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Writing Group / Re: Writing Attachment and Seperation
« on: April 26, 2007, 04:46:01 PM »Anyhow, I have a hard time believing that ANYONE can put something like this together (painting/song/story) without the result being some part of them.
(imho)
The more of we put into our artistic creations the better they are. I think this can be unconscious. You might not even be aware of how much of your writing is a reflection of yourself. And sometimes doing it in a rush is better than being slow and thoughtful. You can rush right past all those inhibitions and get the words on the page.
I hope that there are a lot of really cool things in my imagination. When I write I try to open a conduit that moves those images to a written form. The success of my writing, the opening of the conduit, depends on my skill as a writer not on what I have to say. I'd like to be a skilled but the 'me' that is on in the writing is the source, not my skill at putting it on paper.
My worst writing comes when I'm trying too hard to impress or trying to hard to be a great writer. When my writing fails it's because the conduit gets fouled up with a bunch of junk. But it's my lack of writing skill, not the source, that is flawed.
Looking at it this way makes it a little easier to handle criticism of my work. I try to think of it as criticism of my writing skill, not criticism of 'me.' In that way I do feel a bit detached from my work. But I still get frustrated at not being able to express myself the way I'd like to.
Also, at his writing workshop Tracy Hickman said that it helps to hold up your manuscript and say "This is my book." Then point to yourself, "This is me." Make the distinction and then it's easier to listen to feedback on the manuscript because it's not criticism of you. It seems like you want to be strongly attached while writing and editing but you need some distance when getting feedback.
McFish, do you ever do sequels? (ie. a "roommate" that you've had a break from and now you're ready to spend some more time in the same world with the same characters?)