Reflection

Reflection: A great story waits in everybody

DirtySciFiBuddha18 Comments

A great story waits in everybody.  Do you remember when as a kid, you and your friends would babble endlessly about magic realms, play soldier, play superhero, and throw in every cool thing from the most recent movie or show that caught your imagination?  It was completely without agenda, without self-consciousness, without motive other than to revel in wonder and the grace of an engaging story.  And it was amazing.

Working with the premise that our life experiences are not random, witless stretches of chaos and suffering, I’d venture to say that we grow up for a reason.  We go through hardship and adversity for a reason.  And even though it may not be pleasant or immediately gratifying, we are forced as adults to gravitate toward a more structured and precise form of storytelling for a reason (There are exceptions:  e.g the brilliantly insane comic Axe Cop).

So as I endlessly pick at my stories, disciplining myself to edit and draft a bit each day (and kicking myself when a new level of awareness about constructing prose opens up because then I have to go back and edit everything I thought was perfect just a day before) I realize that with the loss of childhood innocence a new opportunity opens:  The chance to grow awareness.

Would I like to go back to those younger days when it was enough to dream about a story that combined Batman, Jedi Knights and Tyrannosaurus Rex all in one and act it out with sticks for swords and blankets for capes?  Absolutely.  And I still do in a fashion; every time me and my buddies get together we amuse ourselves by mixing our real life into obscene and awesome hypotheticals.  Shooting the shit with your friends is storytelling in its rawest and purest form.

But that doesn’t translate well to a massive audience.  It’s like music:  Construct a MIDI or plunk out a melody one note at a time and your friends will appreciate it, but will it draw in the masses?  Will it give those deep, soul-stirring inspirations that change or invigorate minds on a scale of millions or billions of people?

As a writer, I know that in order to that level I need to constantly put myself under the microscope:  Edit, edit, edit.  (For an artist design, design, design)  Look at other peoples’ stuff and see what works and what doesn’t.  Understand the deeper mechanics of it, and if I don’t get it, then take an educated guess and experiment.  Constantly investigate and apply.  As the divisive but undeniable David Choe (highest paid grafitti artist in the world) says:  “Inspiration is for amateurs.  A real artist forces themselves to create whether they are inspired or not.”  A harsh quote, and easy to take the wrong way, but there is real truth to it.  There are mechanics and fundamentals that, when better understood, can manifest timeless core stories into brilliant and dazzling relevance for us today.  And whether I feel like it or not, I have to work on refining awareness of them.

So I think that with the acceptance that we must work, with the acceptance that our experiences have purpose and that we must learn and grow from them, we can take those MIDIs, those one-note-at-a-time melodies, and transform them into amazing backbeats that tempt our bones to dance; pure strains on an electric guitar that put a goofy grin on your face and cause you to involuntarily bob your head; orchestral symphonies that are so amazing you forget to breathe.

I don’t think that we are excluded from going back to being kids and telling those sweet, simple stories, but I think that if that’s all we do we’re selling ourselves short.  With discipline and open-minded acceptance of the things we need to experience, we can go back to the garden and stay there while still enjoying the taste of apples.  It’s not a mutually exclusive deal.  That being said, I gotta go back to work; the story is unfinished.

Anyways, thanks for reading!  To all you writers, I wish you inspired drafting and insightful editing!

18 thoughts on “Reflection: A great story waits in everybody”

  3. Great advice. Editing can be frustrating but it can also be very gratifying once your piece starts to come together. I think you are right. We are all storytellers. Thank you for the follow, as well 🙂

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  4. This is a great reminder. I find editing to be a terrifying obstacle, but when I push through and do it even when I think I can’t, I discover that the result is often satisfying. If I just wait around for inspiration, I never get anything done. And sometimes writing when I have no inspiration is what ends up igniting the inspiration that I need.
    I agree that we grow up for a reason. Our experiences make our stories richer and deeper. If we can capture the boundless imagination of our childhood and meld it with the mystery of growing up and the disciplines of a true writer, we can create something that might just be amazing.
    Thank you so much for following my blog!

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    • Thank You Back Story Sponge! Yes; I often am pleasantly surprised by what I find when I just get to work. I think that’s actually how a writer transcends their limits—by being willing to stray from their original vision so they can tap into the unexpected.

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  5. I really only started taking writing seriously this year, and I have found that it is hard work! Before this, I would only write when I felt like it. Like you said, writers need to constantly write and edit everyday, whether we feel like it or not. Only when I started doing this, I managed to complete one of the many stories I started, but never finished – and it felt amazing! So thank you for sharing this with us, and the reminder that discipline is very much needed in this craft.
    Also, thank you for liking one of my posts – it’s how I found your blog 🙂 Cheers!

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