Wednesday, May 16, 2018

There is a certain assertiveness to writing.

There is a certain assertiveness that comes with writing.

You have a vision in your head, you describe that vision the way it comes to you as clearly as you can without any tricks. Just that.

That's the story.

Take it or leave it.

In other words, second guessing while writing isn't useful. It blurs the vision.

That isn't to say you can't make changes. The changes also have to be assertive.

It's amazing how often I ignore the little doubting thoughts and go ahead and write something and find that it's just fine. Sometimes it's better than fine.

It's the sureness of voice the reader picks up on. This is a confident voice, one that knows the story its telling. This is what happened.

What happened may not be interesting to you. It may not happen fast enough. But you have to give it proper respect. The story is what the story is.

Now then...

Once the story is down, then you can fuck with it all you want. There are so many ways that a thing can be said, and sometimes you can improve on it.

But I've found that sticking to my original assertive voice is usually best. Smoothing it out is fine. Adding or subtracting is fine. But changing the voice, changing the way it is told too much, and it looses all cohesiveness.

You have to allow the confidence of the story to manifest.

2 comments:

Duncan McGeary said...

I probably should say, I learned this assertiveness, and to some extent, I think I earned it.

Dave Cline said...

Wise words. Let the muse speak!