My epic, the thing that personally tells me that a story is something special, is when it really knows what it's about. Not what it contains, but what it's really trying to say, what it's really trying to explore. The thing that always makes me say "Holy fucking shit" is when I look back on a work and see just how the creator has written everything that concerned them into every fibre of their story. Every city, every character, each contributes a tiny argument to a grand but subtle essay. When you get right down to it, that’s what writing is. It’s sitting down one day with an audience of a few thousand and saying, so subtly that they don’t even realise it: “This is what has been on my mind my entire life.” That’s what they mean by write what you know. They mean write the things that occupy your every waking thought, that draw you to read stories with similar themes. You read a book sometimes and a character says a single sentence and you think “Fuck, I’ve been thinking that my entire life, but it’s never made that much sense before.” That’s what it is.
That’s my take on it, at any rate.
Tell me all you like of psychics and superpowers and floating cities, and I'll listen and nod. Tell me why the hell you're writing about them, and how that's going to come out in the story, and how you're going to show it without being all up in my face, and I'll REALLY listen. Show me why you care, show me how epic this is to YOU and maybe I will care too. If you can’t show me that, then why should I care? Why do you care enough to write it?
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My epic, the thing that personally tells me that a story is something special, is when it really knows what it's about. Not what it contains, but what it's really trying to say, what it's really trying to explore. The thing that always makes me say "Holy fucking shit" is when I look back on a work and see just how the creator has written everything that concerned them into every fibre of their story. Every city, every character, each contributes a tiny argument to a grand but subtle essay. When you get right down to it, that’s what writing is. It’s sitting down one day with an audience of a few thousand and saying, so subtly that they don’t even realise it: “This is what has been on my mind my entire life.” That’s what they mean by write what you know. They mean write the things that occupy your every waking thought, that draw you to read stories with similar themes. You read a book sometimes and a character says a single sentence and you think “Fuck, I’ve been thinking that my entire life, but it’s never made that much sense before.” That’s what it is.
ReplyDeleteThat’s my take on it, at any rate.
Tell me all you like of psychics and superpowers and floating cities, and I'll listen and nod. Tell me why the hell you're writing about them, and how that's going to come out in the story, and how you're going to show it without being all up in my face, and I'll REALLY listen. Show me why you care, show me how epic this is to YOU and maybe I will care too. If you can’t show me that, then why should I care? Why do you care enough to write it?
-D.M.