The Lonely Truth
Published on Jan 02 2012 | Filed under: For Writers
Let’s face it, writing is a lonely calling. We don’t do it with someone looking over our shoulder. Even when we need help and look for answers to our own toughest plot questions, its still, in the end, our own lonely project that no one will understand as deeply as we do and, hence, we are the only people who can solve our most difficult writing problems.
So, why is this a good thing?
I’m going to start by initially saying that this can and should be a good thing. Your writing may end up being your most personal act with yourself (haha, yeah, that sentence could be used in other circumstances. . .) but this can be extremely daunting. Embracing the fact that your writing is yours, and yours alone, is the first step to beating just how utterly daunting writing can be. We don’t start as writers seeing or knowing this fact. Instead we start as writers inspired, typing away, giddy, excited, with the words flowing out of us like Niagara Falls. We don’t come face to face with how utterly alone we are, with this huge book project, until we run into problems. And it is in that moment when we realize that we are up against an enormous plot responsibility with no one to turn to.
What you shouldn’t do
Being a part of a writers’ group (Jackpine Writers) has left me some insight on the worst choice we can make in our own lonely desperation: Turning to others can be outrageously destructive. I also think turning to others is probably our first instinct when we face the abyss. So, why not turn to others, especially other writers, you ask? Because they don’t know your book, nor your plot, nor your initial hope for its future and editing. They can, and probably will, give you terrible advice. They won’t do this purposefully but they have no way of understanding your project like you do. No one does. Advice is a very dangerous thing for something that is so personal. And the worst advice you will ever receive will be, absolutely, from other writers. This is, once again, not at all intentional but a writers first instinct when approached with a writing project that has problems and is unfinished, is to simply apply to it the kind of changes they themselves would personally make as writers. That would be fine, except that it’s not their project, its yours.
How to go it alone
So, you’re going it alone, just like when you started writing in the beginning. Except now its not any fun, its difficult, it makes your head feel like its going to split down the middle. When I face this kind of situation in my own writing life I follow a check list to help me get out of it.
Take a deep breath and get away from it for a little while - Seems obvious doesn’t it? But often our most difficult problems will evaporate after a good nights sleep or a week entirely away from our own writing.
Get some perspective - I don’t personally really write in chapters, instead I deal in a more Stephen King-esque numbering sequence but, regardless, you might have a plot problem but getting back to the bones of your story and reminding yourself where the heck you’re going can be extremely helpful. Ask yourself, how is the book going to end? And then, how was this chapter going to end? How was this scene going to end? Don’t let a runaway plot keep your from the bones.
Separate your main characters - This is something I have found absolutely invaluable in the past. If you have multiple characters that move between each other throughout the book, pull those characters out and make separate books out of their own stories. This saved me when writing the first Embraced by Darkness book, I was able to focus on each of my main characters exclusively, making it a far less daunting book to work on.
The point is to put your book into a position where its not such a difficult piece of work, this can be done strictly by getting some perspective, or by physically pulling that book a part and working on separate plots individually. Oftentimes we just need to change how we look at things.
But can’t advice help at all?
Of course it can, don’t get me wrong about that one, I have been a part of a writers’ group and I have been given some really great advice. But it has never been about plot. Our writers group has one strict rule, no comments about subject. We critique the writing, the sentence structure, grammar choices, word choices etc. But we are aware, as writers, that our own personal choices about plot: are just that, our own. Sometimes though just talking it out can really help. In this case I have my awesome mom who would tell you she is not a writer, she’s a reader! I’ve found that her advice has been the most helpful and I believe its absolutely because she’s not a writer. So my advice would be to find your own nonwriters who love you, understand you (heh, to some extent anyway. . .) and will openly listen and try to help as best they can. Non-writers have one great thing going for them, they don’t know any of the rules about writing so they can’t apply them to you. I just love those folks who start with, “Well, I see how your book isn’t following the blah blah blah guide of writing a novel. Have you read that book?” Writers are great at advice that its too late to apply. Nonwriters/readers however, you need one of those on your side, someone to talk it through with. Find one.