cathschaffstump | Where Writing Can Take You (Reply)

I know that writing is a lot of unglamorous hard work. Yes, yes. It can be hard and frustrating during those fallow times, or when the writing isn't going where you want it to, or the words seem particularly insipid to you as you pen them. I've been there. And I know edits and suggestions can just make you tear your hair out!

Right now, I'm in that whole 'nother place, one of the big reasons I keep coming back to writing in the first place. The happy place.

I'm back on the troll story pretty much in full force, and after discovering that what I've already done mostly works, I'm feeling very encouraged to move forward. The way before me is not clear, and I know I'll throw away more stuff before I keep it. I'm clearing a lot of debris out of my brain by zero drafting. Then the real stuff shows up, and I sketch it down, then flesh it out.

The plan is to get the plot and action, smooth out the glitches and add the transitions, look at what the characters are thinking, and add the emotional veneer over the top. Very structural and work oriented, yeah?

Except now I am in the spot where I realize that this story is about someone and something.

Sometimes my stories are not about anything. Sometimes they are about everything. Substance of Shadows is both about life as an abused child, yet at the same time is a love affair with my husband, because one of the characters reminds me of him, and I'm sharing him with the world, in a sense.

The Winter the Troll Danced with Old Nick is in part my way of exorcising issues with my mother, but it is now turning into my love affair with my friend Lisa.

Lisa and I were almost inseparable at one time. We spent a great deal of time together, as much as we could, and enjoyed each others friendship very much. We still do when we get together.

But...life happened. We were entirely swept away by becoming too busy to see each other, except on occasion, the way these things work, whether you're far away from each other or closer to home. The fade away was both easy and hard for both of us, as these things are.

Part of this story encapsulates that. There's a close friendship between the two new characters in the story that's almost painful, yet is incredibly close. They're at an awkward time, but deep down there is closeness and concern, a sort of friendship that can be rewarding at its best and painful at its worst. It takes me back to times that were not always easy, but were most often rewarding, and I hope it will do the same for my friend when she reads it.

I'm not trying to make a statement about friendship or love. I'm trying to portray what they are like, as true in my experience. It makes me feel good when it feels that there is more to my writing than moving words around on a page. It makes me feel like my writing has a soul.

Do you find yourself drawing on your life experiences as you write, and in what ways?

Catherine

Mirrored from Writer Tamago.