When writers should trust their
gut.
In the process of writing my latest project, a
sci-fi novella, I came across a problem I’ve never encountered before. I flew
through the first part of the story, giving life to my characters and
manipulating them into the situation that would become the climax of the
adventure story. Then I came to the final chapter. The work was nearly done, the
story ready to be wrapped up. The story, however, refused to cooperate with my
vision. After three distinct revisions of the final chapter my beta reader put
her foot down. She said, “No! This is not the way this story should go, and you
know it!”
Of course, I pretended to be shocked, but I did
understand what she meant. I knew deep down, even as I was writing the chapter,
that everything I was writing was wrong. So why was I writing it? It would be
easy to tell you that I felt pressured to make the story end a certain way. The
truth is, the only person putting pressure on me to finish this story in a
certain way was me. Why would I feel the need to make my story into something
it truly wasn’t?
Well, the answer to that question is three fold.
#1. Industry expectations. I come from a world of
romance readers. I am a voracious romance reader. I have written romance novels
since my hands could form words into sentences. When I sit at my computer to
write a story my brain naturally goes to the question: “Where does the romance
fit in?” So, even though I knew starting off that this novella would have
faint, if any, romance, I also knew that there would end up being some romance
in it. With that in mind I began to worry about how my HEA would fit into the
story. Subconsciously, I began to manipulate the story to fit into the romance
reader expectation of a happily-ever-after scenario.
#2. Personal expectation. As a reader there are
certain types of stories that touch my heart more than others. When I have
emotional connections with characters and their journey I have a better
connection to the story as a whole. When I write my own stories I expect them
to have that character development that will allow my readers to connect with
my characters. Even though this story was character-centric, it was also about
the galaxy and the state of the empires within in. By trying to manipulate the
story to my own preferences I actually lost some of the powerful world-building
opportunities that would have made my story better.
#3. I want what I want. I am the author. I can
make this story do whatever I want it to do. Right? In the norm, I’d answer
yes. But with this story, when I began on one path and later diverged toward
another, I actually wrote myself directly into a corner. I had created a
conflict with a high-action, character-driven conclusion, but I pulled away
from the natural evolution of the story to try to make it fit into a
pre-conceived mold rather than allowing it to evolve naturally and end
organically.
So what does this mean? As authors we are
motivated by a need to create. We want to bring our worlds to life and allow
readers to visit every time they open the cover. Sometimes, we are our own
worst enemies. The pressure to create a story that fits inside the industry
expectation, our own preconceived notions of what the story “should be”, and
the idea that we are the supreme being who makes the story do what we want
sometimes ends up landing us in a tangle at the end of the story. It landed me
there! My last and (hopefully) final revision of the story will erase all those
convoluted ideas of how the story “should” end, and allow it to come naturally
to a close. I could* have gone back to the beginning of the story and re-worked
it to match the ending, but it seemed like I had created the story that way for
a reason. By trying to manipulate the ending to fit my (sometimes limiting)
need for romance and twists, I actually ended up undermining all the hard word
I’d done in the beginning of the story.
The take away from my struggle? Trust your gut!
Don’t let your head tell you a story “should” end this way, when all along it’s
been speeding naturally toward a different conclusion. Being clever is great,
but sometimes it gets us in more trouble than we bargained for!
Amy’s Links:
Author’s Bio:
AR DeClerck grew up in the mountains of North
Carolina, USA. She currently resides in the Quad Cities, IL with her husband
and two daughters. She writes adventure romance in many sub-genres including
fantasy, scifi, and steampunk.
The story gets what the story wants... Eventually :)
ReplyDeleteTwo thoughts leap to mind.
ReplyDelete1) JK Rowling has said she felt from the beginning that Hermione would end up with Ron, so that's how she wrote .. but she (and 99% of her fans) know she should've ended up with Harry. She let her preconceived notions weaken her writing.
2) After writing several contemporary romances, my first science fiction novel (The Trial of Tompa Lee) had lots of romance--but I yearned for something other than an HEA, so the hero died saving the heroine. It made a powerful end, but it was a matter of following my preconceived notions. Even I felt Dante Roussel deserved better, and so in the sequel he "lived" on in the heroine's head and in book three he was reincarnated. Despite my determination to end with something other than an HEA, Dante got one in the end. Oh, the irony!