Wednesday, December 14, 2011

What I Know

Today I've been thinking something small about writing, though it is actually quite big.

It seems I can know in my heart something about a character or a story and fail to transfer it to the page.

When it comes to revising, I'm always worried that I won't know how to fix what is wrong. Sometimes or most of the time (just not all the time), I find that the key to a locked door is to bring to the surface what I've always known to be true about a person, place, or thing.

It's funny to me that I forget to share what I know best. That I am blinded by what I've always seen.

4 comments:

  1. Sometimes I just want to charge forward, glossing over the 'stuff' that needs to lead to the most interesting section of the writing. Even as I am glossing, I KNOW I will have to go back and rewrite. Sigh. Why can't I learn.

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  2. This is deep Melissa :) I actually think this thought is brilliant. We kind of assume readers will know what we know about our characters--but we forgot to tell them.

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  3. Guilty of that!
    It is so easy to put only a part of our thoughts on the page and keep the rest to ourselves. I am beginning to realise the importamnce of going back and thinking about what has been left out. But it is fruitful .... eventuallly.

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  4. Sometimes I yearn to be poetic and sublime in my writing, but I know I fall short at times. Multiple revisions helps me bring to the page what I've been thinking or what the characters have been telling me.

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