A Writer's Woes

I Know Something You Don't Know (Yet)

As part of a writer’s group that reads and critiques my book chapter by chapter, I struggle with what they don’t yet know, and what I do. What I wonder is, will they still feel the same way once they know how the story turns out? Unlike someone who buys my book and can read it from cover to cover, my writer’s group suffers a 2-week lag time between chapters.

I tweak the foreshadowing, lay hints throughout, and wonder—did anyone catch that? Will they remember this seemingly insignificant piece of information? Do they realize how important this little tidbit is? Or what a remarkable difference this will make later to the story?

It is the art of storytelling, I decide. Gifted authors do it well; not-so-gifted authors lose you halfway through. It is an intricate web woven throughout a story that ties it all together. If it is done well, the web is firm and unbreakable. It springs back when you touch it, new knowledge warbling through your fingers with each inspection of the fine threads that hold it together. If it is weak, it breaks apart; its dangling strands leaving the reader stranded and confused in its wake.

Tiny treads
woven together
A silken story forms;
A web of illusions,
deceptions galore,
telling a tale:
its core.

posted by chrmisha @ 1:09 PM