Reflections on writing − 8 June, 2008
I have been writing fiction again. Writing via speech recognition is truly a challenge because of the difficulty editing via voice. It is also sometimes challenging when the software refuses to recognize certain words. I actually changed the name of a main character because the software had so much difficulty recognizing it, even after extensive training. It’s not so bad, since the new name rolls off the tongue more easily anyhow.
I took a three-hour hike yesterday in 90-degree temperatures with high humidity and a smattering of mosquitoes, with an occasional mountain biker startling me out of deep thought. Nevertheless, I designed the ending of my current short story, and I thought of ways to make what I had already written richer and more plausible.
I realized that all of my fiction to date has lacked conflict. This would be problematic for a fiction writer, should I continue this trend. I believe that the reason for the lack of conflict in my fiction is that my life has been so full of conflict that a part of me wants to write about a more ideal world. But in the end, that does not make for very good fiction, or at least fiction that serious readers will want to read.
After my current piece, my challenge will be to write fiction that includes conflict. That does not mean that my fiction needs to be negative or to always end on a sour note. But I must learn to establish situations that include conflict. It would then be my job to resolve conflicts in interesting ways. My reading of Raymond Carver will be of great use in teaching me to write stories that include conflict. Not all of his stories are about conflict, but the ones that are about conflict are extremely well done.
As an example of how strongly I have resisted conflict in my fiction, the latest story segment I have worked on entirely twists a negative situation into something better; not better in terms of storytelling, but better in terms of lives well lived.
I have already thought of the subject for my next story without having even completed my current story. I love how the ideas keep coming. I am still plumbing the depths of my family’s history and even my family tree for ideas. Some of the names in my current short story come directly from my family tree.
My next story might turn some readers off, but it will be very real and very gritty. It will also be taken from a real-life situation that has been lived out by millions of real people. It may not be a situation that my readers can identify with, but serious readers do not typically read in order to learn more about situations with which they are already familiar.
But first I must finish my current story, and ensure that it is the best that I can do, given the limitations of the technology upon which I depend.
