Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Amazing Beginning and Ending! (Or Not?)

I had a great comment on my last post written by one of my Creative Writing students (of whom I am a great fan btw).  Her comment:

"I can't wait to read your first book! Now...I can't wait to read your second one, when it comes out...and would love to hear more about the story and characters as the manuscript progresses. What is your process like for creating a beginning and ending? I know it's different for all writers...some already know the ending and write the whole body of the story knowing...and some let the ending evolve naturally...and others do something in between the two. Is it always the same process for you?"

No matter what kind of award-winning, jaw-dropping, awe-inspiriing beginning and ending I create, I will inevitably cut, rewrite, be equally impressed for a while, and then cut it again.  My first novel: Don't Tell, had about a million beginnings and two billion endings before I settled. (Only slight exaggeration.) I can't say too much because Don't Tell is so new, and many of you have not finished reading it yet, and I don't want to give anything away, but let's just say that the beginning AND ending  is not how it used to be.  At all.  

I really, really, really hope the ending of my newest book will be what I envision.  But I have to give it over to Angel and Jesse, because it is their story to tell, not mine.  I just hope they like my idea.  It's really, really good.  And since I'm so sure of this, it probably means it will be slashed. Sigh.  Writing, really writing, is about giving over.  Kind of like in the12-steps when we turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand God, I turn my characters and their story over to the care of the characters themselves to tell their own story.  Total surrender.  

Thanks for asking, Emma!

xooxo

6 comments:

  1. Dear Lava,
    Thank you so much...you're explanation makes so much sense to me. It's true that the story is the characters' to tell, and that the author is at once the craftsman/woman of the story while also being akin to a parent in that they need to allow their story to grow and evolve on its own.

    This “giving over” can also relate to other art forms, such as painting/visual arts. In my expressive arts therapy classes we’ve discussed Shaun McNiff's perspective that artwork is like offspring, for it comes from within us but is also its own entity and deserves to be respected as such. Personally, this perspective helps me to ease the pressure I put on myself, and allows me to accept my artwork as I would accept and not judge another person. I’m more apt to judge myself and my art if I view it as being solely my own instead of realizing that it has a voice of its own, too.

    I can't wait to see if Angel and Jesse's ending is what you imagine it to be. And even if it's not...everything will be okay because the story will come to where it's meant to be.

    Thank you again.

    Take care,
    Emma

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  3. I can say to this relating to how I am forming as a writer... Just in giving everything into the moment about how the words are most suitable to the moment of conveying what I'm trying to give out of me. Yeah flowing life of the spirit! I can't wait to tear up the book too! :) Not literally :)

    James

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  4. I love you, I do. But the double 'i' in "awe-inspiriing" is driving me nuts. Also, you said "quite" instead of 'quiet' in your previous post. But only want to nit-pick once, so here I am.
    On the flip side, I so appreciate your basic struggles and hopes for your work while putting all of it in context with gratitude, humility, and total acceptance. Good stuff.

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  5. I love you, Tracy! I wish you could be my forever copy editor. Sigh. But you are moving on to the big time and I will miss you so. Sigh. Again. (Did I spell everything right?)

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  6. I could probably be your forever copy editor.... You do pay well!
    We'll see about this "big time." I feel both due for it and instantly jaded about it. I want to be appreciated, but I don't want some big city self-importance to get in the way of my love for a summer spent in a swimming hole.
    And I will miss you, too.
    You spelled everything right--and usually do. It's only typos that I saw, not actually spelling mistakes.

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