Trying Too Hard

After today's plot consultation, plotlines and subplots, flashbacks and time jumps still linger.

The writer is guilty what many of us are ~ he tried too hard.

At some point in every writers life, we ask ourselves ~ who would want to read this? And, why? In our fear of not measuing up or worried the story falls short, we add another subplot here, switch events around, change the point-of-view, and mess with the format.

I think this is part of the writer's personal journey. Our egos keep our minds so filled with fear and uncertainty we trip over the story itself. Yes, the writer's craft is to take what flows out on the page and craft it into a story. So long as we focus on the story, I think we get it right. It's when the writer gets in the way that the process weighed down. Tricks and too many twists can pull the story under.

I hope when the writer sees his very own individual Plot Planner I created for him during the consultation and finessed with plot tips after, I hope he'll reconnect with the core or heart of the story itself. When we try too hard, we tense up. The story tenses up, too. To trim and snip and cut isn't always easy. I hope when he sees his story minus the words, he'll see the story is worth the time and attention it is going to take to get it right.

When the Writing Gets in the Way

I appreciate that not everyone writes to be read. Writers who say they write for themselves may or may not mean that the writer does not care about the reader, but that the reader does not dictate the story, the writer does.

For writers who want to be read by the mainstream reading public (whoever that is), don't let words get in the way of meaning.

A writer recounts an exciting, well-thought out Dramatic Action plotline (he has entirely ignored the Character Development plotline for now and whatever deeper meaning the story has is yet untapped). I do not read the words. I listen for the structure and plot. I have no idea of the writer's writing, not even the story's true point-of-view. Today, during the story recounting, the writer's words got in the way of a truly exciting Climax.

Too florid, they clouded comprehension. Granted, he was reading summaries of scenes, but still, his "voice" seemed stilted and the words themselves demanded individual attention.

The actual Dramatic Action propels my mind to the next exciting moment. Skipping over complex details, I wait impatiently for the next scene. His tongue trips over the words. In the end, I am left wondering, huh?

I knew the writer knew; I had learned to trust him partway through The Middle. But besides rich and poetic words, he sprinkled his story with complext names. Without any Character Emotional Develpment with which to fix the characters by name, I had little to ground me. At the Climax, I found I had no idea of the villian slayed. The crowning glory of the story left in confusion.

Moral of the story with your reader in mind:
1.) Strive for meaning on the word, scene, and overall story level. Write the scenes moment-by-moment as clearly as possible as an invitation to the reader to sink deeper.
2.) Develop the character's inner world as carefully as the outer one.
3.) Help the reader remember who goes with which name.