Yesterday, I kind of knew where I was going with my story, but I had a lot of kinks to work out. Places where I wasn't sure which direction to head, or how to resolve some problem.
I had three potential versions of the story, and wasn't sure which one I wanted -- the long one (novel-length), or the shorter one (novella). What's worse, I knew what I really was trying to write was a short story, and it just wasn't working out. There was just too much to fit in!
Today, everything resolved itself, and fit together. All the fog cleared away, and I could see forever.
It dawned on me that finding inspiration to write fiction is a little like building a fire in a fireplace the old fashioned way (without firestarting logs, or natural gas switches).Getting a fire going requires you to have the proper materials and good preparation. Even still, a number of other things all have to work right. Many times, I've gotten the tinder in there, added quick-burning materials as starter (not sure about you -- I use crumpled newspaper, an egg carton and used pistachio shells), and had a couple logs of fast-burning pine, and it still would go out before really
catching fire.
For me, and I imagine for a lot of you, writing is like that. You can't force it. You can do everything right, and you still can't get it going.
Writing is a creative process. Particularly for fiction, though I've experienced this on non-fiction projects, too. Sometimes you just have a block, or maybe you just lack inspiration. You can dabble, and get heat and smoke, but the fire won't take hold.
Today, it lit. And once I had it started, it kept burning, hotter and hotter.
And, as an author, you know. That's how you get that really warm feeling inside.
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