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.)
Wed, Feb 09 2011
Continuum
I've been looking for the right word to describe what's been going on with my writing lately. I finally chose the word "continuum". I was very surprised to find out that the word is most often used in mathematics, because I'm notoriously bad at math. It remains, however, that continuum is the best way to tell you that my fiction writing has been just as sparse as it was last year, though what goes down has been more mature.
When I wrote as a young person I had a tendency to moralize in fiction. I still believe that fiction can contain a moral message, but now I know that the story is the main thing. I've learned that too much moralizing in fiction makes your plot broken and artificial. Moralizing becomes a rusty hinge that squeaks eery time the door swings. No amount of lubrication will fix it. You have to start over and tell the story without holding a moral position. That might sound counterintuitive for those of us who claim to write with spirituality. Christians in particular seem prone to moralize in fiction. The story we tell can be moral without moralizing. That's a lot harder to do. But it's also the only way to do it well.
What does any of this have to do with a continuum? It's been a gradual process and not one that changed my fiction writing all at once. While this is good news, it hasn't followed that I've gotten one bit better at math.
posted at: 18:33 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
I've been looking for the right word to describe what's been going on with my writing lately. I finally chose the word "continuum". I was very surprised to find out that the word is most often used in mathematics, because I'm notoriously bad at math. It remains, however, that continuum is the best way to tell you that my fiction writing has been just as sparse as it was last year, though what goes down has been more mature.
When I wrote as a young person I had a tendency to moralize in fiction. I still believe that fiction can contain a moral message, but now I know that the story is the main thing. I've learned that too much moralizing in fiction makes your plot broken and artificial. Moralizing becomes a rusty hinge that squeaks eery time the door swings. No amount of lubrication will fix it. You have to start over and tell the story without holding a moral position. That might sound counterintuitive for those of us who claim to write with spirituality. Christians in particular seem prone to moralize in fiction. The story we tell can be moral without moralizing. That's a lot harder to do. But it's also the only way to do it well.
What does any of this have to do with a continuum? It's been a gradual process and not one that changed my fiction writing all at once. While this is good news, it hasn't followed that I've gotten one bit better at math.
posted at: 18:33 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
