Writing
is hard gig and if anybody tells you differently, they definitely don’t get
what we writers are about. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing and the actually
process of doing the writing is easy for me. My imagination runs wild and there
are many days I have to reign it in.
It’s
the other things that come with writing which make it more difficult for me.
Things like the punctuation. See, I should have theoretically put a comma
before the word which and I didn’t. Does that make me a bad writer? Or one who
thinks the story is more than its punctuation?
I
daresay it’s the latter. Yet, those things are important but even readers have
to realize that those things aren’t the story. Sometimes it is necessary to
look beyond the stringent and rigid rules to get to the meat of what you’re
reading. That’s the important part.
For
each and every writer, the process is different but for most of us, a little
bit of our heart and soul is in each piece. How much depends on the writer and
what they are writing about. Don’t you ever wonder Jane Austen or Charlotte
Bronte were thinking when they penned their fabulous tales? Or how about Bram
Stoker or Isaac Asimov?
Every
time I read a great story, or even a not so great one, I tend to wonder what
the author was thinking the exact moment they penned those words. Were they
sad? Happy? Or thinking horrible things? Or like me when I think ‘let’s twist
the knife a little more’?
Each
aspect can have different outcomes and for us as readers, we can love them or
hate them. There are stories that I’ve absolutely hated the author and couldn’t
finish the series because I couldn’t resolve what was happening and what I
thought should be happening within
the story.
As a
writer, I try to consider what a reader wants when I’m doing dastardly things
to my characters. I know that there is a certain expectation in what one writes
and while I love my fans, for me, it’s all about the story. And my stories tell
themselves most of the time. I have pieces that have languished for years
because they won’t fit into the boxes that I felt were where they had to go.
The stories wanted to go to different places and many of those places were
where I felt I couldn’t follow for various reasons.
How’s
that possible you may ask…well…most authors have a line in the sand. Most of us
won’t cross that line and there are definitely things that I won’t write about.
Period. Don’t ask what they are because while many of them are the standards,
some aren’t and there are things I am going to write about others won’t. I plan
to push limits but I also plan to please readers as I’ve mentioned.
Therefore,
every day is a new dilemma, a new push me-pull me aspect that needs to be
resolved so I can create the best stories possible.
What
do you as a reader feel is a writer’s best, or worst, aspect when writing? Be
honest here…we writers really want to know.
Until
next week…
Lynn
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