A Curious Thought

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=tsm_1_tw_s_ab_lh6rx4?ie=UTF8&docId=1000661941

It's a bit old...but this is a one on one author interview between Patrick Rothfuss (My Favorite) and Brandon Sanderson. Needless to say, it is incredible. These are two giants within the Fantasy Genre getting together and just having a leisurely chat questioning about the others work and methods. 

One of the main subjects they dive into is what to start out writing. A lot of writers, myself included, have that one story that is so much closer to us than all the rest. You know the one. You've been daydreaming about it since you were young. It's the tale you've known long before you started writing or had any idea exactly what it was that filled the dusty corners of your mind.

I find it interesting that both of these authors suggest saving this piece for later and starting with something simple. It makes a lot of sense when i think about it. Part of being a good writer is being able to tell a simple story well. Despite their advice I find myself trying to write that story, the complex one, the one that haunts me, The story.

"And with the other story, I have all the “killing your darlings” sort of things that are tough to deal with when you’ve been playing with a character since you’re fifteen years old and now you’re finally sitting down to write their story. It’s hard to manage the baggage of that many years and weave out and cut out things that aren’t needed for the story despite the fact that they’re integral to the character’s soul, to you having spent all this time on them.

That’s one of the reasons why I recommend to new writers not to initially work on those stories that have been so close to you for so long. I feel now that I’m practiced and established an author, I know how to tell the best story out of all of this stuff I’ve been working on since I was a kid. When I was a new author I don’t think I could have done it. I think it would have turned into a fanboy session for my own world that nobody else knows, which would have been a disaster."

That's it! Brandon Sanderson gets it!

Well, duh. He's a genius. Why would he not?

I don't know...because i've never been able to articulate why The Eldrich Tale keeps me up at night? It's just nice to know someone gets it.

Quit being a tit and write the story. But by all means, don't forget to ignore all the sound advice you just read. 

 

Right! I'm on it! Plot a simple story, from start to finish, and write it.

You're not going to do that... are you?