Creativity
November 22, 2008 | 
Author Writers are often solitary creatures, sitting in dimly lit bedrooms or trendy cafes and typing away on laptops and computers. But maintaining total solitude can prevent your writing skills from improving, and can definitely put a damper on your career. Fiction writers should use online writer’s forums and discussion groups to improve their chance for becoming published.
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Over at my favorite Writer’s Forum, the due date for the most recent short story contest is drawing near. I have not started writing the story yet, but have cemented the plot and characters in my mind.
I usually have no problem coming up with plots and characters. This time, my trouble affected me quite negatively. In the midst of writing reams of boring keyword articles for my ‘real world’ work, I thought I had perhaps lost my creative edge.
The thought brought up some interesting questions.
Can you lose your creativity? And, if you do, can you get it back again?
If you don’t have creativity to begin with, can you grow one?
… to bury the dead.
Erm… uh… no.
Since I have made the incredible goal to get 10 short stories publishing in 2008, I figure I better get cracking on writing some. I have submitted two already, though I can’t expect them to be accepted. However, that is two which I do not have to write.
So, I must write or finish editing eight more quality short storied.
But, I am devoid of plots.
I also seem to be devoid of varying sentence structure without the use of ellipses and excessive commas. I digress.
I seem to have forgotten the art of coming up with a plot small enough to fit in a short story. Coming up with novel plots is not a problem. I have excess novel plots.
Sigh….
Who wants to read a story that starts with the birth of the main character and follows them through their entire life? This method of fiction writing is hardly ever successful. Why? Because readers will not care about everything that happened to the character when he was two, three, four, and more. They want to get to the action… the stuff that matters to the story or book in front of them.
Fiction Writing: How to Include Back-Story Without an Info Dump – Read More!
But what about backstory? Information that happened outside the scope of the piece of fiction writing is often necessary to understand the plot. A character’s history can provided needed clues about their current emotional state, goals, or reactions to events. Some backstory must be included.
Writing is a bit like spelunking. And also a bit like paleontology, or perhaps grave-robbing.
Ideas are bones, the writer fleshes them out, and hopefully the Frankenstein-spark flashes through the flesh and makes the story come alive.
I was overcome with melancholy last night… and also a healthy surge of amazed optimism… when I uncovered yet another interesting and important subplot in my novel. It was like suddenly finding wing-bones near the spine of a long-buried dinosaur and realizing that dragons were actually REAL.
Sometimes I feel like I will never be done. Sometimes I feel like I don’t want to be.
I will keep digging, dusting with my gritty toothbrush, and throwing the switches in hopes of even one electric twitch of life. Writing is dirty work.
I woke up this morning with the image of a middle-aged woman lounging naked in a large vat of blood.
The muse at work again.
Within fifteen minutes, I jotted down a micro-fiction piece (about 200 words) about her vampire husband coming home and wishing, just for once, that they could make love on a bed between crisp white sheets.
My muse is male, and has a twisted sense of humor. He is darkly comical and given to twirling the ends of his mustache in the way of evil villains from black and white movies. It’s not a natural affectation… its a parody. I’m scared of him a little.
For the writer, the idea is often the master. You can get an idea anywhere. Watch people – its educational! I get my own ideas a lot, but those are the ones I have to mold and force into submission on a 8.5 x 11 piece of white paper that my printer vomits out.
When my muse gives me the idea, I become his slave – the mostly willing physical body that must do the job right, or suffer. I’m glad to be his slave. I’m glad to suffer when my fingers don’t do justice to the idea. I’m a muse whore, I guess, with a natural predilection for the job.
Elements of Time
Available from Twin Trinity Media.
Elements of Dimension continues the Twin Trinity short story anthology series with more top-quality stories and poems. This book explores the themes of science fiction, fantasy and reality. I have one short story, "Death Obeyed," and one poem, "Tale of the Suburban Dungeon" in this book.
"Elements of Time" short story anthology is available now. It features winning stories from the Accentuate Services contests plus themed poetry. Two of M. Lori Motley's short stories, "Inescapable" and "No Time Like Now," are included.
"Elements of Soul" short story anthology is available now. It features fifteen winning stories from the Accentuate Services contests plus themed poetry. Two of M. Lori Motley's short stories, "Summer Heat" and "Flood of Tears," are included.