Story Snares

I was talking to a friend today, catching up over lunch.  She asked me how my writing was going, as most of my friends do.  I wasn’t quite sure how to answer.  Yes, I have been writing, quite a bit, lately.  The problem is I haven’t been working on anything of my own.  My current project is a spinoff of a show I’ve been watching lately.  It’s less fanfiction than my personal continuation from the end of the series.  I’ve enjoyed working on it very much, but maybe it’s not what I should be spending my time on.

Then again, I do tend to get caught by stories.  Be it a book or a show or one of my own ideas, good stories get into my head, and until I’ve found a way to resolve the story somehow, at least temporarily, I can’t stop thinking about it.  I’ve spent many a day at work only half-focused on what I am doing, while the rest of my mind guides characters and events along the most logical path.

In fact, I think that is what a story is supposed to do.  Think about the language we writers use when talking about stories.  They talk about a ‘hook’ at the beginning, to lure the reader in as it were.  I think of myself as being ensnared, stuck in the story as if I’m in a trap.  It’s never a bad thing, but it can be inconvenient.

How do I get out?  The easiest way is just to finish the story, of course.  Sometimes I’ll spend hours at a time reading just so I can get through—with television shows, it can take days.  When that’s not an option, as with a book series which is not complete yet, or a show between seasons, I have to fully outline what I would do with the story if I were to continue writing.  This is always good fun, but it can have a downside: if the story comes back, and it’s not as good (in my opinion) as what I come up with, I tend to lose interest.  And of course sometimes a story just stretches out too long.  If I feel like the plot has moved past its natural ending, it loses a part of its hold on me.  I might keep up with it for old times’ sake, but it becomes a toothless trap, one I can slip out of easily.

Despite the inconvenience, I have to appreciate this need to know what happens, to find closure for a story.  It has brought me through a lot of very good story, and I have learned by example.  It is what has helped me to understand how a story takes shape and what not to do with one, and it forces me to practice this on my own.  If not for this, I would never have managed to finish any story of my own.  So I think I will keep working on my little play project, because any day I have spent putting words to paper—no matter what I am writing—is a good day.

In No Particular Order

Here is a list of things that make me sad.

• The birthday party no one attends—whether it’s mine or someone else’s, even someone on television or in a book.  Breaks my heart every time.
• Dead animals at the side of the road.  Even possums.
• ASPCA ads.
• When my cat won’t sit with me.  (This happens often.)
• When I really want something specific to eat like waffles but we are out of a necessary component like syrup.
• When I have finished a stack of exciting new books and have to try and make myself excited about older ones.
• Getting stuck in my writing.
• When someone thinks I am unkind, or prejudiced, or selfish.
• When I hear from an old friend and realize I don’t know them anymore.
• When my friends are sad and I don’t know what to say to make them feel better.

Here is a list of things that make me happy.

• A neat rotation of things that I use—plates, bookmarks, t-shirts—so that none of them get used more often than any of the others.
• Scratching my back, and finally reaching that spot that has been bothering me.
• When my hair has been straightened and it looks nice without my having to do anything but comb it.
• New pens or colored markers or highlighters.
• Crossing things off my to-do list.
• When someone has done something nice for me without my asking for it.
• Adding things to my journal, whether they’re pictures or poems or quotes or new ideas.
• When my cat comes and sits on my lap and purrs.  (A rare privilege.)
• Finding a new book, movie, or show that I really love.  Or re-discovering an old book, movie, or show, and realizing I’d forgotten just how good it was.
• Flowers that smell sweet.
• A cool breeze on a sunny day.
• Pushing through a place where I’ve been stuck in my story.
• When someone tells me that they enjoyed my writing.
• When I hear from an old friend and they are just as loving and wonderful as I remember them.
• When I say something to my friends and it is exactly what they needed to hear.