Kevlar
November 20th, 2009 by SaraIn the TV show Castle, the amazing Nathan Fillion plays a mystery writer, Rick Castle, who works with the police to solve crimes. Believable? No. Amusing? Yes.
Anyway, Rick Castle occasionally wears a bullet proof vest, but instead of ‘POLICE,’ his says ‘WRITER.’ My friend, and brilliant writer, Alexandra Amor recently asked me, “What writer couldn’t use one of those?”
Her question got me thinking about the public and private nature of writing stories. One day we see something, maybe a dog wearing goggles and riding around in a basket on a motorcycle. And we think, who buys their dog goggles?
Or we eavesdrop on a strange couple at a restaurant and hear the woman say to the man, “That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me all day!” and you wonder, what else has he said to her? And poof! A story is born.
Then we go to our computers and start typing away, creating a whole world out of that one little question. This process is done in a state of delusion. The delusions that we can make people see the same thing we do. Because even if we write in a coffee shop, surrounded by people, we’re alone in our imaginations, trying to translate what’s in our heads onto paper.
So, in our vacuum, we scribble, tweak, and rearrange until everything’s as perfect as we can get it. Then we send our story out into the world. If we’re unlucky, it comes back to us, not quite right for the person we sent it to. And that hurts.
And if we’re lucky? Hundreds of people read it. Thousands. If we’re really really lucky? Hundreds of thousands. Millions even. Then we’re in real trouble.
Cause then our story, our rough translation of the masterpiece we envisioned, has to stand on its own. We have to rely on our string of words to weave worlds and speak the truth. Some people will love it and some people will hate it. And a few special people will see exactly what we saw. And for them the story will be magic and it will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
And through all of this, we, the writer, have to watch from the sidelines. All of the risk and none of the control. No wonder we need Kevlar.
Posted in Authors, Revision, Writing
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4 Responses to “Kevlar”
November 20th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
SCBWI summer conference, let’s wear bullet proof WRITER vests! (In the theme color of course!) Think it could double as a life vest if we fell in the pool after too many theme-colored cocktails?
BTW, I was there, wasn’t I? When the woman said, “That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me all day?” It didn’t end up in my story, but that would be so neat if it had. ;)
November 20th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
You were definitely there, Edith:) I was excited to finally be able to use it! Unfortunately, I lost the picture I took of the dog with goggles, but I bet you can use your imagination.
November 21st, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I watch Castle on ABC religiously! I’m crossing my fingers that Santa brings me season 1 on DVD for Christmas; since I had to teach a class in the evenings last semester, I missed quite a bit of season 1.
It is a scary thought, having all those readers dissect the work. As you said, some will love it and some will hate it.
I think both emotions are good! That’s why my biggest fear is being the kind of writer whose work is received so lukewarm that it doesn’t incite any strong emotions. That would truly be scary! I wouldn’t need a vest at all–and where’s the fun in that?!
November 21st, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Stephanie, I totally agree with you! The no response, no vest scenario would be the worst. I feel better now, cause you’re right, there wouldn’t be any fun in that. I can see why you like Castle, you guys have the same sense of adventure:) Thanks for the new point of view:)
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