One Writer in Search of a Facet
Pretentious Writing Theory Discussion Ahead...Warning, warning, danger, danger!
I was thinking about this actively earlier tonight, and at this point, I'm just avoiding bed for no particularly good reason. I'm riding the middle of a two-day weekend, with only one left before the spring semester so, really, I'm trying to take as much advantage of it as I can. And so I've been staying up, reading comics, and generally farting around.
So, really, this post was a way to distract myself from the fact that I'm back-burning a short story that I want to write but don't quite have the gumption to do so. Sure, I have no reason to write it now other than self-edification--and sure, it'd probably be great to keep it back-burned until sometime next semester, so that I can whip it together for advanced fiction writing--but really what's bugging me is that it's all but written in my head, I know quite a few of the major moments--or, at least, the beats I'm going to string together.
Basically, I'm armed with enough right now that I, for all intents and purposes, could write the piece and have it be effective and something I'm proud of.
So what, other than laziness, is stopping me?
A bit of an aside:
For me, the process of putting a story together has a few stages. First is the general notion or idea. Sometimes it's character, other time a scene or a setting, a theme or a general notion of a conflict pops into my head.
Lately, it's been an idea of building a story around a weird concept--Unnatural Selection, from last semester (short story post around mid-October or so) was one of these. I had heard about the Heike crab years and years ago--like, eighth or tenth grade, maybe?--and finally thought to use it in a story. I read through material about the crab, and got an image of someone on a stormy beach stabbing the crab through the face on its shell with a knife. Of course, this image didn't wind up in the story--I had intended for it to, but it morphed itself into stepping on the crab and getting stabbed in the foot by its shell--but it was the germ from which I built the story from the ground up.
Once I had that germ, it became a matter of attacking it with questions. Who was on that beach? Why was he (it was a he) stabbing a crab? Where was this beach?
So on and so on. Until I had my story.
Usually, that's around step one. Just the gist--the basics, the general skeleton.
For Analemma--the controversial November story--it was Tom telling me the story of the video tape. I thought about that tape, and what it would contain, and asked myself into what relationship could I introduce this tape to make for a good story, to give good drama and provide as a catalyst (remember this word) for the rest of the yarn to wind itself around.
So, first, I thought of a male-female romance. Boyfriend/girlfriend, really, was the first thought. Certainly, a tape from one of their past loves--particularly from the boyfriend's past--would make for an interesting read. I had already promised myself a female first-person narrator, as it's a voice I hadn't dipped into with any accuracy or relish in quite awhile, so that started to fall together well. But...
It was missing two vital things. One was the boyfriend/girlfriend relationship felt staid and played out. I had read that story, you know? It felt done. Once I took inspiration from recent events and made the relationship an unrequited thing--particularly from the boy's perspective--then things started falling together. The conscious parallels between the two unrequited sets of feelings--and the fact that I would never overtly mention them--et cetera, et cetera. Dominos started falling at this point.
But it was missing something that I couldn't quite place. Something that would lend the story weight and give it a sense of realism and place that wouldn't be the relationship, but could somehow comment on the relationship. A B-Plot--though that's not quite the right word for it, since it's not distinctly plot I'm talking about--really, another element that would just weigh in on everything and give it momentum. This was one of the hardest things to come up with and part of why I put the story off for so long--I had the broad strokes at the end of September, the details filled in and the nature of the relationship locked by Halloween, I was just missing this other...thing. This other vital element that would seal the deal for me.
This article fell into my lap quite literally--I'm signed up for Wired's e-mailer for this very reason--and it gave me what I needed. It was an innocuous enough thing--a piece of business, really--that I could play literally or figuratively in any possible number of combinations to both be a part of their relationship, to describe their relationship, and to just be a thing that goes on in their lives.
Once I had that, I couldn't wait to write the story.
Anyway, so with the one that's brewing, I've had the general notion since before Christmas; character notions closer to New Year's; a title soon after; plot details and images that will string together and keep it afloat.
What I'm missing is the thing. This thing, for me, is the thing that finally takes all of these random elements and makes it worth writing about. It's the missing link.
If I remember Chemistry, from way back in eleventh grade, I remember that a chemical reaction often will need the things you're trying to put together and a third thing--a catalyst. (Callback: aren't I fucking clever?!?)
Every story requires a catalyst. And, for me, sometimes what I think is a catalyst is really just an element to the story. I keep hitting on things and then saying "no, but that's another facet to the piece."
But I'm casting around, and coming up with bupkis. I'm sure something will hit--inspiration will strike like lightning--but as for right now...
And it's frustrating as fuck, because I sat down and watched Garden State for the first time since I bought it--and since I saw it in the theatre, so viewing number two--and wanted to write. I probably could've, but I told myself I didn't have this thing that I needed.
So, yeah. Things could be worse, I'm sure, and I hope this doesn't sound like whining. But, nothing else, I thought a view into my process could be--dunno--interesting. Contrary to what it seems, doing this stuff can be, y'know, work.
