The first time, you’re nervous. You’re scared. You’re way outside of your comfort zone. Your heart is pounding and your palms are damp.
Can you do it? Come on, you tell yourself, it’s not quantum physics; of course you can do it. People do it all the time. As Cole Porter so famously sang, “birds do it, bees do it/even educated fleas do it…”
No, I’m not talking about the first kiss, or falling in love, or sleeping with someone for the first time. I’m talking about some of the firsts that a writer experiences.
For instance, there’s the first time you actually finish writing a book… all the way through to the end. It’s a great feeling! After weeks, months, maybe even years of good beginnings and slam-bang opening chapters, your story just kind of… fizzles out after a few chapters. So you put it away and move on to something else – something better… something that eventually sputters and gasps its way to a painful death, just like the stuff before it.
Plot, you mutter, I just need a better plot… or perhaps, truthfully, I don’t even have a plot, so maybe it’s time to create one.
I’m not sure why story plotting was such a problem for me. I think it had a lot to do with thinking my story ideas were plots. Trust me, they’re not the same thing.
Then I read an interview with Shelby Foote, a writer and a noted Civil War historian. He said a good way to learn how to construct a proper plot was to watch… soap operas.
The writers on television soaps, he explained, come up with solidly-plotted storylines every day, 365 days a year. Soap stories are typically packed with conflict, action, and surprise revelations – all elements necessary to creating a good plot. So I started watching “General Hospital,” and I began to see what he meant. There were parallel plots going on, and foreshadowing, and deep dark secrets – lots of those! – and the best part was, it was all visual. I could “see” the plot. And being a visual person, watching this soap was a true “aha!” moment for me. Suddenly, it clicked, and I got it.
Of course, after learning to plot, other firsts followed – writing my first outline, my first query letter (harder than writing the damned book), and signing my first author/agent agreement.
Now I have to learn how to wait – something I’m not very good at. Will the editors out there like my book? Will readers (other than my friends) like my books? Can I even call myself a writer? I mean, seriously – what am I thinking?
So once again, my hands are clammy, my heart is racing… I’m way out of my comfort zone. (And I’m using too many clichés, but that’s another problem for another day.)
But it’s okay. Despite my occasional bouts of self-doubt, self-loathing, and second guessing, I will continue to read other writers, to study the craft of writing, and I will continue to write.
Because, you see, I’ve got this really great story idea…
Email me at katieoliver.ko at gmail dot com. I’d love to hear from you!
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