Writing and knitting are so much alike!
I’m taking part in a double knitting challenge. It is a technique that requires you to knit two layers at the same time. When you are done, you don’t have a right side of the scarf and a wrong side. You have two write sides.
I’m not a beginner but this crochet cast on took me two tries and it was still a little tight. I’m about to start take four on the actual knitting, but my last goof up was so serious that I had to unravel everything. That’s means that I have to cast on again so I need to go pull up that video.
The instructor asked us to give ourselves some grace. As she explained, we might have to watch the video five times before it makes any sense at all. She reminded us that kids go through this all the time, but as adults we often forget what it is like to do something that is both new and hard.
This is how I often feel about writing fiction. There are some things I do well. My settings are very well built. I’m good at finding details that are relevant and help bring the story to life. This is, in all honesty, what I do best.
My characters are hit or miss. Some are three-dimensional. Others, even POV characters, even I find boring. I’d love to say that I’m eager to rework them, but I’d rather do something new and glorious and unblemished.
Pacing? That’s another problem area. My first few chapters work well. But as I approach what Kristin Nitz calls the Muddled Middle, I become mired. I just can’t trudge on. It . . .
. . . is . . .
. . . too . . .
much.
This is usually about the time I become aware of an overwhelming number of problems with my story. There’s just so much that will need to be fixed. But recently I realized that where I see a ruin, someone else might see a fixer upper. I know, I know. You have to write the story to fix it. But does it have to be so very bad from the start? Maybe I should just stick with nonfiction. It is just so much easier!
But then I remembered. When I started writing nonfiction, it was a slog. I struggled to do the research, often over-researching, before I began outlining and trying to find a slant. Openings were my weakness and even when I started selling my work, this is what my editor revised most often. That and my endings.
My endings improved first. I learned to tie things off neatly and give the reader something to mull over. As I learned from my editor, my beginnings improved as well. These are still the hardest things to perfect for every manuscript but I know I can do it.
I can’t realistically expect writing fiction to seem as do-able as nonfiction. After all, at this point, I have a lot of nonfiction writing experience. But that wasn’t always the case. Over time, my fiction is going to get better. I just need to put in the legwork.
Or be willing to rip it and fix it.
–SueBE
One Writer's Journey 