Getting it all on the page
Recently I wrote a story about a man and some dolphins. It started with a good first line and had some interesting bits. I quite liked it when I was done. Then I showed it to my fellow Master Fiction writers and they found flaws. Flaws? Yes, flaws. Dirty, little stains and huge gaping holes. Worst yet, these flaws, once revealed, became apparent to me. How had I not seen them? Could I mend them? Did I want to bother?
I let the story sit for some weeks. Major repairs, for me, require time away. Time not to think of dolphins or of how crappy my first drafts can be without my knowing it. I've been working on it the past few days and it's making inroads into my waking life. While doing something in the kitchen (not cooking--that I know) I had a realization about how the narrator should feel about something. It bordered on epiphany. Then I realized I had to work it into the story, subtly. I couldn't just write "He wants to feel exactly what the dolphins feel here."
Often that's the hard bit. Working meaning into something without hitting your readers over the head with it. Did anyone see the film, Crash? Crash beat you over the head with its message: racism is bad. Well, duh. I never want to write Crash or an equivalent of Crash. This may lead me to shy from meaning too much, also a problem.
Another thing I realized was problematic with the story were things I the writer knew and didn't convey to the reader. Just because it's in my head doesn't mean it makes it onto the page. Another reason an outside reader or many can be damn helpful. Getting that information onto the page without stopping your train at Exposition Junction is also important. Subtlety, finesse.
The good news is I that I have ideas for making the dolphin story better. It's a lot easier to sit and edit when you have the ideas for change in your mind, when you're fairly certain you can make things better and not just different.
So now you know what I'll be doing tonight. That and laundry. Ugh, laundry. I have found no way to make laundry better.