What scares me the most when I consider writing for a living, and WHY does it scare me?
What scares me the most when I consider writing for a living, and WHY does it scare me? (100-250 words)
This is the first of the questions asked by Holly Lisle’s Mugging the Muse workshop. Let me think about it…
I think part of the hardest thing I face when writing is that I don’t really know where I am going. Even when I have a plan it gets altered with every word I write. I don’t like the uncertainty of not knowing exactly what to expect from each scene. I don’t like the uncertainty of not really knowing my characters. I can have spent years building a character or outlining a story and the moment I start the actual writing everything is up in the air and the boundaries I thought had been laid shift and move. I don’t like uncertainty and fiction is full of it.
I suspect that is why I find non-fiction easier to write. It doesn’t shift and move like fiction does. It’s why I like reading, because I have a sense of certainty about how a story will end. It’s why I like movies and t.v. I can predict the outcome. When I write fiction I don’t know where each word will take me or what I will have to face along the way. I don’t like the uncertainty. I don’t like the lack of control.
This post is in response to one of Holly Lisle's workshop activities from Mugging The Muse. I highly recommend this short (and incredibly cheap! just 99 cents!) course for any writer interested in developing their writing passion and firing up their Muse.