WIP Update: Finding Out What the Story Wants To Be
Posted by annastan on September 1st, 2010. Filed under: Craft, WIP.The other day I was reading Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman and came across this lovely description about carving wood: “My father used to say that the carving was in the wood already. You just had to find out what the wood wanted to be, and then take your knife and remove everything that wasn’t that.”
When I applied that bit of brilliance to my current WIP (the fairy tale retelling that is going through yet another round of revision) I realized that my story knew what it wanted to be much earlier than I did. In one of the first drafts of the book, my writing group picked out a minor character and said: “Who is he? We want to know more about him!” I wound up giving him a slightly larger role, but he remained very much minor.
Now that I’m reworking the story again, I’m realizing that this character isn’t as innocuous as I always believed: in fact, he might have a pretty sinister role in the story. Once I realized that, it helped me strengthen some other elements that were always quietly there. It’s taken a lot of digging around in the wood, but I finally feel like I’m finding out what the story wants to be.
How are you all doing with your WIPs? Anything come out of the wood that you weren’t expecting?
September 1st, 2010 at 10:18 am
It was Michaelangelo who said the sculpture was there, in the marble, and all he did was chip away until it showed itself (I’m paraphrasing). I think that can carry through to writing, too. If we let it. If we don’t try and force a story to go where we want instead of where it wants.
September 1st, 2010 at 10:24 am
Love this quote! It reminds me of another quote: “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.” — Michelangelo
In Stephen King’s On Writing he calls stories “found things, like fossils in the ground…relics, part of an undiscovered pre-existing world” and the writer’s job is to use all the tools he has at his disposal to unearth them “as intact as possible”.
This is a fascinating concept, could my stories lay somewhere fully formed, as yet undiscovered, and my job is to unearth them? I can almost believe this because I’ve had similar experiences to yours, Anna, where I haven’t recognized the relevance of some element of a story, some thread that I unconsciously put in there, until much later.
In my current wip, I have a hero who seems determined to have a much different personality than I’d first imagined him having. There’s also this brilliant little blue bird, which seems to be more than just a bird… (Hmmm… I always seem to have at least one bird in each story!) And I’m just going with it all, sifting through the dirt and rubble with my little kit of writer’s tools.
September 1st, 2010 at 10:25 am
Andrea, I didn’t see your response until after I clicked submit. We’re on the same page evidently! lol
September 1st, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Lena, I’m glad you had the quote! lol I couldn’t remember the exact wording — Thanks!
September 1st, 2010 at 5:22 pm
Interesting post! I agree with you but I’m still working on gaining the experience needed to recognize the statue instead of discarding it as trash.
September 2nd, 2010 at 4:35 am
hi anna,
when the final draft is turned in, i’d love to hear a summary of the whole process. i love how you talk about revising.
September 2nd, 2010 at 7:48 am
Hi Anna,
My WIP has taken so many twists and turns it’s not even funny. I prefer to believe that I don’t control my characters. They are the ones telling the story. I’m just the hands and eyes and brain that are writing their tales down. I’ve had minor characters step up to be major players, and major players that have since vanished because they no longer fit in the world.
September 2nd, 2010 at 8:12 am
Great quote. Lately I’ve been focusing on cutting out scenes that don’t really move the plot along as much as they should. I’m learning it’s okay to cut some of those favorite scenes.
September 2nd, 2010 at 9:21 am
Andrea and Lena, how funny that you both thought of the same quote. It fits perfectly with writing, doesn’t it? I love how those tiny details can sometimes grow into important elements in the story; it’s like they were just sitting there waiting to be noticed.
Bridgette, I think we all struggle with that! I think we just have to trust that as we work, the statue will become clearer.
Heather, that would be an interesting post to write. I’m hoping one of these revisions will finally be “the one.”
Annikka, boy does that sounds familiar! Doesn’t it seem like we’re ring leaders at a circus sometimes, wrangling all those eccentric performers?
Natalie, I know it sounds weird, but I kind of love cutting scenes (after the initial pouting, of course). It can be so freeing to pare down your story and see what it’s really mean to be. Good luck!