Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Thu, Jan 14 2010
What disaster and trouble can teach fiction writers
What a week it's been with the earthquake in Haiti, the electronic hacking of Google and other companies and several other news stories that have made people angry, confused, shocked and sad. While many of us have had loved ones directly affected by one of these major incidents, many of us have not. We stare at the still images, read the accounts, listen to the broadcasts and view videos with the feeling of being in the moment with those going through these things.
When writers write fiction we have to think about this same sort of phenomenon. Someone who reads a story isn't actually going through any of the actions, but they may experience a lot of the same emotions they would experience if the situations were real. It makes the written word a sort of sacred trust, in my opinion. We have an obligation to use integrity when we write, even when what we write includes the tales of scoundrels and disasters. We can write that happy ending, but we know that there is not always a happy ending in today's life. We can't see the end from the beginning. And even if we don't write a happy ending we need to be sure to give the reader some sense that the events were worth going through vicariously, for growth or enrichment. Otherwise, our story conflict becomes sensational and gratuitous. We have to be willing to go down the emotional road of the story ourselves so that we can be honest and trustworthy to take our reader down that same path.
posted at: 17:35 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
What a week it's been with the earthquake in Haiti, the electronic hacking of Google and other companies and several other news stories that have made people angry, confused, shocked and sad. While many of us have had loved ones directly affected by one of these major incidents, many of us have not. We stare at the still images, read the accounts, listen to the broadcasts and view videos with the feeling of being in the moment with those going through these things.
When writers write fiction we have to think about this same sort of phenomenon. Someone who reads a story isn't actually going through any of the actions, but they may experience a lot of the same emotions they would experience if the situations were real. It makes the written word a sort of sacred trust, in my opinion. We have an obligation to use integrity when we write, even when what we write includes the tales of scoundrels and disasters. We can write that happy ending, but we know that there is not always a happy ending in today's life. We can't see the end from the beginning. And even if we don't write a happy ending we need to be sure to give the reader some sense that the events were worth going through vicariously, for growth or enrichment. Otherwise, our story conflict becomes sensational and gratuitous. We have to be willing to go down the emotional road of the story ourselves so that we can be honest and trustworthy to take our reader down that same path.
posted at: 17:35 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
