Change is Good

Something surprised me last night. Part of my preparation for the writers' retreat involves daily and nightly meditation, daily blogging, and reading several books about writing and creativity (Life is a Verb is one of my new favorites - I bought it almost six years ago, and it has been collecting dust on an upstairs bookshelf). As I read these books, I began to explore the why behind some of the decisions I made about my novel.

I realized that in completing the first draft of the  novel in preparation for a first novel contest, I was more motivated by meeting a deadline than I was in letting the story unfold naturally in its own time.

Because I was trying to win a contest where the judges held a certain worldview, I limited the development of the characters and plot to try to please them. My own worldview has matured since then, and I won't make the same mistake twice. The characters deserve to live, move, breathe, fail, grow, and just be. 

There were also parts of the novel I wrote about because some memories were so delicious to write about . . . but they didn't actually advance the plot. Those parts have to go. If I want to reminisce and be nostalgic, I should write a memoir and not a novel.

There were characters I included because there were things that I wished were different. This book belongs to the characters, though, and not to me.  If I were to compare writing this book to making cookies (I make really good oatmeal raisin cookies, by the way), my life and experiences should be like nutmeg and cinnamon, and the flour, eggs and sugar should belong to the characters.

There is so much about the story that is good, and those parts will survive the upcoming pruning. It's been very helpful to start to identify the parts that need to be removed so that the other parts can have the life they deserve.