If you hide an accordion deep in the heart of New Jersey, hubby will find it. He does have good map skills, but while he has lived in New Jersey for more than forty years, he cannot find his way around without a map or me. I am hubby's GPS. He knows his way around Brooklyn, where he grew up, but he doesn't know north from south, east from west in New Jersey. He has no sense of direction.
He fears getting lost, which is incomprehensible to me. How can anyone get lost in New Jersey? There are Parkway signs and Turnpike signs all over the state. With all the jughandles, everyone makes a wrong turn now and then, but there will be another jughandle down the road where you can swing around and correct your course.
Besides, sometimes getting a little lost is fun. I call it exploring. New Jersey has some lovely scenery and unless you take a detour now and then, you will miss it.
When I write a book, it's like taking a long detour and doing some serious exploring. My outline is my map, but sometimes I loop around an unfamiliar jughandle and discover a scene of great beauty. If I was afraid of getting lost, I would never find that scene.
I know how to get home. I know how to find that happy ever after ending, but much of the fun in writing for me is in exploring. I travel deep into my characters' hearts, discover their motivations and learn what they really want. It's an incredible journey, but very entertaining.
My advice to all my writing friends is to write fearlessly. Do not be afraid of getting lost. Develop a sense of direction by studying the landmarks in your story. Tour new vistas and analyze the details.
And have fun. That's what writing is all about.
7 comments:
And if you head too far East you will need to decide to swim or turn around, so he really only has three possible directions where he can get lost.
Lita:
LOL! True. :^)
I remember being lost in New York, in the right area but looking for the hotel. Not fun. My cell phone didn't work there and the days of stopping to use a pay phone are over.
I haven't been lost in NYC--yet. However, Brooklyn and Queens can be very confusing.
That is wonderful advice. We should just go with the flow.
I just wrote a story that I didn't hold back at all. I'm now cleaning it up. LOL It was so much fun though. I'm a new follower.
Ciara,
Thanks for following!
Glad you had fun with your story. Writing should be fun. Cleaning it up later is inevitable.
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