A Great Love Affair

After I wrote my last post, it got me thinking about how much writing a book mirrors a relationship. It will make it laugh. It will make you cry. You will feel frustrated, miserable, and unworthy. It will also make you feel like you are on Cloud 9. Once it begins you never know where it will take you, and it is a guarantee that you will have many surprises along the way. Ultimately, it should make you a better person by being part of it.

Starting a book feels a lot like the beginning of new relationship. You're a bit trepidatious the first time you sit down to write "the book" and you will probably have a few false starts before the words start to flow. You meet your characters for the first time, and it takes awhile to get in their heads and figure them out.

Soon, if things are going well, you feel that rush as you crank out the first several chapters. Your characters are moving around in their world, and you feel like you know just how the plot is going to play out. Things feel amazing and you are rushing to your keyboard everyday.

Inevitably, the better you get to know your characters, and the further you get into the midst of the plot, things are going to start feeling a bit confusing. You wonder if you are doing the right thing, and you begin to second guess yourself. (Would that character really do that? Does that scene even make sense? Where the hell did that guy come from?) You go back to read earlier chapters to try to rediscover that earlier passion because walking to the keyboard now feels more difficult. You feel the pressure of trying to keep everything together and things feel like they are unraveling in completely unexpected ways. You are completely out of control.

You see, no matter how well you thought you knew your book when you started, it will have some surprises for you. At that point you need to make a decision. Are these nuances you've found going to make you story better, or are they so havoc wrecking that you may have to consider starting over? Things just may not have lined up the way that you planned, and it would be easier to cut it off now before you get in too deep. You don't want to waste your time with something that isn't right, right?

If you can make it past the stormy middle, you will find that approaching the end brings the rush of excitement and passion that you remember from when you started. Now your characters and plot have evolved into something mature; something that can last. You've made a commitment and you want to follow through. You've put something of yourself in those pages that will be there forever.