Stories
Everyone's got a story to tell. I've always thought that to mean we've all got a work of fiction inside our brains somewhere, but, rather latently I'm sure, I think I've worked it out to mean there's a part of everyone's lives that's worth telling.
This seems more likely to me and in some ways is encouraging but in others depresses me slightly.
Pre-realisation, I had a wonderful view of the world, everyone deep down was in some way creative and while I still think that's probably true, the benchmark has been lowered rather.
To me successfully telling your story, i.e. creating a book, involves a pretty large amount of imaginative stamina. You can probably recount the incredible day you went to buy an engagement ring for your girlfriend only to become a key player in a 16 hour hostage situation, one which only ended because of your amazing daring negotiations with the criminal masterminds, while your at the pub. Buy can you string it out into a tense 300 page thriller?
That may even be one of the easier examples, what if the most amazing day of your life consisted of a lovely trip to the park with your son, how on earth is that going to hold anyones attention for more than a couple of hours?
While everyones story has a right to be told you need alot more than a decent premise and a couple of good characters, you need the creative equivalent of Paula Radcliffes legs.
Unfortunately , I've made it even worse for myself. The story I've decided I've got to tell is fictional and better still it's set in the afterlife, how am I going to research that?
I think I'm going to have to take my premise and the small selection of characters plot them out and pad and stretch the page until it becomes a very short story.
Perhaps then I'll have been inspired enough (inspired by myself? this process is going to be a real ego-massage) to pack in enough fluff to call it a novella, not that I ever would, and finally top it up with another hundred pages or so until it can marginally be called a book.
At this point I'll probably send it to a publisher or 5 for rejection, but at least I'll be rid of my story, it'll be in the world in it's rare original manuscript form for everyone to read, or pretend to read even if it is one at a time.
This seems more likely to me and in some ways is encouraging but in others depresses me slightly.
Pre-realisation, I had a wonderful view of the world, everyone deep down was in some way creative and while I still think that's probably true, the benchmark has been lowered rather.
To me successfully telling your story, i.e. creating a book, involves a pretty large amount of imaginative stamina. You can probably recount the incredible day you went to buy an engagement ring for your girlfriend only to become a key player in a 16 hour hostage situation, one which only ended because of your amazing daring negotiations with the criminal masterminds, while your at the pub. Buy can you string it out into a tense 300 page thriller?
That may even be one of the easier examples, what if the most amazing day of your life consisted of a lovely trip to the park with your son, how on earth is that going to hold anyones attention for more than a couple of hours?
While everyones story has a right to be told you need alot more than a decent premise and a couple of good characters, you need the creative equivalent of Paula Radcliffes legs.
Unfortunately , I've made it even worse for myself. The story I've decided I've got to tell is fictional and better still it's set in the afterlife, how am I going to research that?
I think I'm going to have to take my premise and the small selection of characters plot them out and pad and stretch the page until it becomes a very short story.
Perhaps then I'll have been inspired enough (inspired by myself? this process is going to be a real ego-massage) to pack in enough fluff to call it a novella, not that I ever would, and finally top it up with another hundred pages or so until it can marginally be called a book.
At this point I'll probably send it to a publisher or 5 for rejection, but at least I'll be rid of my story, it'll be in the world in it's rare original manuscript form for everyone to read, or pretend to read even if it is one at a time.
posted by Paul Seymour at 11:33 AM
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