Last week, I had a wonderful time having brunch with Caroline Starr Rose, a soon-to-be-published writer who has recently relocated back to this area. We were already online friends, so it was a blessing to meet her in person and share that unique fellowship of writers.
Caroline's debut novel is a middle-grade novel in verse. I'm a former verse writer who still likes to write lyrical prose. During our very stimulating conversation, we shared our experiences with the challenge of working with lyrical language.
I can't always control words.
On some days, I achieve full fluency and I write stuff that has power.
On other days, the words are stubborn and stiff.
My lack of control makes writing scary sometimes. That's when I have to start praying, so I can give up the responsibility and rely instead on a much better writer than myself. :-)
It might be different if I wrote literary fiction, or fiction without such tight generic requirements. Then I would be free to let the words just wander where they wanted to go.
It also might be different if I wrote in a plain style. If my only concern were characterization and plot, then words wouldn't matter so much. I would simply use the words I needed to convey the story, like a dramatist. Writers who work in this vein often use lots of dialogue--more than I use in my stories.
My problem is that I want to walk the line. I want to write commercial fiction, but I want the words to sing, at least part of the time. I want the beauty of language itself to increase the emotional power of my work.
In order to do that, I need some freedom. Paradoxically, it's a sense of freedom that allows me to bring language under my control, so it will respond to what I ask it to do.
The heavy demands of plot and character arcs in my genre do not always allow me that freedom.
So here is my question for you: how do you find freedom in your writing? When you start to feel bound by the demands of your genre, how do you loosen up and allow a sense of play in your work?
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I loosen up by writing/telling a story. Since I generally write in prose, resorting to story is fun and allows me to be more creative. Don't know if I could do that in enough detail to base a whole book on it. Then, it wouldn't be a fun and creative diversion; it would be work! :)
I focus on being in the moment with my story and I forget that the story will ever even have an audience. I write for me, to be heard, from a place of deep and raw honesty. I focus on showing with words what the landscape of my heart looks like. When I am done, then I got back and edit. But until then, it is all play. I have to approach my writing like I am the only one who will ever read it. That way I am not already editing things before they get on the paper. Of course I actually want my writing to be read by others, but if I thought about who those 'others' might be the words would die on the page, or worse, they'd die in my head.
All the best with the words and the playing. Enjoy. That's why you started writing to begin with, right? To enjoy it? :)
Okay, so here it is for me:
Rough draft = wild and free, like running in a field of flowers
Editing Process = like shoveling snow until my nose freezes shut and I can't feel my fingers
Prayer has become more and more important to me before I sit to write. I wonder if that will reflect in what I write.
~ Wendy
This reminds me of our conversation! Play is important to me because the idea of writing a whole book is overwhelming. When I can focus on language play, the pressure is (mostly) off.
Rosslyn, interesting. One of my children's books is fiction, the other, nonfiction. I am drawn to both -- the literary elements and the factual elements that give meat to a story. What I think might help is if you dabble in both. If you feel restricted in some ways by your commercial writing, have something else you're working on that is more literary. That way you are fulfilling both. Maybe that feels too scattered. There is a way to combine them, I'm sure. But as a writer of both fiction and nonfiction, they do seem like separate spheres. That said, no need to box yourself in. Looks for spaces for both and I think you might find yourself very fulfilled. I admire that you are disciplined enough to tackle commercial fiction, though. Challenging though it may be, you're obviously good at it, or you wouldn't have secured an agent or a contract! :)
Caroline, you're right! This post is inspired by our wonderful brunch meeting. In fact, I'm going to amend it to say so, as I'm a stickler for attribution. :-) Blame my grad school background.
Even in writing non-fiction, I too desire for the beauty of the language to permeate and empower the overall message.
Whenever the words feel stiff and forced, I put it away and come back to it another day. Sometimes, for whatever reason, it's just about timing. Of course, I don't have contractual deadlines impending on me either. So perhaps I have more freedom in that.
As always, your posts are interesting and thought-provoking.
DJ
I find that it is fear that binds me down most often. I need the freedom to let my imagination wander and trust where it will take me. Great post!
Love your posts, Rosslyn! And have been missing you at my place!!
Hmm. I am so grateful to the Holy Spirit for letting things flow.
Music also seems to unloose the blood from my collapsed vein of inspiration.
Yeah, I know the feeling. Just push, push, push on through.
Like when they can't get your blood out. It usually comes.
Just painful....
Blessings, dear one.
Patti
You know, it IS that letting go. When I stop trying to over-think and control what happens, and let my imagination-inspiration take over, wonderful things happen. I've also stopped to pray and say, "God, where do you want this to go? Give me the right words."
How VERY cool that you could have lunch with Caroline!! And even better that the two of you could talk about verse-writing! I'm looking forward to reading her book and getting a taste of what that's like!
I find that my favorite way to write is in 1st person...in romance, that's kinda taboo? Not so much taboo, but they wanna know what that guys thinking! It's a ROMANCE!!!
Well, mild at best, lol.
So when I write in third person, I feel so constricted. Which should actually be the opposite, LOL
But third person feels so "He said, she said" to me.
Maybe at least for now, if it feels that way, I must not be doing it right.
I write loose and free. Especially the first draft. I just let the words flow, no worries about things.
It's the revisions that I keep the "rules" closer to the forefront of my mind. But I still try and push the envelope if I can. :-)
You know, this is not something I have actively thought about. I love my words, which is why I write literary fiction and YA fiction. Best of both worlds. But even in my YA fiction I seem to find the balance. One word can capture a vast number of images,the same goes for word combinations.
I suppose there will always be sacrifices in my YA writing, as far as my words go, but I can always let loose in my literary works!
I enjoy the freeflow of the first draft. It's the endless editing that slows me down.
Blessings,
Susan :)
I loosen up by reading a book in my genre for inspiration a few minutes before I write. It's a tricky situation and even if I don't feel like it I make myself produce. My brain knows a break is not an option.
I'm with you, the best books are the ones where the writing starts to sing to you here and there. For me, writing exercises give me creative freedom! I am doing some exercises from Les Edgerton's "Finding Your Voice" and having so much fun with it right now. I can almost always find a gem in the rough from one of these, even if it's just a single word, or a three-word image. I write the gem on a post it on my notes board. I still have a lot I haven't used, but everyonce in a while I find the perfect spot for it.
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