I used to stress about what someone would read into what I write. What kind of things they could pick up about me or the intent of every letter I put down when I didn't actually intend more than what was there. What about all those things psychologists, philosophists, crazy people, etc see that I don't? Do writers intend on half the messages that people pull from their work?
What if they think I'm writing about the inadequacy of orphanages, the decline in society, or trying to push SIN and SEX on children.Or worse still, killing children! When none of that is what I mean in INTO, I could see validity in the what ifs. And if I can pick up on those things, surely I'm going to be put under a microscope and judged as being evil by every parent, church, organization dedicated to book-hate in the world!
What will a careful analysis of my story get? Anything? More than enough? Things I didn't intend? Probably.
Crawford Kilian wrote: "Nevertheless, as soon as you start writing, you start writing on some kind of symbolic level. Maybe you're not conscious of it, but it's there: in your characters, their actions, the setting, and the images. (Some writers are very powerful symbolists, but don't realize it; that's why authors are often poor critics of their own work.)"
I wonder if that is true. Do we, as writers, make decisions about what goes in on a symbolic level without realizing it? I hope so. I'd feel a lot smarter, either way, if my story is deeper than I think it is.
As I was working on my characters last Friday, sketching my MC(it helps me see her better) and wondering about them all -- if I had enough of them in my pages to be real to anyone but myself -- a song came on Pandora Radio. It hit me, like a wet hand to my face and I felt SO STUPID!
It was one line: "We lost our love somehow". And there, on that page that I scribbled that line down on was a sketch of my MC and her man. And I got it! Just that simply!
More Advice on Novel Writing by Crawford Kilian is HERE.
Do you think your story has some deeper meaning? Did you mean it to? What messages can you see in your own novel you don't mean to be there?
(I did warn you about random HP movie images)
RANDOM:
Andy over at Writing Myself Crazy has honored me with another One Lovely Blog Award! How freakin' cool is that?! 2 in 2 weeks! I feel like one special gal today so thank you Andy for that. Be sure to check him out. He is witty, smart, and always has some awesome info going up on his blog!
I try not to pay much attention to the stats of my blog, but sometimes I just get curious, like today. That's when I discovered someone/some people found my blog by searching "for private" and "for private reading". So I just wanted to give you a big 'ol one-eyebrow-raise in your honor.
The lady who checked me out at the bookstore looked like the albino from The Princess Bride. I don't mean that to be mean but...she totally did. On the plus side -- found Everlost by Neal Shusterman for $3.50.
I blazed through If I Stay by Gayle Forman this weekend while flying hither and tither. Ate up every wonderful word. LOVED this book! BUT: Never bring a book you KNOW is going to make you cry on a trip unless you are not ashamed to be a blubbering idiot in public. I cannot tell you how hard it was to master my girl-side when reading this. My eyes teared up, got sniffley, the whole bit. If anyone saw me they surely thought I was a freaking lunatic. I could just imagine people praying they didn't sit next to me. All of this I mean in the best way possible. I loved it.
If anyone missed the J.K.Rowling on Opera episode its HERE
Have you ever been eating a bowl of cereal and notice a dark speck, then worry for a moment that it could be a bug. But don't investigate farther because you just started eating and the cereal is really hitting the spot. So you just ignore it for a while until you just can't stand yourself for justifying possibly eating around a bug? Me neither. (It wasn't. It was an over-cooked frosted flake.)
Happy Wednesday!
