04/09/2023
Several have asked me how I write, or where I come up with my stories? So, here I'll try and explain. This is a little long but it's the best I can do
Curse of the Writer
by
Jan W. Brown
It begins with just a notion. Maybe a fleeting wisp of a dream, as you lie tossing in bed at 5am. Or, it could be something you read, or heard. It could even come from a song on the radio. You might have the same thought the next morning, or later in the week. You’ll write it down. Just a note to remember this thought from the other thousand or so, already in your notebook.
Before long that notion becomes an idea. Over the next few days, or weeks, you’ll nourished that idea like a sick puppy. You’ve asked yourself, could it happen? Did it happen? How did it happen? And, does anyone care?
Now it’s in your head. You think about it before you go to sleep, while you drive to where ever you’re going. Your family will wonder if you’re day dreaming. You’re not. You’re in another space, forming characters. Who are they? What do they look like? Where are they from? Why are they here? You research. You dig.
Next you begin to doodle, or scribble more notes. The notes become an outline. You start with chapters. What happens? When does it happen? How does it happen? But you already know before long the story will have a life of its own, traveling in its own direction. It will drive you to write, just to keep up with this wild ride you’ve created.
That outline eventually begins to blur.
Then that idea becomes a story. That puppy is now stumbling around and learning to walk. For me, it’s how it begins, “IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT” … and how it ends, “THEY LIVE HAPPLY EVER AFTER.” And I only wish they were that simple. Those two points are the most important. How it begins is what sparks the reader. It stirs their imagination, inviting them into your world. How it ends… well, I often know how it will end before I start, though that can change. It is what satisfies the reader. It gives them the answers they want… sometimes. Often, if you tell the story well, it induces the reader to want to believe. Did this really happen? Could this have happened? Is there such a place? Were these real people?
Finally, the story’s told. Notice I didn’t say, it’s finished. Because it’s not. By now you’ve read it so many times, you know it by heart. You’ve changed the characters, the motives, even the beginning or ending, more than once. You’ve argued with it, like a bad neighbor, even stepped away a few times to get more perspective. All that is normal. You could continue to do so forever. But sooner or later it’s time. You cannot put it off any longer. That puppy is now a full gown hound dog.
Finished? Ya think? Naw. It’s time to edit. Edit… and edit again. It’s time to take that dog for a walk. Here, you’ll meet some vicious people who will mercilessly shred your characters, what they say, who they are, and their motives. They will tear your story apart at every page, leaving it ravaged on the floor next to your chair.
Afterwards, gathering up what remains, you continue. Until finally one day you realize it is finished. It is time to let that dog off its leash. For better or worse, it is time to bare your soul to the world.
You have created a novel filled with characters, places, and events that will stay with you forever. It is time to put it out there. Time to share this work with others. Maybe they will find your story interesting enough to take time from their life to read it. Hopefully they will find entertainment and satisfaction from what you have written. If they do, and only if they do, will you know you have done your job.
Then, one morning it begins again, with just a notion…
