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Inspiration and Moving On
Jul. 7th, 2011 11:49 amOver on the Book View Cafe blog, Shannon Donnelly talks about why it's so important to not get stuck re-hashing the same old story, but to move on to fresher ideas:
We write without selling a story. We write and edit and sent off stories with great hope. We get back such stories, and instead of sounding retreat, we retrench. And rewrite and send off again.
That’s where I think the insanity comes in—at some point you need to leave a story alone. It’s not going get better. It’s like pushing mash potatoes around on a plate—they’re never going to change into a nice piece of salmon. So that’s where you need inspiration to come in and take you to something new. Another story. Some fresh characters.
We aren't born knowing when to keep working on a story or when to move on; it comes with experience and frustration and a lot of help from our friends. I've known writers who've gotten so enmeshed with their early attempts that they never have a chance to grow. They remain welded (I was about to type "wedded" but this works better) to an early, undeveloped concept.
Me, I've got so many stories yammering at me to be told, I don't want to waste a significant portion of my writing career on anything but my best. Maybe "my best" won't turn out that way, but as long as I hold to my cutting edge, "state-of-the-art" Deborah, they will get better.
We write without selling a story. We write and edit and sent off stories with great hope. We get back such stories, and instead of sounding retreat, we retrench. And rewrite and send off again.
That’s where I think the insanity comes in—at some point you need to leave a story alone. It’s not going get better. It’s like pushing mash potatoes around on a plate—they’re never going to change into a nice piece of salmon. So that’s where you need inspiration to come in and take you to something new. Another story. Some fresh characters.
We aren't born knowing when to keep working on a story or when to move on; it comes with experience and frustration and a lot of help from our friends. I've known writers who've gotten so enmeshed with their early attempts that they never have a chance to grow. They remain welded (I was about to type "wedded" but this works better) to an early, undeveloped concept.
Me, I've got so many stories yammering at me to be told, I don't want to waste a significant portion of my writing career on anything but my best. Maybe "my best" won't turn out that way, but as long as I hold to my cutting edge, "state-of-the-art" Deborah, they will get better.
