Creative Epiphany

Still, one should not think they are now “perfect” because someone likes what you do.  For years after completing that novel, I’ve been struggling to begin the next one.  But nothing was coming.  Just some vague ideas and a vague notion as to what I wanted to say with it.  In the interim, I wrote articles, essays, book reviews, anything just to keep me writing and I hoped that one day the spark would ignite and I could get rolling again.  I’m still learning.  I read a lot and with each reading it seems I am also “studying” the craft of writing as well.  Not only do I enjoy the books I read for their content but I also look at how a writer approaches what they did.  What techniques do they use?  Why this and not that?  Why first person instead of third?  and vice versa.  For one that has never taken a creative writing class or been formally trained in any way shape or form, this is the next best way of learning the art of writing.  Paying attention to what you are reading.  

So finally, about 7 years after completing my first novel, I finally got the spark to begin the next one.  But something happened to me this afternoon which I didn’t see coming.  Suddenly it hit me that I was approaching this all wrong.  I’ve been too busy looking at this from one perspective when I should have been looking at it from another.  I was basically stifling my imagination by trying too hard.  Yes.  Trying too hard.  Also...I realized that I was putting myself way too much into the writing.  Now those who’ve taken classes and all will probably already know what I just learned today, and that is, let the story BE.  Get the hell out of the way and tell the story!  Since everything I’ve written has always been from a first person perspective, how could I NOT put myself too much into it.  So I thought, maybe this time around, I’ll try 3rd person perspective.  Seems like a good idea to allow the story to breathe a little, getting inside the heads of the other characters in the story, etc etc.  So I sat back, thought about how could I convert what I began from this new perspective and I realized I could do it and will do it.  Also, just by making this little tweak, I came up with 7 more ideas --- albeit rudimentary --- for novels which I immediately wrote down on scraps of paper.  A very exciting prospect for me.  

As I said, I am just a beginner.  I am still learning and always welcome the feedback and opinion of others (even though the whole idea of “networking” is more in word than in deed, it seems).  Publication doesn’t mean you “made it”.  If that’s the case, I’ve “made it” a long time ago.  Publication is great...but one can never stop learning, growing, expanding.  We all have our own personal goals to attain, no matter what it is we decide to do in life.  It’s important to keep the wheels greased, keep the head open and look at things differently from time to time.  You just never know what it could do for your creative juices.  

Onward and upward....