That’s right. But the cool thing is that I think my story is getting better…
That doesn’t mean that I’d ever let this current draft be seen in print. But that’s ok. This is a rough draft, after all.
However, now that I’m at the very middle, the characters are starting to interact in really interesting ways, and are struggling with some really interesting dilemmas. Sometimes, it’s a real struggle to get words on the page that don’t feel fake, but other times, its really interesting and satisfying to see what the characters do. You just have to turn off that critic’s voice in the back of your mind and let it happen.
I heard a really interesting thing on the latest episode of Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing (ASFP is an excellent podcast btw, one of the best ones I know on the subject of writing and sf/f, I’d highly recommend it just for the quality interviews they do). Actually, I heard a lot more than one interesting thing, but one thought in particular really struck me.
Shaun Farrell was interviewing famous Fantasy author Terry Goodkind about his latest book and his thoughts on writing and publishing in general, and the conversation got on to what Mr. Goodkind thought of writing long multi-novel sagas. Around 18:20 in the podcast, Terry said something really fascinating–that when people read books, they do more than give you their money, they give you a piece of their life. It takes time to read a book, and time is more than money, it’s a measure of someone’s life. So, because of this, Terry says that you’re obligated as a writer to make sure that these people who give you a piece of their life do not go away empty.
This really rang true for me. I’ve never really liked books where the only purpose is to entertain–I like books that have some kind of meaning to them that helps me see the world in a new way, or notice some truth that I hadn’t picked up on yet, or compels me to do something good or become someone better. sci fi and fantasy are genres that really do that for me, which is why I spend more time in those genres than in others.
I really appreciate that interview a lot. It helped me to be more focused about what I’m writing. Stories should never be just “stuff happens, the end” kind of stories. There needs to be more meaning to it. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should consciously try to inject meaning into the story–otherwise, it becomes really preachy or really sappy. It means, I suppose, that you should approach each story with questions in your mind–a sense of wonder. The more you get into the story, the more you’ll find things popping up that you didn’t expect–and this will bring meaning to the story from places in you that you didn’t know that you had. At least, that’s happening to me right now, in some small way. Hopefully, the experience will continue.
In the meantime, I really wish I didn’t have anything else to do except write. It seems that I never get the time until late at night! That doesn’t mean I’m not keeping up with my goals, though (I did about 1,350 words tonight), it means that I wish I could set my goals higher. I just want to finish my novel and work on all the other stories in my head! But everything in its proper time and place.
Speaking of which, I need to sleep. Goodnight!
