Writing Tip: Excavating

I've heard four differently famous creative people talk about writing as excavating. Stephen King -- master of the horror, macabre, and popular literature. Donald Miller -- Anne Lamott with christian testosterone. It's a concept discussed in the mind-bendingly good Inception. And just last night I heard Andrew Stanton, director/writer of Finding Nemo, Wall-E, and more, talk about it.

Writing isn't just about creating. When you think of writing as "making it up" it's a loss. You are limiting yourself to your voice and your thoughts. But true writing (and art) comes from discovering a truth that already exists - excavating a dinosaur bone.

It's hard to explain, I think. The truth of the matter is that you find a story, in yourself. The story already exists - you are simply excavating it. You are uncovering a fossil system and putting it back together - creating the best dinosaur you can. And sometimes, you have to have the courage to realize that the dinosaur you thought you had isn't the dinosaur you do have. Too many people and writers try to force their story into the dinosaur they want - and it's a poor showing.

This is true of not just stories we're writing, but stories we're living. Sometimes, you have to realize that what you have been living isn't the best story you could be. Sometimes, you have to have the courage to change your story.

Because I think I lied earlier - You don't find the story in you.

You are found in the story.

Writing Tips - 7

Concept from Steven King's "On Writing"

Remember that no character sees his or her self as the sidekick, the romantic love interest, the Deus Ex Machina.

Every character sees themselves as the center of the story, the point, and there story is the one that is the grand scheme.

This is a much higher view of the concepts of motivation, something that inevitably frustrates me. I need a villain in my story to create tension for my protagonist. However, that character is always going to be one or two dimensional unless I stop to examine why they're doing what they're doing.

If I can't buy that I would do the same thing in a character's shoes with that particular characters background, then the character rings false - and so does the writing.

On Writing Review

On Writing by Stephen King

Stephen King is certainly one of, if not the, most famous authors of the current landscape. His works have sold, by estimate, 300-350 million copies.

Holy smokes. So when he has something to say about writing, or at least writing to people, I'll listen anyway.

And indeed, this half-autobiography half-creative writing text is very useful. His toolbox (the middle part of the book, full of writing tools), in particular, is of extreme interest to me.

Kings advice on characters, his advice on plot vs story, his advice on writing in general, is all useful advice. Indeed, his description of writing as telepathy is interesting and probably deserves a post of its own.

I give it 4/5, because I was less interested in the autobiographical first part of the book. Very useful book to pick up on writing though.

Somebody Smarter Said - 3

"Read and write four to six hours a day. If you cannot find the time for that, you can't expect to become a good writer." - Stephen King