Creativity beats in the heart of a writer. Our worlds, our characters, and our ideas flow through us in the day and night. The more we write, the more intense they grow. Regardless of what we are actually supposed to be doing with ourselves we find our thoughts drifting to our writing. We pour our energy and spirit into every word and concept. At times we find writing to be compulsory.
While this constant flow of
creativity is an author’s ally, it can also be his destruction. The message we
authors so long to communicate can consume our minds. The events in our
characters’ lives can begin to seem more real than the events in our own
lives—and most certainly more interesting. Writing can distract us from our
work and our more meaningful relationships.
Both in the lives of the
writers whom I mentor and in my own life as a writer I have found this to be
true. Many authors battle deep feelings of melancholy as they create their most
beautiful work. Writing comes at a cost. Do not let that scare you off. Writing
also has the great potential for beauty and can have a mighty impact on the
world around us.
Now that you realized the
dangers of writing and have decided to press forward anyway, you should have two
questions: 1) how do I remain sane? and 2) how do I harness creativity for good
and not evil?
I am glad you asked… The answer
to one question is the answer to the other. Here are some steps you should
take.
1) Work through an issue.
Never allow a problem to remain unresolved at the end of your book (unless you
intend to expound upon it later in the series). It is not only poor writing; it
is dangerous to your mental health. Writing can be a positive outlet for the
ideas raging inside you. Through it you can guide readers out of a problem in
their own lives, while you simultaneously do the same for yourself.
Without struggle (and, I
believe, victory) a book would not be worth reading. The best manuscripts are
written by authors who truly understand the struggle, but also portray the
sweetness of triumph. So do not be surprised that you are bearing much of your
own life story as you tell a tale and do not be surprised that, at times, it
hurts to do so.
2) Keep the character
list small. I know—believe me I know—it is
hard. You protest that you have too many good characters (you even call them
essential) to remove from the story. Truth is, the more characters you have,
the less developed each can be. I learned this the hard way—after publication. Too
many characters run your book and, notably, your mind into the ground with
exhaustion. They can even keep you from being able to move on to new stories
and worlds.
I am well aware that the term
‘small’ is relative. I leave it this way on purpose. Writing is not about
regulations and pre-determined quantities of characters. Instead of picking a
set number, I suggest asking yourself what a character adds to a story and if
the same purpose could be fulfilled by a character you have already developed.
The very act of examining your characters should help you choose the right ones
and (sigh) remove the wrong ones.
3) Do not spend too much
alone. Writing is by nature solitary work. Yet we cannot write if we live a
meager, solitary existence in an abandoned tower. It is essential that you talk
with a variety of people to portray realistic characters, have actual
experiences from which to draw imagined ones, and see real places which you can
incorporate into your descriptions of fictional locals. Even better, being out
in the real world keeps the melancholy from gaining a foothold.
Do not forget: writing should always be a joy. While
there will be difficult times of writers’ block and pain for what you must
portray, in the end writing should make your life better, not worse. As
creativity brims inside you, revel in the journey of expressing it. Dream on!
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