Lessons from Lessons

Okay. I’m getting a grip on a new concept that I think will help ease my latest writing issues.

This week I learned how and when to use Narrative Voice. I was getting a little crazy with it—stuffing it in places it didn’t belong. The result was long, confusing, decorated sentences that didn’t serve a purpose. The feedback was “Just say what you mean” over and over again. “Stay factual.”

My “Aha”:

Stephen King explained the issue in his book “On Writing” and I didn’t get it then either. It’s the bad metaphor issue. Here’s how I’m explaining it to myself now:

Narrative Voice expresses opinion, attitude and point of view. It ISN’T narrative voice when you start going all whacky on FACTS. If the sun’s rising, the sun’s rising. If the grass is green, it’s green. A common way we bog down our prose is when we start thinking we have to explain the simple and plain in “new” ways. What needs to be new is the opinions. The perspective.

That’s it.

Why might this help my writing issues? Because I was exhausting A LOT of unnecessary energy trying to figure out how to narrate a forest instead of just saying there was a forest, or to say the tent was far away instead of just saying the tent was far away. Writing became more like a word search puzzle instead of just a story. I totally lost my enthusiasm because I wasn’t storytelling anymore. I was hyper-editing every phrase and not getting anywhere.

Running in circles gets tiring, apparently.

SO!

We’ve got a bad habit to break.

This week we’re taking on a word count goal, one that pushes the limits. The point is to get my words and the joy of my story flowing again. No looking back allowed.

I will only allow ONE editing session the day before class. It will be the only thing I’m allowed to fix so I can present it.

Cross your fingers for me. If I don't get this fire lit...I dunno...