You’re adulting way too much and it makes your writing suck.
I said this to myself when I started on Day 1 of NaNoWriMo.
Then something happened. I tapped into that childish imagination that has been buried by responsibility and rejection while simultaneously unlocking a bravery that I didn’t know existed.
I was working on my novel yesterday morning, and realized that I created a world. A completely unique world. I sat there looking at these characters that were not in existence seven days ago and realized that I brought them to life, and now their future hangs in the fate offered by my words.
That’s insane. It really is. To think that we can sit at a desk, in front of a MacBook, or a notepad and create a world and shape destinies. What a glorious concept!
But then soon after, it happened. I started to ask all of those logical questions and demanded of myself that I know exactly how this world works and what the monetary system is, government, religion, etc.
Then I repeated myself, Stop adulting, you bore.
I decided instead to use my lack of knowledge of this world to give my characters the opportunity to show it to me. They have to navigate the terrain in order to satisfy their motives. Unfortunately, just like with our world, theirs may not cooperate. And that is what’s driving my story.
I have no clue how it’s going to shake out. And to be blunt, I’m just as curious about how the conflicts will resolve as I feel the characters are.
And is it perfect? Ummmm, heck to the NAW. Not even a little bit. However, I feel like I can cage that inner-adult for a little longer, and maybe I’ll let him back out again once I start edits.
So here are four things I’ve done that have made me comfortable with imagining a new world.
1) I am not trying to become an expert in the world. When my wife and I visited the Bahamas once on a cruise, we left on the port and explored the island with some friends for about 4 hours. I didn’t stop at the information desk and get a PhD on the Bahamas and its history before I explored. I didn’t need to know it all to experience its beauty. Though I’m a new writer, I believe that this rings true for the worlds we create.
2) I’m not afraid to build a building that I will then blow up. I checked my budget in this world and it’s unlimited. I have SO MUCH ENCOURAGEMENT knowing that I can edit the crap out of this thing. I might make a weather pattern that doesn’t fit, and as the owner and the creator of said world, I can change that at the click of a keyboard. This has made me braver.
3) I’m as excited to discover the world as the characters are to thrive in it. I’ve not been having a ton of detail about the world yet (though I may later), but I try to reveal its qualities through the characters’ dialogues and conflicts. This has given me a creative buffet of things that may or may not have any bearing whatsoever on the overall plot.
4) I take vacations from the world and come back to mine. I structured my story with a wraparound (not sure it’s a correct term or not) story that is set in Pittsburgh, PA. I’m pretty familiar with Pittsburgh because I have lived here all my life. When I start to get consumed by details of the world, I’ve jumped out of the world and envisioned the Pittsburgh skyline, and wrote about the characters in the wraparound story. This has helped me to keep words hitting the page and my brain to pursue different creative avenues.
Keep writing!