Our power word this month has two meanings for me (so, what’s new?) but they both connect somehow.
First, when I think of DIG! I think of digging in the dirt…something I love to do. And with Spring on our doorstep, I think of seeds. As a writer, I’m planting seeds. Faithfully, I keep coming up with new ideas, new characters, new stories and writing them down. Just like the farmer, I sow these tiny investments — these seeds in the tilled soil. Will they pay off?
Frank Vincentz 28 Sept 200
Not all seeds grow into a plant but if you plant enough, some will, won’t they? I just have to keep seeding, and of course, doing everything I can to give the seeds the nourishment they need, by going to my critique group, going to conferences, meeting other writers online and off, and revising my stories. And someday, someday, there will be a harvest.
The other meaning of DIG! for me has to do with digging deep – not into the characters but into myself first. Though I dearly love beautiful wordcraft, the emotional truth is what’s so compelling in a story. Truly, I’m most satisfied when what I write makes the reader cry. (Okay, except in picture books.) To make the characters’ emotions resonate, I must first find the seeds of emotional truth within myself. I have to remember and be willing to feel again the fear, the loneliness, the tears, the anger and the hope as I’ve felt them deep in my gut before. Only then, can I plant them in my characters. They say write what you know. I don’t think they mean on the outside, but what you know on the inside.
I am now at a place in my YA novel where things are really starting to happen to my main character. Here’s where I’ve got to dig deep. I can’t flinch away. If she’s going to feel it, I’ve got to feel it. I’ve got to keep digging until I find those seeds of truth and plant them in my work.
Pass the tissue please. I’m ready to DIG!
The Muse says...
charmingthemuse
chickstories
hostingthemuse
pursuingthemuse
Vivi Barnes
4chicks.wordpress.com 