Hi there. I just got some pretty fantastic feedback for the short story that I told you all about, the creatures trying to find God through manipulation of the human soul, so that's going to be a lot of fun to rewrite. My fiction writing teacher gave me some wonderful ideas to make it stronger, even though it is such an abstract piece, with the main characters not being human, or anything close to human. I have to ground it somewhere, make it relate to us somehow, with imagery, vivid descriptions of earth as a human would understand it. She says it's a very ambitious piece, and even though she says I can pull it off, I have my doubts... But I really have my doubts about everything I write, including my novel and my current novella-in-progress. I wonder if I'll ever break through that. Maybe, someday, if I achieve publication and start writing as a career, as I plan to in my wildest dreams, I can write a short story or an outline or a novel and think, 'hey, this is pretty good.' I'm not there yet, obviously, but I wish I was... How wonderful it must be, to know exactly how good you are, to not have to rely on the words of others - either positive or negative.
I'm sure many of you out there are like me. Writers, lifetime writers, and everyone that has ever seen your work has complimented it without fail, and told you that you were talented, until you almost started to believe it. No one ever really told me that I needed to make anything that I wrote better, except my dad (speaking of you, Dad, welcome to my blog! If any of the rest of you see a strange commenter taking potshots at my mother, now you know why. The rest of you have no such immunity, so don't even try.). The only other person that pushed me to revise and rewrite anyway, regardless of what others said, was me. Because I simply didn't believe them when they said that I was so wonderful, my writing so perfect. I'm I can't tell you how glad I am that I didn't. Everyone needs to be able to revise. Everyone needs to know that their writing can improve. I always know that no matter how good I think something is, it can be better. But to paraphrase Clive Barker, only up until a certain point - then you'll only make it different. But I'm not there yet. I'm still where my writing is maybe a six, or a seven, and I have a lot of natural talent, but man, how can I give up and stay a seven when I have a ten to shoot for?
I hope you're all shooting for tens too! I also hope that you have someone in your life trying to improve you, either through writing, or someone that just makes you want to be a better person. They're your anchors in this tumultuous world, don't let them go. I hope everyone is having a wonderful evening, and I'll see you tomorrow =)
Gee, where is my black (villan) hat. I knew I left it here somewhere. Oh there it is, right next to the arsenic I used to try and poison the hero in my last little caper. Being the bad guy is such hard work, it is surprising that we are so unappreciated.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously folks, if Ernest Hemingway re-wrote, revised and wrestled with his work, why should we mere mortals feel we are exempt from having to do the same ?? If your team loses 21 - 20 on a missed point after attempt in the last seconds of a hard fought football game, do you think the kicker would want to go back and try it again??? In what other arena do you get a chance to do something over and over until you get it right?? Until it shines?? As writers we are lucky we have this wonderful opportunity to say what we we really wanted to say, even if it takes all day and all night to say it.
Our work should reflect the very best that is within us. Annie Dillard once said that it is just as hard to write a cookbook as it is to write War and Peace, so as long as we are writing, we might as well write War and Peace. Otherwise why bother???
Dave