start to finish.
I spent half a day doing research for a story I am writing.
And then you start questioning how much research must be done. What is enough
that a reader feels the information in the story is believable and based in
some reality without boring them with details that have nothing to do with the
story. And all this research only moved about half a chapter along.
And then no matter what, somehow somewhere someway you will
still miss something. This is the intangible miss. What works for one reader,
may only partially work or not work at all for another reader. What is too
much, not just research, but story, description, dialogue or fiction? Yes, can
you have too much fiction in a story. I think so. There are all these lines to
be drawn, characters to be developed, stories within the story to get to where
you, the author, thinks it should be. Yet again, not every reader is going to
be on the same page as you.
With some physical work you know when you are successful.
You can clean a window and look through it with a light behind it to see if you
missed a spot or there is a streak or smudge. Everyone can see the window and
pretty much come to the same conclusion it is clean or needs more work. With a
story, that doesn’t happen. Someone will
be glad to tell you there is a smudge or mud spot or the edges are smeared in a
story, but everyone sees it differently. And you do need to have someone or a
few people point those out, but they didn’t write the story and their
interpretation may not be how you want the story to be read.
In some ways writers and authors who stick to a genre can find
an audience and that audience can understand a clearer picture of what you are
trying to say. And yes they may have some research to do, but with sticking to this
genre they know exactly how much glass cleaner to put on to clear up the spots.
And over time their research is already built in to what they are doing. For
example Tom Clancy became very adept in writing stories like “Hunt for Red
October”. He had very specific research he could do to flesh out his story and
make it very realistic for his readers. And then there is authors like Stephen
King, hard to say what kind of research he did to write “The Shining”. Did he
visit old hotels, study mental illness or what? I am suspecting he did some of
both and much more to make “The Shining” so impactful. And he can fall back on
years of writing in one genre every time he writes a new book. Somewhere early
on though he had to break through that invisible barrier to find the ability to
make sure his window was clean for his readers.
And professional writers have the same problem in a
different way. Their audience knows the topic. They have to research in great
detail and cannot have gaps or glaring errors. And then there are people who
have to write for one person. Much of what attorneys write is for a judge. And
each judge has their own personality. Do successful attorneys study not only
the law, but also the judge?
I enjoy writing. Even after spending half a day researching
it was a joy to flesh out the story with the details I included. Once I got
started it was two hours later before I knew it. Yet for the life of me I have
no idea what people are going to see. Or most likely people may never even see
the window. And if they do, can they see my complete picture? Or what points or
thoughts are covered up by inconsistencies or incorrect research or is just
boring. I cannot see that because in my mind it is all phenomenal.
And switching gears I am struggling with the upcoming debate
on Thursday. I do not like expressing negative thoughts or desires for people
to fail. Yet I am hoping that my prediction that both Trump and Biden are going
to come across as two old farts that cannot keep it together come true so the
Republicans and Democrats are forced to do the right thing and give us two new
candidates. I still won’t vote for either, but since so many of my fellow
countrymen and women are stuck in the duopoly’s rut I can at least hope for
better choices for the people that will vote Democrat or Republican until they
come to their senses and realize we need new major parties. Who knows maybe the
MAGA/GOP fissure may end up creating a center right party that comes up with
some practical public policy, especially in regards to our economic situation.
We need to cut spending, shake up the tax code, build in better protections for
consumers since corporations are overly focused on stock price, not their actual
business and customer. And as you know I could go on. Anyway I bet most of you
aren’t going to watch anyway, but even though I hate being negative I hope this
event is one big eye opening failure.
Cheers
No comments:
Post a Comment