The only thing I don't like about writing is that you're never 'finished'. It's like housework (which I don't do, but that's beside the point). You finally reach that last page, your story is tied up and you gleefully type The End.

Before you get the chance to relax and enjoy a little downtime, you're typing Chapter One and it's all starting over again.

I do love writing and I still think it's the best job in the world, no matter how crazy it makes me from time to time. But starting a book is the absolute worst. You don't know your characters, you're not hearing their voices clearly enough for them to be 'real' and yet, the deadline looms. So what do you do?

You jump in and start typing. You don't think about it. You try not to angst over every single word and you remind yourself that SCBF. (Shit Can Be Fixed) I can redo a page of bad writing, but I can't do anything to help a blank page. So I force myself to write, even when it feels as though I'm not doing anything more exciting than ' he said, she said, they went'. I can always come back and 'fluff'. Fluffing is a huge part of writing and I don't mean the kind of fluffing you think I mean.

Fluffing is going in and adding the color, the sense, the taste and feel of the scene. It's finding that extra, magical bit of writing that will draw your reader in and make them feel as if they're living the story with your characters. It's making them feel so close to the action that their hearts pound, their pulses race and tears well up in their eyes.

That at least, is the goal. If it takes you a couple of passes to get it right, so be it. The point of writing a book is to make it as good as it can possibly be. That means reaching inside your own heart and pulling out every emotion you've got. It means pushing the edges of your own limitations. Because if you, the writer doesn't care...why will the reader?

Maureen

posted by Maureen Child @ 1:19 PM