"It is worth mentioning, for future reference, that the creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in, and the sense of an impending shape keep one at it more than anything."
-Virginia Woolf
Of course, this is not a hard and fast rule. I've had stories fight and struggle to be told from start to finish and others flow like a river in a rainstorm, but it does seem to be the case more often than not, at least for me.
3 comments:
The doubts part is the easiest to overcome if you remember you’re telling a story first to yourself. You see all the pieces like a puzzle in your mind’s eye. Fitting them together in a manner you visualize relieves all doubt… until the dreaded querying process begins. :)
The critical creative moment is whether to take a nap or continue pounding the keys. I actually begin to think of the manuscripts as people. Some are like annoying neighbors, some like former girlfriends, some as full of vitality, and, of course, some as dead and needing to be buried.
And if you're good at puzzles, that works, Bernard. :-) Fortunately, I love puzzles.
The trick is in telling the difference between the lively and the dead, vwriter, a tricky thing when you're too close to the work, but a necessary one. Thanks for stopping by!
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