Tuesday 29 January 2008

What is it about writing that you love?

I was trying to explain to my friend, the Git, today about how, if you have a story planned out from beginning to end, that most of the joy of writing is lost. The enjoyment of watching something blossom from something that you started is what writing is about. Or, at least, that's what I believe.

The Git has a story in his head which he's been planning for years now. He knows the characters inside out, he knows the big events, he knows the small events and he even knows the mundane. He knows exactly where his story starts, where it will travel and where it will finish.

I fail to see how writing that story would be anything but a chore.

The joy of writing is the same that I suppose you would get from watching your child grow up. You can start with an idea so small, a character so insignificant, and whilst you're writing it can take on a mind of it's own. The story can travel in directions that you had no idea that it would take. The main character can evolve in a way completely different than what you had anticipated. You might even not have the same main character all of the way through. And this is wonderful. You start to get excited about where your story is going next, start to try and predict how your characters will react to different events. It's like reading a good book, only it's a creation of yours, a heady feeling even for the most stoic.

This is nowhere more apparent than on NaNoWriMo. The forums heave with people who, given their task of writing a 50,000 word novel in a month are continually shocked by what their stories and characters do. I remember one, who was writing a romance novel. Her female lead had decided that instead of being with the male lead, she instead wanted to bed her female best friend. You don't get that in a pre-planned idea.

Unfortunately, I didn't reach 50,000 words. I couldn't keep the pace up for more than a week. But even in that short amount of time my story was surprising me. My lead was far more bolshy than I originally dreamed her up to be. She met who I intended to be her rival far earlier than I had expected or planned for. They had far more sexual tension than I had intended and he was far more sly than I had thought up.

It made for a wonderful beginning to a story, which otherwise would have probably been tedious and dull writing (and reading) if I had planned it out beginning to end.

What do you write for if not enjoyment?

And do tell me what it is about writing that you love.

1 comment:

Fraz said...

Interesting blog. I enjoy typing and writing and creating stories when I can, although I am quite slow and always hated that during mock exams I would plan something up following the criteria given to me to follow, and would think of an engaging introduction (always important in my opinion) and then from those first few sentences and the paragraph forming, draw out the information that in my mind would be gathering the reader's interest, expand on it and slowly ease them into the story, the forming plot and the universe of this silly little mock exam story. No examination can possibly measure how talented someone is at writing in fairness, sometimes people will write things in the spur of the moment or write down some notes of an idea that suddenly struck them, or like myself, just keep such things floating around in my head until I grow bored enough to let them out and grow and evolve on the paper as my mind is engaged by the words forming.

Writing is dynamic and possibly one of the most interactive arts that exists in terms of subtly. I write for enjoyment yes, but also for others enjoyment too. Any of the few stories (or even character backgrounds) I've written out have been free to access by anyone who'd be interested, because I want to see reactions from people, I want to see them grow attached to the characters I create and become interested in what they face and what they get up to, and when I can, I draw inspiration from their comments if I get any, learning from experimentation about writing styles, themes and seeing what works and what doesn't, enjoying that aspect a lot; becoming a better writer.

I also take some inspiration and note the quirks of various authors from books that I've enjoyed, especially those that fit with what I'm going to write about (specifically, Warcraft universe; I want to keep noticeable details consistent but with my own style and stories, not only for my benefit, but also in a subtle nod of appreciation to authors whose work I love and the readers, so that the world they read about isn't spoiled by misinterpretation of lore).

Part of what I hated about English at school, much as I enjoy reading and writing, was the pressure to produce stories and essays just like that. I'm somewhat of a perfectionist with writing stories, I'd rather not try and confuse the reader, rather keep them engaged throughout, immersing them in the story so much that it flows seamlessly and they never want to put the book down. That's the kind of reading I enjoy and the kind of writing I aspire to be able to create, so I find it unavoidable that I plan ahead, small details or major plot twists and their delivery, but I cross those bridges when I come to them, to keep those ideas fresh and flexible to change.

I enjoy writing as a challenge in itself, to show appreciation for others work but I mostly write to give my characters in City of Heroes / Villains and after I stopped playing that, World of Warcraft (yeeessss I know I go on about it) more depth, so that I become more attached to them and thus, enjoying playing them even more.

Creating characters was immense fun in CoX (City of Whatever version), not only from the almost infinite character models you could create, you could write a short introduction of your character for other people to read while they checked you out. Some people used the space for other reasons, some made short stories like me or just one liners, but I made one for all the characters I remember that I created and played, even if they didn't level very much, and each and every one I could have probably expanded on and created novels from since I wasn't only just drawing from my own imagination - fun and challenging already - but also from the very universe the game was set in. Some characters I could make on the spot from quite small ideas and made changes as I went along, others I created quite extensive background stories and even some research and enjoyed watching it come together even as I had more ideas that I added as I deemed necessary, enjoying people commenting about it and happy about taking the time to read it (especially about Chinch Bug). Warcraft is more or less the same, except in my eyes it has the added dimension compared to CoX of having a larger community and a lot of the experiences you have are shared amongst people you play with, something I think I'll find easier to do than I did CoX - evolution of writing and all that. My only regret is that I can't draw my characters for shit.

So yeah, writing is crackin'.