Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

The Influence of other things on what we Write

The influence of other things on what we Write.

I have one more little hole to patch beneath the seat of the Studebaker. Then I have to lower the metal pedestals on which the roadster seats sit. Right now they are too high and I am looking half window and half roof of the truck. That will be a pain.

Next week I will get the front windshield replaced. The drivers side has a big crack and is full of BB gun holes from a previous life.

I was reading “Ups and Dows,” and was amazed by the analogies between what we do when we are not writing and what we do when we write. Karen was talking about her garden and all the things she must do to prepare and nurture the plants and they were the same sorts of things we do to prepare and nurture our writing.

I find myself doing the same things when I write and trying to explain to myself why I do certain things the way I do.

In doing the final assessment on a One Act Play submitted by one of my students I noted that in the end he digressed from the outline and got to heading off on a tangent. When I write novels I often do the same thing as I follow my characters on unexpected twists and turns.

Now don’t take this wrong…. You can certainly discover some new and exciting things by following new and exciting threads as you write, however once a writer has a comprehensive outline for a book or play it is my view that they need to stay within the constraints it provides. By this I mean the central characters should stay the central characters and the supporting characters should be contributing to theme of the work. I don’t have a problem with twist endings if they are “Telegraphed” subtly as the work proceeds and give an unexpected but wrap-up that has had some foreshadowing, but this is a technique that requires some thought, talent and technique…

Once a writer has a comprehensive structure it enables them to focus their energies in keeping a lid on where the story is going and how it is going to wind up.

So what do you do with these tangential thoughts that ignite your imagination and compel you to expand the back-story that digresses away from the tightly wrapped story you have envisioned and structured. Keep it in a separate journal I suppose and when you finish the work ask yourself if the original was deficient and would be improved by the tangent thread. If yes then rewrite the structure and yes a portion no doubt of the novel or play because when you change one thing it usually requires that you change a whole bunch more. If that is what it takes then suck it up and do a major rewrite… otherwise leave it out as a part of the back-story that is interesting but offers nothing to move the plot and is more a distraction than a help.