Project RX

I’ve been going through projects, trying to decide what to work on, and discovered that basically I have 3 I feel very strongly about and they all have serious flaws.

And basically all those flaws come down to the same flaw, which is trying to push the story to fit a particular editor/line/whatever set of requirements, and in every case the story suffered as a result.

So now I have to decide whether to throw out what’s written and start over, or revise heavily, or some of both. For the most part, a lot of what’s written is fine, it’s just badly incomplete and also has some stuff that jars me reading it as clearly not my voice. (Who was I trying to sound like when I wrote that sentence/scene, I find myself wondering.)

Really it all comes down to: you have to trust the story. You have to trust your voice. You have to follow your gut. This is hard to do when you’re writing to fit somebody  else’s vision of what the story should be. I know there are some writers who do very well at building around an external framework, but I’ve learned that I am not that kind of writer. For me it’s all internal and I have to excavate a lot to find out what kind of thing I’m working with. It’s a process of discovery, and it’s a fragile thing in the early stages.

For me, trying to write from an external point results in this kind of Project RX. Which is why I currently have no desire to ever sign a contract before a story is done again.

For now and for the forseeable future, the cure is to just write the book without expectations. And then when I see what I have, rework it to make it better, stronger, truer. And when I can’t come up with any other way to improve it, send it out into the world to find a home.

Project RX. I see a whole lot of Motivation Reaction Unit analysis in my future, but for now, the biggest issues are character and stakes so we start with the big story pieces first.