Howdy folks. I’m still taking a little break from posting but will be back next week.
Meanwhile, my good pal, John “J.A.” Pitts, author of Black Blade Blues and Honeyed Words, is back with another guest blog. Like all of John’s posts, this one is also thoughtful and excellent…..
I sat down in my hotel room to write this blog post and discovered that the power cord for my computer will not stay plugged into the electrical wall outlet. The hardware is worn. If I’m really careful, and fiddle with the plug, I can get it to connect, maybe even stay in the wall, but if I move anything, the plug falls out. Not the most optimal solution, especially for powering a laptop. The outlet no longer performs like it should.
I help run the writer’s workshop at Norwescon science fiction convention every spring in Seattle, Washington. I critique stories and give the authors feedback. Some have come through more than once. Some are new. Of the new ones, there are a subset who have been writing the same story over and over for years.
That’s want I want to discuss today. Their plugs are worn out.
As creative people, they have not dared to learn new skills. They have worn a groove into the areas they know, and things no longer work like they once did. When you write, you need to be creative, and try new things. If you are working on the same piece, or keep going back to tweak and polish your old stuff, you are not growing or stretching your abilities.
I guarantee you the next thing you write will be better than the last thing you wrote. It’s just the way things work. Now, granted, you may write a stellar scene in one place, and a lesser scene later, but the general rule applies. We are creatures of two minds. We have the capabilities of adapting, of changing to survive new and often dangerous situations. But, unfortunately, we love habits. We want to do the same things, the familiar things, because we are comfortable with them (and we’ve learned that nothing will kill us and eat us doing these things). We strongly dislike change because that way leads to chaos (and, you know, death).
But if we keep going over the same roads we don’t learn anything new. We become complacent and lazy. We suffer a fate worse than death: we become predictable and boring. For writers, we don’t discover that next great story, delve into that yet unknown plot device or character and we do not get measurably better.
There is a point when performing the same tasks where your growth and learning starts to diminish. Going back over your old stories, rehashing the same things you’ve done for years, has stopped giving you new neural pathways, stopped expanding your brain. You’ve stopped being interesting as a writer.
You need to step outside of your comfort zone. Decide that the old stories are either good enough as is and send them out to editors who will possibly buy them, or you need to trunk those stories. You are a better writer today than you were yesterday. Why not allow those new skills to play with new subjects, new characters, new worlds?
It’s not to say you can’t write a series with similar characters, or with similar themes. As I’ve stated earlier, we love habits. Readers love to go back to the familiar characters, themes, settings and plots. It hits their reader cookies, makes them happy and comfortable.
But, they do not want to be bored. They do NOT want to see the exact same thing in different clothing. They want something fresh to go with their familiar. New diversions, new dangers, new objectives and tribulations for your characters.
It’s what keeps it fresh.
So, the next time you sit down to write, try something new.
If you are a reader and you are looking for that next story to take you away from your work-a-day life and let you play in the fantastic — try a new author, a new genre, a new world.
Neither of you will be disappointed.
Those who finally break out of the trap, who are willing to step over the line and into a new paradigm, they start to sell. Trust your growth. Practice your craft. Allow yourself to experiment and try new things. You may find you love writing about dragons more than space stations. You may find out that robots are just as cool as elves. Whatever you discover, you will be blazing new trails and laying down new neural pathways in your brain.
Then, when you sit down to write in the future, the plugs will all fit, because you’ve strengthened the electrical system in your brain, and in your creativity. You will be daring and bold, not afraid to take chances and push the limits.
That’s what we read for, after all. We want to pretend for a while that eleven-year-olds get to go to Hogwarts, that there are friendly civilizations out in the universe, and that, if you want it bad enough, even the scullery maid can take up a sword and save the kingdom.
Dare to be push yourself to your very limits, and then take one more step.
You have nothing to lose.
Thanks, John. Well-said. I’ll be back next week, folks, with the first of several posts on characters. Meanwhile, if you have a topic you’d like me to tackle here send me a note or drop a suggestion in comments.
Trailer Boy out!
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