A while ago I made my post comparing stories to vases.
Lately I’ve noticed a repeating flaw in my first drafts. I see it reading over all my earliest writing: I’ll write about absolutely ANYTHING but the central point of the story. Or, like, anything interesting. I’ll twist scenes to avoid mentioning the action.
It was like I was only showing you the shadow of my vase.
Why did I do that?
Fear.
Yeah, that didn’t require a psychiatrist to figure out. The more specific a story is, the more MEAT I show you, the more I’m showing myself. The more likely I am to offend someone or cause conflict.
If I’m pro-blue, I’m anti-pink. What if I like something my reader hates? The self-censorship kicks in until you’re afraid to say anything at all. What’s left is really, really boring. Bland, inoffensive: mush.
This is what I was talking about in my post on stunted stories, in a way. Also my post on muddying stories… actually, it’s related to all my posts on writing badly because you’re terrified by what the audience will think.
You go crazy trying to anticipate what the audience will want, so you hope a gentle, bland hint will be all things to all people. Spoiler alert: It isn’t.
I don’t mean for this to sound like a plea for more action. You can be bland and inoffensive with action.
I have a story I keep re-writing. It opens with an explosive action scene, because that’s what people want, or say they want. It’s not an action story. After seven revisions I finally cut the action scene and it was like taking a corset off.
Reading Karen Joy Fowler’s quiet, confident short fiction has taught me that opening with explosions is the literary equivalent of trying too hard.
(Don’t look at me! Look at this shiny explosion and think it’s me!)
Here’s a great quote:
To write is to appear naked in public.
One of my teachers told me that, early on, and I don’t remember who she was quoting, but the idea stuck with me. The better we write, the more naked we get.
It’s scary, but, really, if all you give them is the shadow of a vase, well, how is that different from the shadows of other vases? Why would they look at it in particular?
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