I was thinking about this actively earlier tonight, and at this point, I'm just avoiding bed for no particularly good reason. I'm riding the middle of a two-day weekend, with only one left before the spring semester so, really, I'm trying to take as much advantage of it as I can. And so I've been staying up, reading comics, and generally farting around.
So, really, this post was a way to distract myself from the fact that I'm back-burning a short story that I want to write but don't quite have the gumption to do so. Sure, I have no reason to write it now other than self-edification--and sure, it'd probably be great to keep it back-burned until sometime next semester, so that I can whip it together for advanced fiction writing--but really what's bugging me is that it's all but written in my head, I know quite a few of the major moments--or, at least, the beats I'm going to string together.
Basically, I'm armed with enough right now that I, for all intents and purposes, could write the piece and have it be effective and something I'm proud of.
So what, other than laziness, is stopping me?
A bit of an aside:
For me, the process of putting a story together has a few stages. First is the general notion or idea. Sometimes it's character, other time a scene or a setting, a theme or a general notion of a conflict pops into my head.
Lately, it's been an idea of building a story around a weird concept--Unnatural Selection, from last semester (short story post around mid-October or so) was one of these. I had heard about the Heike crab years and years ago--like, eighth or tenth grade, maybe?--and finally thought to use it in a story. I read through material about the crab, and got an image of someone on a stormy beach stabbing the crab through the face on its shell with a knife. Of course, this image didn't wind up in the story--I had intended for it to, but it morphed itself into stepping on the crab and getting stabbed in the foot by its shell--but it was the germ from which I built the story from the ground up.
Once I had that germ, it became a matter of attacking it with questions. Who was on that beach? Why was he (it was a he) stabbing a crab? Where was this beach?
So on and so on. Until I had my story.
Usually, that's around step one. Just the gist--the basics, the general skeleton.
For Analemma--the controversial November story--it was Tom telling me the story of the video tape. I thought about that tape, and what it would contain, and asked myself into what relationship could I introduce this tape to make for a good story, to give good drama and provide as a catalyst (remember this word) for the rest of the yarn to wind itself around.
So, first, I thought of a male-female romance. Boyfriend/girlfriend, really, was the first thought. Certainly, a tape from one of their past loves--particularly from the boyfriend's past--would make for an interesting read. I had already promised myself a female first-person narrator, as it's a voice I hadn't dipped into with any accuracy or relish in quite awhile, so that started to fall together well. But...
It was missing two vital things. One was the boyfriend/girlfriend relationship felt staid and played out. I had read that story, you know? It felt done. Once I took inspiration from recent events and made the relationship an unrequited thing--particularly from the boy's perspective--then things started falling together. The conscious parallels between the two unrequited sets of feelings--and the fact that I would never overtly mention them--et cetera, et cetera. Dominos started falling at this point.
But it was missing something that I couldn't quite place. Something that would lend the story weight and give it a sense of realism and place that wouldn't be the relationship, but could somehow comment on the relationship. A B-Plot--though that's not quite the right word for it, since it's not distinctly plot I'm talking about--really, another element that would just weigh in on everything and give it momentum. This was one of the hardest things to come up with and part of why I put the story off for so long--I had the broad strokes at the end of September, the details filled in and the nature of the relationship locked by Halloween, I was just missing this other...thing. This other vital element that would seal the deal for me.
This article fell into my lap quite literally--I'm signed up for Wired's e-mailer for this very reason--and it gave me what I needed. It was an innocuous enough thing--a piece of business, really--that I could play literally or figuratively in any possible number of combinations to both be a part of their relationship, to describe their relationship, and to just be a thing that goes on in their lives.
Once I had that, I couldn't wait to write the story.
Anyway, so with the one that's brewing, I've had the general notion since before Christmas; character notions closer to New Year's; a title soon after; plot details and images that will string together and keep it afloat.
What I'm missing is the thing. This thing, for me, is the thing that finally takes all of these random elements and makes it worth writing about. It's the missing link.
If I remember Chemistry, from way back in eleventh grade, I remember that a chemical reaction often will need the things you're trying to put together and a third thing--a catalyst. (Callback: aren't I fucking clever?!?)
Every story requires a catalyst. And, for me, sometimes what I think is a catalyst is really just an element to the story. I keep hitting on things and then saying "no, but that's another facet to the piece."
But I'm casting around, and coming up with bupkis. I'm sure something will hit--inspiration will strike like lightning--but as for right now...
And it's frustrating as fuck, because I sat down and watched Garden State for the first time since I bought it--and since I saw it in the theatre, so viewing number two--and wanted to write. I probably could've, but I told myself I didn't have this thing that I needed.
So, yeah. Things could be worse, I'm sure, and I hope this doesn't sound like whining. But, nothing else, I thought a view into my process could be--dunno--interesting. Contrary to what it seems, doing this stuff can be, y'know, work.