But, I’ve had a very hard time getting into the book. So have my kids.
Why? At first, all I could think of was that it lacked heart. I’ve been trying hard to put my finger on what exactly makes it feel like it is lacking heart. Character Development? I wondered. No, he tells us lots about the characters. (The fact that I thought “tells us” instead of “shows us” should have been my first clue, but I didn’t see it.)
It wasn’t until I realized that The Maze of Bones has the same problem as Ancient Chinese Secret that I figured it out.
Usually when I read back through a story I wrote, I relive a little of the high I got writing it. It makes my soul do a little dance, sing a little song. It makes me happy. I had a hard time re-reading through Ancient Chinese Secret to make sure it didn’t have any grammatical errors before posting it. It just didn’t interest me enough to read it again. (And yes, warning signals should have gone off here, but they didn’t.) I couldn’t really put my finger on why exactly I didn’t like it.
So, when I had the two stories to compare, it was easy to see the similarity. We didn’t inhabit our characters. Sure, we knew lots about our characters. We both shared lots about them. But, I know that at least in my story, I never tried to BE Karen. I never really got into her head. I didn’t know what it was like to walk in her shoes. I didn’t see the world through her eyes.
I wrote a book for my kids, with them as the main characters along with a girl named Claire. Claire is a sweet girl. I like her. She had a few sad parts, though. Sad parts that really made me feel bad. I bawled when I wrote the parts where she cried. I wanted to give her a hug and tell her everything would be okay. She seemed real enough that I almost believed I could. There was another character in the story, Daniel, who was long dead (decades earlier) when the story takes place, but still integral to the plot. My kids found his journal in the new house we moved into, and learned a lot about him and how he was a part of the map they found— stuff I had outlined before I even wrote the first word of the story. When I wrote the part in the story when Daniel was 15 years old and his dad died, it was really, really hard for me. I felt sick that I had been the one that killed off this wonderful man. I did it. My writing killed him. It was awful.
But with Karen.... I didn’t even feel bad when I made her break her ankle.
So, I am writing this in hopes that the lesson I learned will have a better chance of sticking with me. It’s not a mistake I hope to make again.
And, the night after my epiphany, as if to put the lesson in capitals, I read something that explained it all in one sentence. I was reading Sometimes the Magic Works by Terry Brooks, and came across an epigraph that reads:
“If you do not hear music in your words,
you have put too much thought into your writing
and not enough heart.”
you have put too much thought into your writing
and not enough heart.”
2 comments:
I love that quote by Terry Brooks. Someday I think I might try my hand at writing something. Even if I am responsible for mishaps for the characters, at least I now know that I will be writing from the heart.
My dream has always been to write books (I couldn't even tell you all the book ideas I have floating in my head right now). I wrote several for contests with the New Era when I was younger (I think I won honorable mentions a few times). And there is always a way to improve your writing. Once you accomplish this detail, there will be another that you will find you need. A never ending process. But still, very impressive! Good job. I admire that you are following through on your dreams. I wish I was that brave!
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