The Terrible Tragedy of Our Time

So, here’s the thing of it: sometimes it’s hard to tell when something is Great or not. Story-wise, I mean.

There you go with that G word again.

I take Greatness very seriously, especially when books and movies are involved.

Some books leave me feeling like I’ve been up in the clouds on silver wings (those are the ones you can catch me reading over and over again), and others make me feel strange and disconnected. Then my writing becomes magically disconnected.

It probably works differently for different writers, but I have found that my writing style is easily influenced. Sometimes it’s a good thing (after all, it is nice to have beloved books rub off on my writing), but sometimes it’s a terrible curse.

For instance, the other day I was raking through the book exchange at the library and I picked up some science fiction novels. They were terrible (pronounced TEAR-able, “able to be torn”). I have been longing for some excellent science fiction reads and I haven’t been able to find any.

What is there unreasonable in admitting the intervention of a supernatural power in the most ordinary circumstances of life? -Jules Verne

I literally can’t think of a single science fiction author right now that I would recommend besides H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. It’s a true tragedy.

Here's the second great tragedy of our time: I need a dog and a dog needs me. Sigh.

But back to the free novels: they were terrible. It didn’t take me very long to figure it out. The prose was awful and dry, the story lines were brittle (and airy and confusing), the characters were flat (just because a character is an intelligent scientist doesn’t mean he or she must be pompous and perfect!), and so on and so forth blah, blah, blah.

I could go on.

I won’t.

Good.

My writing was cursed for a week after that alarming episode. It took every weapon I had to ward the bad vibes away: Goethe, Doyle, Dickens, Shakespeare, Birdsall, Dickinson, Wilde, and Bronte. They managed to flush it out.

And taking a walk often helps, although lately my walks have all been imaginary, because the only green things growing right now are the radish plants on the lid of Attorney Fish’s tank. This has been a long, long winter. I love it. It’s making me appreciate spring so much more than I would have otherwise.

But I digress: the key, I think, will be figuring out how to spot bad writing right away, before it’s too late. Of course, what’s one person’s picture-perfect novel could be another person’s kindling. It just depends.

This exercise can be taken a step further by letting your writing be influenced by other people. Again, you want to let the good qualities soak in, not the bad ones. Picking up bad habits will only make your journey to a completed novel much loooonger.

I have three good habits that I’m working on perfecting, one from each of my sisters (they’re behind on my blog posts so I know I have some time before any of them read this). I’ll spell them out for you:

1. Responsibility. My oldest sister is not a writer, but whenever she decides she’s going to do something, she does it without using any procrastination. None. She has the strongest will power I’ve ever run into. That’s why she’s so good at math, I think.

2. Aptitude. Whatever my twin does, she does well. It doesn’t matter if it’s an impromptu piano lesson or an exam on ancient history. No matter how long it takes, she literally does everything she can to get the job done to the best of her abilities. She throws her all into it and uses whatever she has and turns it into something beautiful.

3. Fidelity. My youngest sister has an amazing sense of dedication. In a sort of combination of responsibility and aptitude, she will faithfully work at something every day without fail, whether it be ballet or practicing the clarinet. If I managed to write a little bit every day without fail, my novel would have been completed about ninety years ago.

Now it’s your turn. Find some good traits around you that could help you with your writing. It’s a healthy habit to have, anyway; finding the good. I should probably try to find some good in those terrible science fiction novels…or not.

Meanwhile, I'm busy writing up a storm. I'm hoping it will work like beetlejuice, and a really good rainstorm will arrive, washing away the rest of winter.

Not that I believe in beetlejuice. I've been chanting dog breeds for the past two weeks and still, no dog.

Write on, writers!

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"Bring joy to your servant, Lord, for I put my trust in you."

-Psalm 86:4