Category: Writing Craft
Some writers’ stories just come to mind, fully formed. Lucky them. It’s more likely that snippets of a story streak through your brain, like a naked drunk criss-crossing the football field, and when you chase it down to determine whether this tale is hot or not, it evaporates into thin air. Or maybe there’s a whole group of streakers on the field and you don’t know which one to tackle first. Or you’re on the screenwriter team writing cartoons and it’s hard to get out of that headspace, ditch the fart jokes, and write deep dark stories for teens. That last one was me.
It took years to develop my story, mainly because I didn’t have a handle on what I wanted to write, except that I wanted it to be in the broad category of YA. I was excited to have the freedom to write whatever I chose, especially after freelance television writing where the world, characters and general story were already established for me. But I was unprepared for the overwhelming amount of choices at my disposal. Consequently, I spent four years creating various stories that just weren’t “right” for me. At least I learned from the experience, and can pass on the knowledge to you…