Figuring Out the Story
There are times that I have a detailed outline or a clear view of where the books and stories I’m writing are going to end. That is the exception. Especially with short stories, I’m usually making it up as I go. With short stories I write live on Twitch, I start with a title and not much else.
As a result, there are a few stories, sometimes my best ones, wherein I don’t truly figure out what the story is really about until the second of third draft at best. I get the bones in place on the first draft. I don’t usually put a ton of energy into making sure those bones are all connected correctly yet. I power through to the end and then take a step back to see what makes sense. Where are the repeated beats or themes I can exploit in the first or second edit to make it look like I knew exactly what I was doing in the first draft of writing?
I write angry sometimes. I write disappointed other times. Especially with short stories, I’ll even write lost on occasion. The real magic is that moment when something clicks. I understand something about the characters I hadn’t put together at first. I realize the true ending of the story and spit out a few more paragraphs that change everything while it brings everything together.
It happens more often than you’d think. Not every time, but a lot of times. It has almost become the common magic of the writing process. It’s a motivator to stick with a story and to believe in characters for a little while longer, giving them all time to become something great.
Here are some things you might be interested in:
After The Stand #StephenKingRevisited
by Jay Wilburn
I used to reread this book every summer between school years that I taught. I thought I practically had the book memorized. I did remember all the high points and even some specific lines that really spoke to me over the years. Being that I am in a different place in my life, I think new phrases struck me with more power this time …
“Nothing Must Announce Itself”
by Jay Wilburn
Aubrey passed the boundary into the territory of the iron dwarves, as she’d sworn to them, back when she was still a young girl, she never would again …
Old Southern Gods
Thanks, Everybody
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