[From the Archive] Challenges
Okay, it’s Wednesday. It’s column day. This week, I’m sharing my challenge. This has nothing to do with Life. Every writer has Life. Or scheduling. Now that I’m busy all the time, I’m actually starting to accomplish more. Deadlines do that.
The challenge lies with a freelance project I’m working on. I’m still deep in the research phase with a first section due in about two weeks. Here’s the thing… this is a biographical project. The person involved is a fascinating individual.
HOWEVER, I’m finding it difficult to find a “dramatic” story to tell about the person. The subject influenced history, culture, and society. He was a “Kingmaker”, but he wasn’t “important” on purpose. If that makes any sense. There’s a “feel” the client wants the story to take, but coming up with it has been a major stumbling block.
By admitting to the challenge of making this person interesting and dramatic, I’m hoping to accomplish at least a couple of things out of it:
• The You Are Not Alone Purpose – It’s not just you. There is no difficulty in writing that hasn’t been experienced by every other writer. Those of us who’ve been doing this awhile also sometimes beat our heads against walls.
• The Jog It Loose Purpose – Also known as “brainstorming” but in a different way. By telling you about my challenge, maybe it’ll jog loose some ideas for telling the story. Or at least some ideas…period.
Since this is a contract and a timeline, I’m leaning heavily on the “Jog it loose” method. The other challenge is REMEMBERING the ideas as they come and get them written down before they’re gone – remember plot bunnies are fickle critters. I had a couple of ideas when I was working on this — they’re already gone. D’OH. Here’s hoping my morning coffee kicks in soon and I can retrieve those ideas.
However, I’m not going to force it. You don’t want to force the issue – that’ll show up in whatever project you’re working on. It’ll be the clunky part that’s obvious to everyone. I’m just going to let it simmer in my back brain – kind of like a good sauce – until lunch time, and hopefully, I can pull something out. If something comes screaming back to me, I WILL write it down this time. I promise (though it’ll probably be while I’m doing 65 on the interstate…).
Challenges happen. It’s a part of the writing process – especially when you’re on a looming deadline. You just have to learn what method works the best for you to get through it. It will be different for every writer, just like the writing process is different for EVERY writer. Good luck.